Mal ,'Shindig'
There's a lady plays her fav'rite records/On the jukebox ev'ry day/All day long she plays the same old songs/And she believes the things that they say/She sings along with all the saddest songs/And she believes the stories are real/She lets the music dictate the way that she feels.
Susan McKeown & Lindsey Horner, Through the Bitter Frost and Snow. It's a gorgeous, haunting album for the darkest days of the year. Not a party album, but meant for quiet, focused listening, like when you're out for a walk on a cold, snowy evening, and the stars are blazing bright above you, and you can feel the seasons turning around you.
Besides that, I'd say the Peanuts Christmas album, and the first Christmas Revels album.
What's your favorite Christmas album?
Nat King Cole's Christmas album and Percy Faith and His Orchestra's "Music of Christmas".
Do compilations count? Rhino's Hipster's Holiday is very fun and listenable.
Also this. Any compil with Pearl Bailey singing "Five Pound Box of Money" deserves a place in the rotation. Jingle Bell Swing is also good.
There is an old Firestone compilation that I love love love.
John Denver and the Muppets
Harry Connick Jr.
Roberta Flack
Starbucks Hi-Fidelity Christmas
The Chieftans one is a favorite of mine too. It was my main Christmas album until Mojo Magazine put out a Christmas mix a couple of years ago. Love that!
But the Chieftans one is what I listen to the most with my family. My mom and I like to sing Il Est Ne together. Which is funny because of how I speak no French.
The only Xmas music I can tolerate is Charlie Brown Xmas. Frankly, during the Xmas season, there is so much Xmas music elsewhere I don't listen at home.
My family used to have a compilation album from the 1950's that had Les Paul and Mary Ford, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra that I used to like to listen to. (We still have it somewhere.) It was called Merry Christmas to You.
My favourite carol is In the Deep Midwinter, which I had never heard until I went to an Anglican university.
What's your favorite Christmas album?
I've really lost my taste for Christmas music over the past few years. But I remember an Andy Williams album very fondly from my childhood. Especially "My Favorite Things," which, okay, isn't a Christmas song, but I think of it as one because it's on that album.
My favourite carol is In the Deep Midwinter, which I had never heard until I went to an Anglican university.
In the Bleak Midwinter?
Ed Harcourt does that on the Mojo mix and it is now one of my favorite christmas songs too!
Yeah, Bleak!