December Books

"When you're a young writer, you subtract the birthdates of authors from their publication dates and feel panic or hope. When you're an old writer, you observe the death dates of your favorite writers and you reflect on their works and their lives." (Gail Godwin, The New York Times Book Review, December 12, 2010)

These are some titles from last month's New York Times Book Review section (and Stephen King's year-end list from Entertainment Weekly magazine) that I might like to read at some point:

Fiction

Anathem - Neal Stephenson; "Delights in the language and etymology he has designed for his fictional world . . . and in the 7,000 years of detailed history he has given it."

The Finkler Question - "A mugging prompts a quest for self-discovery in this tale of anti-Semitism, friendship and wisdom; winner of this year's Man Booker prize."

The Imperfectionists - Tom Rachman; "Journalists, long taught to never make themselves the story, now have Tom Rachman do it for them. His alternately acute and poignant debut novel, about the dramatic follies at a Rome-based English-language newspaper, is divided into chapters dedicated to different characters, each as distinct as a newspaper section."

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - Helen Simonson; "Set in an English village, Simonson's first novel wraps Old World sensibility around a story of multicultural conflict and romance. A retired major - the starchy widower Ernest Pettigrew - is mourning the recent death of his brother and frustrated by his materialistic son. Gradually he's drawn to Mrs. Ali, a shopkeeper of Pakistani descent who shares his love of Kipling but is regarded by village society as a permanent foreigner."

Rich Boy - Sharon Pomerantz; "The ambitious son of working-class Jewish immigrants gains entree into a world of pedigreed wealth and privilege through charm and smarts alone - but will he always be defined by where he came from? A gripping narrative that doubles as a sweeping rumination on the American class system."

Stephen King's Top Five Books of 2010

1. Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace; "To my mind, there have been two great American novels in the past 50 years. Catch-22 is one; this is the other. For pop culture vultures like me, the central plot is fascinating: The late James O. Incandenza has created an 'entertainment' - Infinite Jest - so irresistible you can't stop watching it. Three dozen terrific characters spin out from this, my favorite being Joelle Van Dyne, a.k.a. the P.G.O.A.T.: Prettiest Girl of All Time. But it all comes back to that lethal film - because for guys like me, irresistible entertainment, lethal or not, is the holy grail."

2. Freedom - Jonathan Franzen; "If you haven't met Walter and Patty Berglund of St. Paul, it's time. Franzen chronicles their ups and down (mostly downs) with a cold mind and a warm heart. Two wedding rings go into the toilet over the course of this novel, but there's a measure of redemption for both of those who do the casting away. I finished uplifted and energized by Franzen's storytelling ability."

3. I'd Know You Anywhere - Laura Lippman; "The best suspense novel of the year. Eliza Benedict has got a nice house and a nice family, and has managed to put the trauma of her life behind her. At least until the serial killer who kidnapped and raped her - but let her live - when she was 15 gets in touch from death row and says he wants to see her."

4. Savages - Don Winslow; "Chon and Ben, the antiheroes at the center of this novel that's every bit as savage as its title, aspire to be kinder, gentler drug dealers, but when the smoke clears, one is tempted to quote Sarah Palin: 'How's that hopey-changey stuff workin' out for ya?' This is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid on autoload. Winslow's stripped-down prose is a revelation."

5. Last Night in Twisted River - John Irving; "It starts with the accidental killing of a Native American woman (the youngster who brains her with a skillet mistakes her for a bear). Father and son take off, pursued by the relentless Constable Carl for nearly 50 years. There's a lot of Canada here, a lot of cookin', and a lot of gorgeous (and cynical) Americana. Irving's best since Garp.

Nonfiction

Encyclopedia of the Exquisite: An Anecdotal History of Elegant Delights - Jessica Kerwin Jenkins; "This gilded, graceful book is nothing less than a miniature encyclopedia of style, exploring everything from the origins of badminton to the art of origami."

How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less - Sarah Glidden; "Vivid dialogue and deceptively simple line drawings that are shaded with delicate watercolors, resulting in a graphic memoir of subtlety and understated wit."

The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War - James Bradley, "whose Flags of Our Fathers recounted how his father helped plant the American flag on Iwo Jima, here contends that William Taft's covert 1905 diplomatic mission to Japan helped set the stage for World War II in the Pacific, the Chinese Communist Revolution and the Korean War. With each port of call, Bradley assesses the effects of American race-based foreign policy calculations in Asia; the brutal counterinsurgency in the Philippines, the forced annexation of Hawaii, the betrayal of promises to protect Korea from Japanese expansionism."

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void - Mary Roach; "Much more interested in the small steps for man than in the giant leaps for mankind, chronicling all of the niches and pecularities of exploring the outer reaches . . . simultaneously informative and get-strange-looks-on-the-subway hilarious."

Yours Ever: People and Their Letters - Thomas Mallon; "Intended as 'a kind of companion volume to A Book of One's Own,' Mallon's 1984 study of people and their diaries, this exploration of the art of letter-writing embraces old friends - Flaubert, Freud, the Mitfords - and plenty of unknowns."

