Monday, December 01, 2008

Christmas Time Is Here

I have just over 40 Christmas CD's. Some are great (Chris Isaak), some not so much (Toby Keith). My collection tilts heavily in the country direction since that was my favorite type of music from 1992-2001. No matter the quality, I like to listen to all my Xmas discs during the holiday season. To do this, I need to listen to at least one per day (I usually take one or two discs with me in the morning and am able to listen to at least a half hour's worth of music over the course of a day).

When going to purchase Christmas presents (hopefully not at Wal-Mart), I'll bring my headset along and knock out a few discs. I have a new Christmas disc to listen to this year. Several months ago, I purchased "Now That's What I Call Christmas 2" at Goodwill for a few bucks, knowing I wouldn't be listening to any of the tracks until at least late November. The same thing happened a couple years ago with Chris Isaak.

One of my favorite Christmas discs is Diana Krall's Christmas Songs.



It's perfect for a cold night at home. A few of the tracks are downright melancholy, not a bad thing since the holiday season isn't always happy (you can sample the tracks at the above link). My favorite song on the disc is a remake of the Peanuts classic, "Christmas Time Is Here". Here's what one reviewer says of Krall's version of the song: "Christmas Time" is quiet and poignant. It just seems to whisper to the night sky to loose its grip on the powdered snow while the fire rages from the hearth. It comes draped in that blanket of warm fuzzy feelings."

This is one of the most heartwarming holiday videos you'll ever see.

Whatever kind of Christmas music you like, whether it's Josh Groban, Alvin & the Chipmunks, or none at all, may you all have a very blessed holiday season.

7 comments:

Sarah said...

i adore diana krall, but i abhor christmas music... what's a girl to do?

Brianinmpls said...

This reminds me to look for Britney Spears XMas albumn

Dämmerung Anblick said...

I'm with Sarah. Diana Krall's great when one is in that kind of mood.

But traditional Christmas music annoys me too. I guess it's association. It seems like as soon as Thanksgiving passes, the malls become zoos, people start getting exponentially more rude, work starts to get crazy and expectations shoot through the roof. And all you hear the whole time is that music on the PA system. Urghh...

I don't mind it when it's original and well done though.

Maybe a Paris Hilton Xmas album might fit the bill...

Unknown said...

I like some Christmas music. Boy, they sure love this holiday here. One of our radio stations begins playing the ole' Christmas caroles before Thanksgiving. One song that frequently plays I like is Mariah Carey. I like some ole' school every now and then with some Bing Crosby.

Lauren Elizabeth said...

Ha, I had the Alvin and the Chipmunks hula hoop song on at work today and everyone started cracking up.

Brian Mongold said...

I've always hated Christmas music for some reason.

I did just listen to the Ying Yang Twins Christmas album, if that counts.:)

Eric Curtis said...

I played "Grandma got ran over by a reindeer" so many times that the tape wore out.

I was a huge country music fan during those years, too. Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, and the rest were great. Sometime around the turn of the century, it started to sound like pop music to me. Been stuck on 60's and 70's rock since.