Top 12 Christmas Albums Part 3: Eight Through Five

I took my 64 Christmas albums and separated them into the two categories of “This might be in my top 12” and “Nah” and then ranked them all. Seventeen made the cut. I ranked those 17 and came up with my top twelve. The last post started the top 12. Here are albums eight through five…

08-Crowder-Oh-For-Joy

#8

Artist: David Crowder Band

Album: Oh For Joy

I like the blend of musical genres including the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) country influence that you hear so strongly in Crowder’s solo work. This album is one that the whole family loves and it has a nice live version of a heavy “Carol of the Bells.” (Extra credit for their Nutcracker cover.)

07-brubeck-Christmas

#7

Artist: Dave Brubeck

Album: A Dave Brubeck Christmas

There was this strange period of time a few years back where I found out about Dave Brubeck and subsequently bought 7 of his albums over the course of about two weeks. I just couldn’t stop! (Now five of them came together in an excellent “Classic Albums” pack so don’t think I went too crazy.) I honestly can’t recall how I heard about him but I bought one album and loved it: the interplay between him and his band and their propensity towards odd time signatures. When I found out there was a Dave Brubeck Christmas album, that had to be bought as well. This album is just him solo and there is a certain peace and calm that comes with that. This album is perfect for sitting in front of the Christmas tree with only the Christmas lights on.

06-joy-electric

#6

Artist: Joy Electric

Album: The Magic of Christmas

I have never heard another band that sounds like Joy Electric. If there is 1. Tell me about them so I can buy all of their albums too and 2. I doubt the band you are mentioning played most of their shows opening for punk bands like Joy Electric did. (That’s another story… Explained in the documentary “The Joy Electric Picture Book.”)

This album is sweet. I was walking in Trader Joe’s the other day and remembering just how much freakin’ treats and candy they sell during this time of year. This album is, like, all of that sugar personified in song. But better. I love the version of “Winter Wonderland” and it’s also one of my favorite versions of “Frosty the Snowman” because this album really brings the thumpetity-thump-thump.

05-8bittylerlarson

#5

Artist: Tyler Larson

Album: The 8bit Hymnal 2 (Christmas)

This album is so fantastic. Larson did an amazing job programming these 8-bit songs. I love that he honored and kept the melody of the Christmas songs during all the choruses and verses but he slips in other melodies for the interludes. (Side note: Why do so many people insist on singing “Angels We Have Heard On High” and omitting the “Glo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ria” part? I’m not a fan of that trend.) This album is so fun. The kids love it because they think it’s a Super Mario Christmas album.

The best thing is… This album is free. Head over to this page on  NoiseTrade and for giving them your email and zip code, it’s yours to download.

Coming up… The top four!

All album cover images from The Cover Art Archive except Tyler Larson from Noise Trade and David Crowder from Amazon| Featured Image includes Ornament Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash and 45-Record-Adapter by Sean Russell on flickr

Top 12 Christmas Albums Part 2: Twelve Through Nine

I took my 64 Christmas albums and separated them into the two categories of “This might be in my top 12” and “Nah” and then ranked them all. Seventeen made the cut. I ranked those 17 and came up with my top twelve. The last post was the “almost made it” albums but…

Now we are into the top 12! Here are albums 12-9!

12-beachboys

#12

Artist: The Beach Boys

Album: Christmas With The Beach Boys

Most of the time my opinion is: The less original content you put onto your Christmas album the more I like it. But this album is one of the exceptions. There are so many great original songs on this album. It starts off with an incredible strong streak of originals, many of which have become classics.

Right from the top with “Little Saint Nick” the harmonies are, as expected, so catchy and tight. We put this album on last week and my wife started singing the “Bop”s during “The Man With All The Toys” and she said, “I was waiting for that!” You know it’s something special when even the background vocals are something you look forward to.

Even one of my least favorite tracks (“Christmas Day”) has a redemptive & groovy organ solo.

11-family-force

#11

Artist: Family Force 5

Album: Christmas Pageant

This album has a great blending of newer production (read: autotune) and classic songs. It’s one of the albums that has something for the kids and the parents like it too.

10-Christmas-Cocktails

#10

Artist: Ultra Lounge (Various Artists)

Album: Christmas Cocktails

In the mid-nineties I picked up the album “Life” by the Cardigans. I had never heard songs like that before. It was touted as kind of a lounge-concept-album so I promptly went back to the record store and started buying “lounge” albums. When I saw there was a Christmas one, I had to go for it.