12 Albums in 10 Years, 1983-1992

Strangers sometimes tell me I look like Quentin Tarantino, and unfortunately that may be true, but I like to hope I also look at least a little like Steven Patrick Morrissey (you can judge for yourself with the album cover pictured here). I used to work with a punk rock girl who was possibly a cokehead but admittedly a swinger. You wouldn't think I'd share anything in common with her but one day I combed my bangs up high and she smiled when she asked me if I was going for the Morrissey look. Now the pompadour hairstyle dates back to French court of Louis XV and it reached its height (no pun intended) of popularity with Elvis Presley, so my coworker should've made those comparisons first, but she didn't. She could've called me a retro hipster or wannabe cholo and I wouldn't have been as surprised, so I said, "Yes! I mean, wow, how did you guess?" She told me that her amputee mechanic husband had been trying to perfect the Morrissey hair for years. Then she followed up with a concert story about someone throwing a water bottle at Morrissey after he complained about the smell of "burning flesh" (he's a vegetarian), and how he dropped the microphone right on the spot and walked off the stage, ending the show less than halfway through. She also mentioned that tickets for that show weren't cheap, but he didn't seem to care. From what I've read about Morrissey, that story sums up the singer/songwriter pretty well. If it doesn't mean anything to you, check out the funniest of his many funny, mean song titles: "Dial-a-Cliché" (Viva Hate), "Lucky Lisp" (Bona Drag) and "You're the One for Me, Fatty" (Your Arsenal). I don't know him personally so it's not really my place to comment on his demeanor or personality, but I do know that he was prolific. If you count official live recordings and singles compilations, he was involved with the releases for twelve albums in only ten years. This is the twelfth top twenty playlist I've posted for a band or individual music artists, yet I haven't even covered all of my top ten favorites. The reason for this is that some of my favorites, like Panda Bear, P.M. Dawn and Propaganda, released less than a handful of albums, so a top twenty list would just come off as a ranked list of ALL their songs. I'd love to do top twenty lists for other prolific favorites like The Rolling Stones, but I don't I'll ever be able to evenly weigh all their thirty-some albums and EPs. Similarly, what follows is not a career-spanning top twenty list for Morrissey, but know that if you like what's here, he's still performing and recording to this day.

Morrissey with The Smiths
1. "Accept Yourself" (1983) - from the compilation album, Hatful of Hollow
2. "Back to the Old House (acoustic version)" (1983) from the compilation album, Hatful of Hollow
3. "This Charming Man" (1983) from the single of the same name
4. "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" (1984) from the single of the same name
5. "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" (1984) B-side on the single, William, It Was Really Nothing; my absolute favorite Morrissey song
6. "How Soon Is Now?" (1984) from the single of the same name
7. "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" (1985) from the album, Meat Is Murder
8. "Asleep" (1985) B-side on the single, The Boy with the Thorn in His Side
9. "Unloveable" (1986) B-side on the single, Bigmouth Strikes Again
10. "London (Live)" (1986) from the album, Rank, released a year after the band broke up
11. "Is It Really So Strange? (BBC session)" (1986) from the compilation album, Louder Than Bombs
12. "Shoplifters of the World Unite" (1987) from the single of the same name

Morrissey on his own
13. "I Don't Mind If You Forget Me" (1988) from his debut solo album, Viva Hate
14. "Interesting Drug" (1988) from the compilation album, Bona Drag
15. "The Loop" (1990) B-side on the single, Sing Your Life
16. "King Leer" (1991) from the album, Kill Uncle
17. "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful" (1992) from the single of the same name
18. "Certain People I Know" (1992) from the album, Your Arsenal
19. "Seaside, Yet Still Docked" (1992) from the album, Your Arsenal
20. "Suedehead (Sparks Mix)" (2006) from the remix compilation, Future Retro; original version (1988) from the album, Viva Hate

This Is My Last Movie Review

"Unbeknownst to most moviegoers, the saddest story in films concerns the emergence of brutal scorekeeper critics." (film critic Manny Farber in 1965, as quoted this year by film critic J. Hoberman, Harpers magazine, July 2010)

"For the past month, I've been trying to fully engage with the social layer. I joined and contributed to such services and platforms as Quora, Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook, Blippy, Swipely, DailyBooth, Goodreads, Daytum, etc., etc. I tried to tweet five times a day. I gave two sites access to my credit cards so I could share my purchases with friends. I did my best to check in wherever I went on Foursquare. And what it all made me feel, mostly, was stupid. And anxious - that I didn't have enough people following me and then that I was the kind of person who wants people to follow him." (Bartholomew Cooke, GQ magazine, December 2010)

The Social Network (four and a half stars total) has the second best soundtrack of the year, the first being Inception, which is all about the music, in my opinion. Just based on those movies' trailers, I'd already awarded a blue star to each, long before I ever saw either one. The music on Inception's trailer instantly inspired parodies on YouTube (including an acapella one) and The Social Network's trailer earned a record deal for some Belgian women's choir (Scala & Kolacny), all because of their version of Radiohead's "Creep." The trailer for Catfish, AKA "the other Facebook movie," even tried subtly connecting itself to The Social Network by playing a children's choir (Langley Schools) version of The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations." I mention this for my own future reference, but also to point out that music is very important to me, moreso than story or visuals in a movie, therefore the different-colored stars under my "movie review guide" are not all equal. Whether that's a flaw in my system or a flaw in my use of the system is up to you. This applies to The Social Network in that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg created a system for communication that, according to the movie, is either flawed by its very nature or at the very least, used by some for very flawed reasons. I'll admit that I don't have a Facebook account nor do I know the exact defintion of the term "algorithm" but that doesn't prevent me from appreciating a movie derived from these things. The story is metafictional enough to comment on itself with lines like "there's got to be a land speed record for talking" (the dialogue and pacing require multiple viewings). I've heard people complain about the ratio of fact to fiction in this unapologetic "biopic," but they do make it easy to tell the difference whenever there's a melodramatic scarf burning or cinematic workplace violence. If reality is what you want, look no further than the irony of the special effects "twins." Where most movies would have stopped short with that "achievement" by itself, this movie gave each twin a unique personality. Now that's how you use special effects for the story's sake, and not the other way around! But back to music, when "Baby You're a Rich Man" started playing over the end credits, I knew one era had ended and another had begun. Much like the movie's protagonist, The Beatles' back catalog has spent far too much time in litigation, but if these kids with their new-fangled Webhacktweeterwalls can save the past from itself and get oldies playing on the big screen again, maybe they can save the future too.

