Happy Holidays from the Music Pill!! To celebrate the Christmas season and share a little holiday spirit, I thought I’d do a blog on two of my favorite things in the world: Music and Christmas.
Here is some really great new Christmas music that I found, as well as my favorite Christmas Albums of all time to listen to throughout the holiday season. Hopefully at least some of this is new to a few of you, and you can listen to some new material this holiday season!! (These are all available on Itunes, or wherever you get your music.)
But first, I want to say that I very much appreciate you all humoring me and reading this blog – you can’t imagine how therapeutic it is for me, or how great it feels to see the reader base steadily growing and to receive the positive comments that I get about it. I love you all!! As always, thanks for reading. The Music Pill wishes you a very happy holiday season and a wonderful 2012.
So, lets start with some stuff that will add some spice to that family Christmas party. (Do not hit your family members). Unbeknownst to me, for the past few years, August Burns Red has been releasing a single Christmas song each year to their die-hard fans. They take a traditional Christmas tunes and add tight metal musicianship and a heavy dose of double bass to really make some interesting versions of songs such like Carol of the Bells, Little Drummer Boy, and O Come, O Come Emmanuel. This year’s addition, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, is no exception. I really like having these songs in my Christmas rotation, as it adds variety and allows me to satisfy my metal cravings while still being excited for Christmas.
In addition to this, here are a few Christmas albums that I really really like. All are traditional music (not metal), but provide great tunes through the holidays, and are definitely what I’d call “must haves”. Hopefully there are a few new ones on here for you.
6. Christmas to Christmas – Lee Greenwood (1989)
This is a childhood favorite for me. My family had this album on cassette tape and played it every year. Although I’m a bit biased, I do think he does a great job of recording the songs as they were written, and I think this is a great selection of songs. Great, cover to cover (except for the front cover, which has a super creepy picture of Lee on it).
5. Barenaked for the Holidays – Barenaked Ladies (2004)
I love this album. It’s very simple, and has original songs as well as classics. They use simple guitar picking and great harmony vocals, and put just enough unique spin on the songs to keep me interested but not annoy me. This is really one of the only “unique” Christmas albums I listen to – as I’m a sucker for the classics. They do a FANTASTIC version of Auld Lang Syne – I just love this dude’s voice.
4. The Greatest Holiday Classics – Kenny G (2005)
This dude is a mastermind. He truly does things with a saxophone that make any fan of music just drool. He has done a great job producing these tracks, adding in piano and other instrumentation to make what I consider a masterpiece of music that would compete with any out there. No matter what you’re situation this holiday season, if you take an hour, cozy up next to someone you love with a glass of Merlot, and listen to this album, I can guarantee that you’ll be thankful you did.
3. Holiday Spirits – Straight No Chasers (2008)
This album has quickly risen to the top of the charts the past few years, as it is a very talented group of singer/performers doing what they do best. The only thing better than listening to this album is seeing this group perform it live. (STRONGLY suggest that you check this out if you haven’t. I can’t think of a better date night or holiday activity than going to see SNC live). They also have another great album, Christmas Cheers, that is equally as good, but Holiday Spirits has an original song called Indiana Christmas that is quickly becoming one of my favorite Christmas songs ever. Great album of a Capella Christmas tunes that most everyone will love.
2. Home for Christmas – Amy Grant
Amy Grant has a perfect voice for singing a holiday album. What I love about this album is it’s simplicity. Unlike so many of the newer artists, who try to prove their worth by wailing Christmas tunes an octave higher than they should be and holding notes 14 measures longer than originally written, this album brings a heavy dose of familiarity. It’s just Amy, simply, beautifully, singing classic Christmas songs that everyone knows and can sing along with. There’s a reason its so popular.
1. Christmas Eve and Other Stories – Trans-Siberian Orchestra
So, for those who don’t know this already, TSO is the name for the Christmas flavor of a well-known metal band from the 1980’s named Savantage. The fact that they have the single most popular Christmas song of all time, and are considered one of the top 25 touring acts in the history of music, just goes to show you that if you open up your mind, there’s a little metal in all of us. 🙂 Paul O’Neill (founder, producer, and composer of TSO) is, in my mind, one of our generations most brilliant musicians. Not much to say about this album other than it’s great. Masterfully composed, with really great vocals on some songs, and others that just allow you to get lost in the symphonic music coming at you full throttle. Just buy it. 🙂
Happy Holidays from the Music Pill!!!
“Indiana, thats where I’m going. This time of year you know how I feel. Indiana, that’s where I’m going. Where Christmas, will always be real.”