Track highlights for me include one of my favorite versions of “Winter Wonderland”, “Cha Cha all the Way” and the swinging version of “The Nutcracker Suite.” It feels like a hipper version of the classic Christmas tunes you hear during this time of year.

09-Christmas-Peace-Elvis

#9

Artist: Elvis Presley

Album: Christmas Peace

This specific album makes it on the list riding two great benefits: Sentiment & Value.

This album is sentimental as the vinyl copy of Elvis’ Christmas album was always resting right below my grandmother’s turntable. So it always got played during Thanksgiving and Christmas thus cementing its connection with family and the holidays.

While my grandmother had “It’s Christmas Time” I’m picking this specific album because of the value. Now that my grandmother is in a home and the holidays have become decentralized from her residence I had to get my own copy and I ended up buying Christmas Peace because you get one disc with every Elvis Christmas song (the “Christmas” disc) and you get a second disc with all of his gospel tunes (the “Peace” disc). So you can listen to “Blue Christmas” when it’s the holidays and then “Amazing Grace” the rest of the year.

Coming up, albums #8-5.

All album cover images from The Cover Art Archive except Family Force 5 from Amazon| Featured Image includes Ornament Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash and 45-Record-Adapter by Sean Russell on flickr

Top 12 Christmas Albums Part 1: Honorable Mentions

Don’t tell anyone but I’ve already been listening to Christmas music for two weeks! I know the unspoken rule that Christmas stuff doesn’t happen until after Thanksgiving stuff but I don’t care: There’s so much good Christmas music out there, I need a head start.

And let’s be real… Target has had Christmas items for sale for months.

So, I decided to come up with my Top 12 Christmas albums. (12 felt like an appropriate sized and Christmasy number)

I own 64 Christmas albums and in the most scientific of methods I read the title of each album and sorted it into the following two categories:

  1. That one might be top 12 -and-
  2. Nah

I ended up with 17 albums on my contender list. I started ranking them and just cut it off at 12.

So, to kick things off, I thought I would give a little credit to the five that didn’t make the cut. I enjoy these but for whatever reason, they just aren’t top 12 worthy.

17-Ventures-500

#17

Artist: The Ventures

Album: The Ventures’ Christmas Album

This album is definitely fun. I appreciate the references to other songs like the smooth transition from “Walk Don’t Run” into “Sleigh Ride.” It’s a solid instrumental effort but I think, the biggest problem is I only picked it up last year and haven’t gotten to fully digest it. Maybe it’ll crack the top 12 next time.

16-rend-500

#16

Artist: Rend Collective

Album: Campfire Christmas (Vol. 1)

This album has a nice flow. It starts off mellow with “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” and then kicks it up with some really nice guitar work on “Hark! The Herald” No one in the family complains when this one is on. But… There were only 12 spots. (Bonus points though for a sweet album cover!)

15-sinatra

#15

Artist: Frank Sinatra

Album: A Jolly Christmas From Frank Sinatra

This is a classic. I love the background singers making bell noises on Jingle Bells. Not sure what I can say except it’s probably heresy to not have this in the top 12 but… Oh well… There were only 12 spots. Put it on your own list if it bothers you so much.

14-hoey

#14

Artist: Gary Hoey

Album: Ho Ho Hoey! The Complete Collection

What I love about this album is it’s mostly heavy, the guitar work is fantastic, it crosses multiple guitar-driven genres and there is a great mixture of keeping to the original melodies but blazing out a guitar solo. Some of the tracks have too much of a polished sheen and tone and there are some with vocals that I don’t enjoy. If it weren’t for that, this coulda been a contender. (Side note: Loss of major points with horrifying typography on the album cover.)

13-setzer.png

#13

Artist: Brian Setzer

Album: Christmas Comes Alive & Christmas Rocks! The Best of Collection

Super fun. Both these albums feel super-Christmasy. But other than the spy version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” (“Take A Break Guys”) no tracks come to mind when I think of these albums. (Notice how I just lumped both albums together? I know one is live and one isn’t but neither album even sticks out to me!)

Okay… Next time we will start into the top 12.

All album cover images from The Cover Art Archive | Featured Image includes Ornament Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash and 45-Record-Adapter by Sean Russell on flickr