Unconventional Christmas Movies

So many people told me today that they were glad that Christmas was behind them or that it didn't feel especially Christmasy this year. If you're like me, it was over too soon and you can never get enough. That's why it pays to know where you can go for a discreet Christmas fix without tipping off any haters who might make fun of you. Perhaps you looked at the EW poll pictured here (click to enlarge) and thought, "Love Actually can't possibly be the second most popular Christmas movie, it's not even a Christmas movie, and neither is Die Hard!" If so, you were half right. They may not be Formal Christmas movies per se, but any movie that doesn't star Santa Claus and/or include singing about snow can be an Informal Christmas movie. You can watch the latter kind of movie anytime throughout the year without fear of being judged. If you think Gremlins (1984) and Edward Scissorhands (1990) are pushing the envelope when it comes to what's considered Christmasy, check out the five highest rated theatrical releases on IMDb under the keyword "Christmas:"

1. The Godfather (1972)
2. Goodfellas (1990)
3. The Apartment (1960)
4. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
5. Annie Hall (1978)

If those don't make you feel that extra something special, you can always turn to my unconventional favorites:

1. The Family Man (2000)
2. Serendipity (2001)
3. Better Off Dead (1985)
4. Donnie Brasco (1997)
5. Batman Returns (1992)

The Twelfth CD of Christmas

When we got into the car yesterday, we asked my son what he wanted to listen to and he said "Christmas tree music" (for him, Christmas is all about the tree still). I have a Christmas mix CD in the car which starts off with "Skating," one of Vince Guaraldi's jazz songs from A Charlie Brown Christmas, but even when I play jazz that's not Christmas-themed, he calls it "Christmas tree music." Well anyway, my wife had just finished burning a CD with a different Christmas mix, so she popped that in but the first track wasn't jazzy. Lo and behold, my son cried out, "That's not Christmas tree music!" So from the mouth of babes, Christmas is jazz. Just in case you didn't know. And that's really interesting to me because for a lot of kids that grew up on A Charlie Brown Christmas, that's probably true. But even if you hated those holiday specials like I did, there's still all the jazz crooners that seem to dominate Christmas: Dean, Ella, Frank, Louis, and Sammy. Okay, maybe not so much "dominated" by Louis Armstrong, but since his name has come up here, it gives me a great segue into the final CD, Wynton Marsalis' Christmas Jazz Jam. You see, when most people think about jazz, they think about Louis Armstrong, but whenever I hear the name Louis Armstrong, I'm always reminded of Wynton Marsalis. That's because everything I know about Louis Armstrong, I learned from the Ken Burns Jazz documentary, which is mostly about Armstrong and relies heavily on interviews with Marsalis, who pronounces Louis with an "s" instead of "Louie," like everyone else I've heard talk about him. Modern jazz purists criticize the Burns doc for only covering the music before 1960, much the same way they criticise Marsalis for being "stuck in the past" musically. I personally don't care that his Christmas album is mostly Dixieland jazz. It's sure happier than a Charlie Brown TV special is. But if you're looking for sad and slow, there's a bluesly take on "Blue Christmas." If you're looking for something more modern, at least give his "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" a try. When I bought this CD, it had a sticker on the wrapper that said it was a Target exclusive, like two other awesome mix CDs that I already owned, A Holly Jolly Christmas: 15 Kids' Christmas Classics and Santa Baby: A Romantic Christmas. Now I see that Christmas Jazz Jam is available on iTunes and I feel a little cheated. I'll get over it though because I know Christmas isn't actually about trees or even jazz, it's about sharing. So thank you for sharing the Twelve Days of Christmas with me while I shared my favorite CDs.

As a bonus, here is a list of my top ten Christmas songs, regardless of artist or style (in alphabetical order, with the number of versions I own):
1. "Ave Maria" (5)
2. "Carol of the Bells" (10; betcha can't guess which song is my popular favorite; for a version that's scarier than the tubular bells on The Exorcist, check out the sustained dissonance at the end of Ray Conniff's "Ring Christmas Bells")
3. "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" (4)
4. "The Little Drummer Boy" (8)
5. "Mary's Lullaby" (the two that I own are two completely different songs; there's the LDS Children's Songbook song and the John Rutter one that I sang in choir at the University of Utah; yes, I can be heard on iTunes, albeit in a sea of voices)
6. "Merry Christmas Baby" (5)
7. "O Holy Night" (7)
8. "Silver Bells" (7)
9. "Sleigh Ride" (6; this is probably my personal favorite, even though I don't own that many versions of it; the only contender would be "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" and I own even less versions of that; for a very contemporary sound, check out KT Tunstall's new release)
10. "This Christmas" (5)

The Eleventh CD of Christmas

"The reggae Christmas tradition didn't just roll in overnight, it reaches all the way back to the old-school artists who cut their teeth in the pre-reggae days of ska and rocksteady . . . Ska pioneers Byron Lee & The Dragonaires pump some punchy horns and perky organ riffs into an old holiday standard, ending up with "Winter Wonderland Reggae." And historic harmonizers The Ethiopians stir up a rocksteady beat for the ring of that "Ding Dong Bell." (iTunes Essentials Reggae Christmas "Deep Cuts" introduction)

The first time I ever heard a reggae version of a Christmas song was six years ago in Toronto. We were visiting my sister-in-law and at the time she lived mere blocks from Kensington Market, apparently the home of a significant Rastafari population. I'm always intrigued by music that's played loud enough to be considered noise pollution, so I made my way over to the tent where this old Jamaican guy was blaring his very own Soul Vibes Reggae X-mas mix CD from a speaker half as tall as me. For fear that nobody would believe what I'd heard, I asked him if he would sell me a copy. Next thing I know he's pulled out an suitcase full of bootleg CDs and wants to bargain. The CD (homemade liner notes pictured above) turned out to sound like crap on every other stereo system besides his and maybe I was high on whatever that guy was smoking when I bought it, but it has led to further enlightenment, also known as "My Top 20 Reggae Christmas Songs" playlist (titles in bold are personal favorites):

The Chistmas Album
1. "Rich Man for Christmas" - Lady Saw

Christmas Eclectic
2. "Silent in the Night (Dub Mix 2)" - Up Bustle & Out feat. Blaze

Christmas Greetings from Studio One
3. "Jingle Bells" - Roy Richards
4. "White Christmas" - Bob Marley

Christmas Party Time in the Tropics
5. "Winter Wonderland Reggae" - Byron Lee & The Dragonaires

Now That's What I Call Christmas! Vol. 4
6. "A Child Is Born" - Rihanna
7. "Drummer Boy" - Sean Kingston

Reggae Christmas
8. "Here Comes Santa Claus" - Winston Francis
9. "Have Yourself a Merry Christmas" - Heavy Beat Crew (if just for the lyrics, "if you drink, then remember don't drive, want you all to stay alive")

Reggae Christmas from Studio One
10. "Hi Fashion Christmas" - Dillinger & The Brentford Harmonics (samples "54-46 That's My Number" by Toots & The Maytals)
11. "Real Christmas Rock" - Tennessee Brown & The Silvertones

Sweet Reggae Christmas
12. "Christmas a Come" - Chaka Demus & Ini Kamoze

Trojan Christmas Box Set
13. "Ding Dong Bell" - The Ethiopians
14. "Merry Merry Christmas" - Alton Ellis & The Lipsticks
15. "The Night Before Christmas" - Eek-A-Mouse
16. "O Come All Ye Faithful" - Freddie McGregor
17. "We Wish You a Reggae Christmas" - Yellowman
18. "Santa Claus Dub" - The Aggrovators
19. "C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S" - The Rhythm Aces

Verve Remixed Christmas
20. "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm (Yesking Remix)" - Billie Holiday

The Tenth CD of Christmas

"On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me" the last title for an unintentional top ten list of Christmas CDs (sorry tonot follow the meter or rhyme scheme of the song). I say "unintentional" because when I decided to blog about a different album each day during the Twelve Days of Christmas, the only order I put them in was the order that I bought them. Music is all about memories though, and the the CDs that bring back the most memories are the ones I've owned the longest. So by default, the first ten that I bought also happen to be my top ten of all time. If you told me I could only own one Christmas CD, I would choose Music Box Christmas (see my 12/10 post). But I understand that music boxes are my own personal obsession and might sound monotonous or shrill to someone else. Changing the scenario, if you told me YOU could only one Christmas CD, I would recommend Christmas with Conniff (1959). Why the switch? It's because of all the CDs I've blogged about thus far (there's two more on their way, but they're not "top ten"), none are as much middle-of-the-road fun for the whole family, perfect for parties without being too loud, yet reverent of the Christmas spirit without being too slow. In other words, if you don't like Ray Conniff, I don't want to know you.

According to one reviewer on Amazon, Ray Conniff was "Muzak before Muzak was Muzak," but I disagree. The unique thing about Conniff's music was he had the singers wordlessly "sing" the instrumental parts, something like scat, but definitely not like elevator music. Most Conniff fans seem to agree that We Wish You a Merry Christmas (1962) was his best holiday album, but I disagree with that too. The tracklisting on the back of that CD may say that there are twelve songs, but half of them are medley segments, so there are really only six tracks. Even then the whole album is no more than a half hour long, and the last two tracks are annoying rhythmically, so you're basically paying the price of a full album for four good songs. (The liner notes describe it differently: "a rhythm sound that is one of the album's particular delights, and the chorus takes full advantage of the unusual alternating 4/4-3/4 beat.") This leads me to his third holiday album, Here We Come A-Caroling (1965), which according to another reviewer on Amazon, "replaced the harps with guitar," though it only bothered me on two out of the twelve unique songs. The bottom line is that Ray Conniff was always innovative, even if that goes against the definition of "elevator music."

The Ninth CD of Christmas

There are currently four volumes in the Now That's What I Call Christmas! series, six if you count the Country volume and the single-disc Essential volume. You could own this series by itself and consider yourself a Christmas pop music expert. I'm not going to cover the Country volume here, but I have put in the research to blog the following consumer report on the main series and its Essential volume.

Which volume is actually the most essential? "There can be only one."

Artists appearing multiple times in the series (my pick for each in bold):

1. Christina Aguilera - "Merry Christmas Baby" (Vol. 3) vs. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (Vol. 4)

2. Gene Autry – "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (Vol. 1) vs. "Frosty the Snowman" (Vol. 3)

3. Tony Bennett – "Winter Wonderland" (Vol. 1) vs. "My Favorite Things" (Vol. 3)

4. Mariah Carey – "All I Want for Christmas Is You" (Vols. 2 & 4) vs. "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" (Vol. 3)

5. Nat King Cole – "The Christmas Song" (Vols. 1 & 4) vs. "O Come All Ye Faithful" (Vol. 3)

6. Bing Crosby – "White Christmas" (Vols. 1 & 4) vs. "Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth" (Vols. 1 & 4) vs. "Silver Bells" (Vol. 3)

7. Celine Dion – "Don’t Save It All for Christmas Day" (Vol. 1) vs. "O Holy Night" (Vol. 2) vs. "Feliz Navidad" (Vol. 3); NONE - not because of Celine Dion but because of the arrangements

8. Gloria Estefan – "Love on Layaway" (Vol. 1) vs. "Christmas Through Your Eyes" (Vol. 2) vs. "’ll Be Home for Christmas"(Vol. 3)

9. Ella Fitzgerald – "Sleigh Ride" (Vol. 1) vs. "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (Vol. 3)

10. Amy Grant - "A Christmas to Remember" (Vol. 2) vs. "Breath of Heaven" (Essential)

11. Burl Ives – "A Holly Jolly Christmas" (Vols. 1 & 4s) vs. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (Vol. 2) vs. "Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town" (Vol. 3); ALL - because Burl Ives is the man

12. The Jackson 5 – "Up on the Housetop" (Vol. 3) vs. "Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town" (Essential)

13. Brenda Lee – "Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree" (Vol. 1) vs. "Jingle Bell Rock" (Vol. 3)

14. Peggy Lee – "Happy Holiday" (Vol. 2) vs. "The Little Drummer Boy" (Vol. 3)

15. Dean Martin – "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" (Vol. 1) vs. "The Christmas Blues" (Vol. 2) vs. "Baby, It’s Cold Outside" (Vol. 3) vs. "A Marshmallow World" (Vol. 4)

16. Johnny Mathis – "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" (Vol. 1) vs. "Silver Bells" (Vol. 2) vs. "It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" (Vols. 3 & 4)

17. *NSYNC – "You Don’t Have to Be Alone" (Vol. 1) vs. "I Don’t Want to Spend One More Christmas Without You" (Vol. 2); BOTH - so deal with it

18. Stacie Orrico – "O Come All Ye Faithful" (Vol. 2) vs. "Christmas Wish" (Vol. 3)

19. Elvis Presley – "Blue Christmas" (Vol. 1) vs. "Here Comes Santa Claus" (Vols. 3 & 4)

20. Rihanna - "It Just Don't Feel Like Xmas (Without You)" (Vol. 3) vs. "A Child Is Born" (Vol. 4)

21. Kenny Rogers – "Kentucky Homemade Country Christmas" (Vol. 2) vs. "Christmas Is My Favorite Time of the Year" (Vol. 3)

22. Frank Sinatra – "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (Vol. 1) vs. "Jingle Bells" (Vol. 3)

23. Luther Vandross – "O Come All Ye Faithful" (Vol. 1) vs. "Please Come Home for Christmas" (Vol. 2)

24. Andy Williams – "The First Noel" (Vol. 2) vs. "It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" (Vols. 3 & 4)

Songs appearing multiple times in the series (my pick for each in bold):

1. "Baby, It’s Cold Outside" – Tom Jones (Vol. 2) vs. Dean Martin (Vol. 3)

2. "Blue Christmas" – Elvis Presley (Vol. 1) vs. Johnny Cash (Vol. 3)

3. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" – Frank Sinatra (Vol. 1) vs. Judy Garland (Vol. 3)

4. "Do You Hear What I Hear?" – Vince Gill (Vol. 2) vs. Carrie Underwood (Vol. 3)

5. "Feliz Navidad" – Jose Feliciano (live version; Vol. 2) vs. Celine Dion (Vol. 3); NONE but the original studio version, which appears on the Essential volume

6. "I’ll Be Home for Christmas" – Barbra Streisand (Vol. 2) vs. Gloria Estefan (Vol. 3)

7. "Jingle Bell Rock" – Bobby Helms (Vol. 1) vs. Brenda Lee (Vol. 3) vs. Daryl Hall and John Oates (Essential)

8. "Jingle Bells" – Diana Krall (Vol. 1) vs. Jimmy Buffett (Vol. 2) vs. Frank Sinatra (Vol. 3) vs. James Taylor (Vol. 4)

9. "The Little Drummer Boy" – Bing Crosby and David Bowie (Vol. 1) vs. Lou Rawls (Vol. 2) vs. Harry Simeone Chorale (Essential) vs. Sean Kingston (Vol. 4)

10. "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" – Johnny Mathis (Vol. 1) vs. Andy Williams (Vol. 3 & 4)

11. "O Come All Ye Faithful" – Luther Vandross (Vol. 1) vs. Stacie Orrico (Vol. 2) vs. Luciano Pavarotti (Vol. 2) vs. Nat King Cole (Vol. 3) vs. Celtic Woman (Vol. 4)

12. "O Holy Night" – Celine Dion (Vol. 2) vs. Al Green (Vol. 3)

13. "Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree" – Brenda Lee (Vol. 1) vs. Cyndi Lauper (Vol. 3) vs. Toby Keith (Vol. 4)

14. "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" – Gene Autry (Vol. 1) vs. Burl Ives (Vol. 2) vs. Ella Fitzgerald (Vol. 3) vs. The Temptations (Vol. 4); ALL - because it's the ultimate Christmas pop song

15. "Santa Baby" – Kylie Minogue (Vol. 2) vs. The Pussycat Dolls (Vol. 3) ; BOTH - because this song's funny whether it's done well or not

16. "Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town" – Bruce Springsteen (Vol. 1) vs. B2K (Vol. 2) vs. Burl Ives (Vol. 3) vs. The Jackson 5 (Essential)

17. "Silent Night" – Boyz II Men (Vol. 1) vs. Charlotte Church (Vol. 2) vs. The Temptations (Essential)

18. "Silver Bells" – Johnny Mathis (Vol. 2) vs. Bing Crosby (Vol. 3) vs. Martina McBride (Vol. 4)

19. "(There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays" – Perry Como (Vol. 1) vs. Barry Manilow (Vol. 2)

20. "This Christmas" – Joe (Vol. 1) vs. Donny Hathaway (Essential)

21. "Winter Wonderland" – Tony Bennett (Vol. 1) vs. Louis Armstrong (Vol. 2)

If you count up my picks for each, Vol. 3 appears to be the most essential for both artists and songs across the series. I stand by Vol. 1 though, because it's the only one with the original "Jingle Bell Rock" by Bobby Helms, which is practically canon, or at the very least, required listening during the holidays.

Most of the best selections from the Signature (Vol. 2) are repeated on the Essential volume: Chuck Berry, José Feliciano, Elton John and Wham! I still recommend the Signature (Vol. 2) for its Destiny's Child, Mariah Carey and Gloria Estefan tracks.

Vol. 3 is the only one to include "The Grinch" song and a punk rock version of a Christmas song. There are a couple of songs which are repeated on Vol. 3, supposedly because they're superior recordings, but they're not. You're better off with the "Little Saint Nick" from Vol. 1 and "Winter Wonderland" from the Vol. 2.

When I first looked at the tracklisting for Vol. 4, I couldn't see past all the contemporary country and top 40 pop artists on disc 1. Then I mistook disc 2 for a rehash of previous releases. While the Lady Gaga song is wrong on multiple levels, the poppy Kelly Rowland "Wonderful Christmastime" cover is an improvement over the Paul McCartney original. Last but certainly not least, I just found one of my new favorite Christmas songs, and that's "December" by Norah Jones.

The Eighth CD of Christmas

Pop quiz, movie fans! See if you can match the movies listed below to the oldies tunes that each one featured:

1. Top Gun (1986)
2. Adventures in Babysitting (1987)
3. Dirty Dancing (1987)
4. Ghost (1990)
5. Father of the Bride (1991)

a. "(Today I Met) The Boy I'm Going to Marry" - Darlene Love (1963)
b. "Be My Baby" - The Ronettes (1963)
c. "Then He Kissed Me" - The Crystals (1963)
d. "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" - The Righteous Brothers (1964)
e. "Unchained Melody" - The Righteous Brothers (1965)

What do all of these movies and songs have in common? As unrelated as they may seem, these movies were all childhood favorites of mine, but that could be because they featured songs which were also childhood favorites. What these songs share in common is that they were all produced by Phil Spector. Perhaps you're familiar with Phil Spector and his Wagnerian "Wall of Sound," a recording technique which uses lots of reverb and over-overdubbing. When I went looking for the original versions of a couple covers that Erasure did ("River Deep - Mountain High," by Ike and Tina Turner, and "Walking in the Rain," by The Ronettes), I was interested to learn that Phil Spector had a hand in both songs. Years later I was surprised to discover that he didn't just do '60s girl groups, he also worked with The Beatles and The Ramones. Finally, I was shocked to hear that he'd gone to prison for murder. If none of that's news for you, what you may never have realized is that the album, A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector (1963), was released the same day as the assassination of JFK. I imagine the first few years of the '60s, before LBJ and escalation in Vietnam, looked and sounded more like the '50s. Since the Spector-penned "Spanish Harlem" (1960), my all-time favorite oldies tune, was released right at the turn of the decade, I get it mixed up with all the doo-wop that came before it. Because of its inauspicious release date, A Christmas Gift for You might similarly come off as behind its turbulent times. While it may have been wrong for the peace movement, it's so joyously innocent and hopeful that it's perfect for the holiday season.

Here's a list of the songs on the album, grouped alphabetically by artist (titles in bold are my personal favorites):

Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans
3. The Bells of St. Mary's
12. Here Comes Santa Claus

The Crystals
4. "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"
8. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"
10. "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers"

Darlene Love
1. "White Christmas"
6. "Marshmallow World"
9. "Winter Wonderland"
11. "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"

The Ronettes
2. "Frosty the Snowman"
5. "Sleigh Ride"
7. "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"

I'm sure you aced the pop quiz at the top, but just in case you have doubts, the correct answers are 1-d, 2-c, 3-b, 4-e, and 5-a.

The Seventh CD of Christmas

There are two things under our tree this year that shouldn't have anything to do Christmas, but do. The snowman is representative of winter, which as everyone knows, begins a few days before Christmas. But how many people realize that the actual birth of Jesus didn't take place during the calendar month of December, or during the season of winter at all? I myself was surprised to learn that it does in fact snow in Jerusalem, but it probably didn't do so on the night that Christ was born. The nutcracker toy pictured above was a Christmas gift from my old college roommate and his wife, but it has no more to do with the true meaning of Christmas than the snowman does. It's great that both decorations are the same height and they're both equally cute. Now come to think of it, the cuteness factor must be why a nutcracker toy was the preferred Christmas gift for Marie (not Clara) in the short story, "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" (1816), by German Romantic author, E.T.A. Hoffman. Having a Christmas party in the story was just a convenient way of getting a toy soldier into the hands of a little girl before he transformed into a human prince and took her on adventures in the Land of Sweets. But The Nutcracker ballet (1892) and its music would never have become the holiday staples that they are without that Christmas party in Act I. Furthermore, if not for the success that Walt Disney had with his not very Christmasy movie, Fantasia (1940), which included The Nutcracker Suite, William Christensen might not have brought the first complete performance of the ballet to the U.S. four years later. I learned that last tidbit from my wife, who once danced with Ballet West, the company that William Christensen founded another four years after he premiered The Nutcracker with the San Francisco Ballet. Anyway, my wife thinks my Kirov Orchestra CD is too fast to dance to, but the reason I bought it was because it was the only complete performance available on a single disc. You can easily fit The Nutcracker Suite on one CD, but that's only the eight numbers that Tchaikovsky selected for an earlier concert performance: the "Miniature Overture" (Christmasy to me), "March" (even Christmasier), "Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy" (the Christmasiest, in my opinion), "Russian Dance" (Trepak), "Arabian Dance" (Coffee), "Chinese Dance" (Tea), "Dance of the Reed-Flutes" (Marzipan), and "Waltz of the Flowers" (my favorite on the Suite). What's missing though are my absolute personal favorites: the grand Journey Through the Snow (Scene 8), the even grander "Arrival of Clara and the Prince" (Scene 11), the grandest "Pas de Deux" ever (Scene 14), Polichinelles ("Mother Ginger and Her Children"), and finally, the favorite of my many favorites, "Spanish Dance" (Chocolate). If classical music's not your thing, check out Duke Ellington's jazz version of the "Overture" (1960), Trans-Siberian Orchestra's acoustic guitar on "The Silent Nutcracker" (1996), or D-Pulse's house remix, "Acid Dance of the Plum Fairy" (2005),

The Sixth CD of Christmas

When was the last time you bought a CD for one song only? In this day and age of digital downloads, it's not something you really have to do anymore. Maybe I should be asking a different question: When was the last time you bought an album on a factory-sealed CD from a store to which you had to drive? Anyway, I bought The Voice of Christmas almost ten years ago on Amazon for one song. My wife was looking for a Luciano Pavarotti version of "Gesù bambino" and this 2CD set, which was released the same year as the single-disc Three Tenors at Chrismtas (2002), just seemed like the best value. She wanted the song for a holiday performance that she had to choreograph back when she used to teach ballet.

Turns out all the other songs are keepers. At first I couldn't dig the Dame Joan Sutherland solo pieces, but now even the squawking traditional French song "Il est né le divin enfant" brings a smile to my face. To this day, I've never seen the CD sold in stores, nor any of the other CDs in The Voice of... series (America; France; Italy; Mozart; Puccini; Verdi; etc.). You could easily buy one of the many Three Tenors' Christmas CDs anywhere, but if you're looking for an opera Christmas collection with variety, this one's got "old" (Choir of King's College, Cambridge - established in 1441) and "young" (Vienna Boys' Choir - established in 1498), both male (The Three Tenors' José Carreras) and female (the Met's Leontyne Price), religious (Messiah excerpts by the Bavarian Radio Chorus and the London Symphony Chorus) and secular ("White Christmas" by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa).

2009 has been good for opera: Susan Boyle's I Dreamed a Dream (best-selling album of the year), Andrea Bocelli's My Christmas (best-selling holiday album of the season) and Josh Groban's 2007 Noël (now quintuple platinum). Lately the fine line between musicals and opera has become more blurred with these popular artists recording selections from both side by side on the same albums. On my iPod, I label anything orchestral with singing as "Opera" (including Charlotte Church and Sarah Brightman) and anything orchestral but instrumental as "Classical" (no matter if it was written in 1409 or 2009). If an orchestral song with singing is recognizable from Broadway or a movie, I'll label it "Standards" instead of "Soundtrack" even though I know it would be easier to use "Vocal" for both musicals and opera. Before I got the The Voice of Christmas, I might have considered The Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Messiah (1959) as my favorite holiday opera album. Now it's not even my favorite "Motab" album (that would be The Joy of Christmas with Leonard Bernstein).

The Fifth CD of Christmas

In "My Easy Listening/New Age/World" post (11/11/08), I wrote how my dad first got into Mannheim Steamroller with A Fresh Aire VI (1986). I know he'd always been a fan of the song "Classical Gas," but I'm not sure if he owned the Mannheim Steamroller version on an album of the same name (1987). Then there was A Fresh Aire Christmas (1988), the sophomore release in a series of Christmas-themed albums which celebrated their 25th Anniversary with a "best of" double-disc set last year. A few years after the release of Yellowstone: The Music of Nature (1989), my family went to Yellowstone and I'm sure the CD would have been featured prominently in all the gift shops. I'm not sure which year I got into Mannheim Steamroller, but based on the way it kept intersecting with my life, it was probably inevitable. I think my dad liked the folk side of it. For me, it was all about the synthesizers. "Carol of the Bells" was like the "Axel F" of Christmas songs. It exposed me for the first time to the concept that Christmas songs could "rock," (not that it was a rock song - maybe derivative of prog rock, but far from a power metal offshoot like Trans-Siberian Orchestra) yet at the same time, it was easy listening. Paradox seems to be the goal of Mannheim Steamroller, as it's always sounded both old and new and acted both silly and serious at the same time, kind of like most people around Christmastime. The traditional (and my favorite) songs on A Fresh Aire Christmas are "Veni Veni (O Come, O Come Emmanuel), "The Holly and the Ivy" and "Still, Still, Still." For a non-traditional song, check out the "Hallelujah (Remix) " on Christmas Song (2007). In case you're wondering about the other Christmas albums, don't bother. Mannheim Steamroller Christmas (1984), is almost as good as the album featured here (not as sentimental for me) but there are only ten songs from later albums that stay true to the sound and spirit of the holiday (and earlier works):

Christmas in the Aire (1995)
2. "Joseph Dear, Oh Joseph Mine"
4. "Herbei, oh ihr Gläubigen (Oh Come All Ye Faithful)"
11. "Kling, Glöckchen"
12. "Jingle Bells"

Christmas Extraordinaire (2001)
3. "Away in a Manger"
4. "Faeries (Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy)"
5. "Do You Hear What I Hear?"
6. "The First Noel"

Christmas Celebration (2004)
1. "Christmas Celebration"

Christmas Song (2007)
10. "Traditions of Christmas" (music box)

The Fourth CD of Christmas

This post is dedicated to those who limit themselves to the contemporary Christmas pop music that they play in department stores and restaurant chains. Anyone who understands the true meaning of Christmas knows that the holiday is 2010 years old, but most Christmas compilations only feature songs written within the last 200 years. James Galway's Christmas Carol (1986) remedies that by including the "Chorale" and "Sinfonia" from Johann Sebastian Bach's Christmas Oratorio (1734) and "Ave Maria," which is based on a melody that Bach composed for The Well-Tempered Clavier (1722). Dates that old make "Frosty the Snowman" (1950) and its predecessor "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (1939) seem like new releases. He also includes "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," which is probably older than Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (1843) and the only other familiar carol, "Greensleeves," is older than Dickens himself. My personal favorites are the "Shepherd's Pipe Carol" (1975), "I Saw Three Ships" (first published in 1928, supposedly an upbeat variation of "Greensleeves"), "Zither Carol," "Holy Boy" and "Past Three O'Clock" (1924).

The Third CD of Christmas

If I were filthy rich, there are many things that I've said I would do: buy my grandparents' cabin and live like a hermit; visit all 50 states, stopping at every national park; build a lavish home theater and organize a film festival; fund a community skate park; curate an antique music box museum. That last one's not actually true. I've never said it before but now that I have, why not? A library of golden age comic books would only be of interest to English speakers but music is universal, especially instrumental music. In the case of an unlikely but possible post-apocalyptic future without electricity, music boxes would be invaluable to music lovers without any natural musical talent. I love music boxes. The Porter Co. (surprisingly available on iTunes) Music Box Christmas, as revealed in my 12/25/08 post, was the album my parents played first thing on Christmas mornings while we opened presents. Not that I think opening presents is the essence of Christmas, but this album IS the essence of Christmas for me. It evokes a baby being born in a manger. It twinkles like starlight and almost brings me to tears. All music boxes have a somewhat melancholy sound, no matter how joyous the songs they play. Considering that my absolute favorite musical instrument is the steel drum and one of my top five things in this world is listening to church bells in the distance, it should come as no surprise that I love the sweet, simple, haunting sound of music boxes. This album straddles the line between reinterpreting Christmas classics in a new and different format and remaining faithful to the original melodies (check out the unique intro on "Greensleeves"). It also has a nice, even balance between contemporary, pop standards and traditional, religious carols. For more on the man behind this, my absolute favorite Christmas CD, click to enlarge the liner notes below:

The Second CD of Christmas

Call me a Philistine. Call me fuddy duddy. Worse yet, call me a hopeless addict, but I'll be the first to admit, I'm an Enya CD collector. In my 10/23/08 post, I mentioned that I consider a fad to be anything involving upwards of 20 million people and since Enya has had over 30 million sales in the U.S. alone, she could be considered trendy, but I'm not ashamed. You may see multiple albums pictured on this post, but "the second CD of Christmas" is really just Shepherd Moons, winner of the first of Enya's four Grammy Awards for "Best New Age Album." It doesn't have Christmas in the title like some of her later work, but it was released early one November and my dad must have bought it shortly thereafter, because I remember him playing it throughout the holidays and almost till spring. The opening and title track encapsulates the season of winter more than any other song I know. The second track, "Caribbean Blue," doesn't transport me to a tropical paradise - instead, it brings to my mind the hustle and bustle of gift shopping, or of Santa's elves speedily building toys. The third track, "How Can I Keep From Singing?" sounds like midnight Mass because of the echo and organ. The tribal fourth track isn't very Christmasy, neither the popular single, "Book of Days," nor the last track with bagpipes. But I still like them all. My two favorite tracks on the album (and the most Christmasy) are "Angeles" and "Marble Halls" (which reminds my granddad of his childhood).

Enya's follow-up to Shepherd Moons was the Oíche Chiún (Silent Night) single. My dad immediately snatched that up too but I waited a few years and then bought The Christmas EP. They have different cover art but both feature the songs "Oíche Chiún" and "'s Fagaim Mo Bhaile" (very Christmasy). The reason I waited to buy the EP was that it had more songs than the single, but those songs turned out to be recycled from the albums Watermark and The Celts. Now I'm missing the song "Oriel Window" (more Christmasy), which is on the single but not on the EP, and I prefer that to the song "As Baile" (less Christmasy), which is on the EP but not on the single. I'm also missing the Target exclusive, Sounds of the Season: The Enya Holiday Collection (known as the Christmas Secrets EP in Canada). It starts with "Oíche Chiún" (which seems to be on everything including the charity compilation, A Very Special Christmas), but adds a couple new interpretations of the Christmas classics, "Adeste Fideles (Oh Come All Ye Faithful)" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." Both of those versions are so-so, but the fourth track, "Christmas Secrets" is a must-have and I don't have it (the cheapest solution may be to buy the import-only Amarantine: Special Christmas Edition, an album I already own the original version of).

In my 11/11/08 post, I noted that both Enya and Mannheim Steamroller had come out with Christmas-themed albums on the same day. And Winter Came... was Enya's release that day and if you take away the song I discussed in that post, "Trains and Winter Rains," along with the rockin' "My! My! Time Flies!" (which just happen to be the first two tracks on last year's Very Best of Enya CD/DVD) what you're left with is like a new version of Shepherd Moons. The title track on And Winter Came... encapsulates the season almost as well as the title track on Shepherd Moons. The second track, "Journey of the Angels" takes me back to "Angeles" and "Last Time By Moonlight" is like the new "Marble Halls." The third track, "White Is in the Winter Night," is the new gift shopping/elf toymaking addition. The fourth track, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" is the new midnight Mass carol. I'm hardly the first person to suggest that Enya's albums all sound the same and I won't be the last that honestly doesn't care. Ireland's other, bigger, musical export to the world, U2, also cranks out albums which all sound the same to me and I'm fine with that as well (I like their "Christmas Baby Please Come Home" on the aforementioned charity compilation, A Very Special Christmas). There are lots of excessive and redundant holiday traditions and I'll take them all, thank you much.

The First CD of Christmas

There are lot of Christmas movies and animated TV specials with songs and instrumental scores that I like: White Christmas (1954), Babes in Toyland (1961), Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964), The Small One (1978) and Gremlins (1984). I only own one Christmas movie soundtrack on CD and that's Home Alone (1990). I didn't own a CD player when the movie came out, but when I started buying CDs, it was one of my firsts. It's not just a Christmas thing either. Every year at Thanksgiving, my mom's whole side of the family would get together and my uncle would offer to take all my cousins and me to the movies but it never happened. To this day, I've only ever been to the theater on Thanksgiving once, when all my aunts and uncles together took us to Home Alone. I think of that every Thanksgiving as it's one of the happiest memories of my life, plus I saw the trailer for Edward Scissorhands (another somewhat Christmas movie with a great soundtrack). I learned to comb my hair and put on deodorant from the aftershave screaming scene so you know the movie's ingrained in my daily routine. Speaking of the aftershave scenes, without the lip-synching one I might never have been exposed to Mel Tormé, and I personally think he's better than Bing Crosby OR Frank Sinatra. Unfortunately for the time being I don't own any of his Christmas albums. I just rewatched the DVD with the director's commentary and I learned that John Williams wasn't the first choice for composer on Home Alone. The director wanted Bruce Broughton, who coincidentally did lots of other holiday-themed soundtracks, including The Thanksgiving Promise (1986) and Miracle on 34th Street (1994). Nobody thought John Williams would do a "kiddie" movie, but then he followed this one up with Hook (1991). That leads me to my final point. What's so great about Home Alone is that John Williams didn't treat it like a "kiddie" movie and neither did the rest of the cast or crew. Director Chris Columbus even claims that he was inspired by Charles Dickens in Great Expectations (1860) and Oliver Twist (1837), which are both dark stories about kids in over their heads. This reminds me of an IMDb comment I read recently, by Lou Pine from Dublin, about the movie Parents (1989):

"There is an aspect to childhood that is too often (and in the case of Hollywood almost always) forgotten and that is the dark side. The world for a child does not always appear as a bright, shining place of wonder and joy; more often than not the world is strange, forbidding and completely out of our control. That appearance is not deceptive; what is deceptive is the web of fictions we build up over time to help us deal with this. For me part of the thrill of horror (real horror, not simply the slash and stack variety), is the remembrance of that childhood chill, the memory of what Lovecraft termed cosmic horror and Freud called the Uncanny. Regardless of who those people are, parents as the symbol of unimpeachable, unquestioned authority whom we have to trust regardless of their real motives, are a potent representation of this chaotic universe, a universe that could crush us at any moment if it wanted to, but which we're stuck with."