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  • Christmas Music That Won’t Kill You – Part II: Christmas Past

    The other day I told you about some of the new Christmas CDs this year.  Now we are going to revisit some recommended holiday albums you may have missed in the past.

    Ray Charles – Spirit of Christmas
    Sounds awesome, right?  Nope, it’s merely very good.  It was recorded in the 80s, so it doesn’t have the immediacy of Ray’s recordings for Atlantic.  Pick this up if you’re looking for a big band romp through Christmas classics.  Ray is in great voice and the arrangements are strong.  Really strong if you consider when this was recorded.

    Ringo Starr – Christmas Collection
    This charming CD is pretty rocking in spots.  What record collection is complete without the world’s most famous drummer singing “The Little Drummer Boy?”  With bagpipes!  (Think about it; it makes sense.)

    Christmas Jug Band – Uncorked
    Christmas Jug Band is a collective of SF-area roots musicians.  Although they have released a number of CDs, this is their best because of the strength of the originals.  It’s perfect for people who dig folk, western swing, or skiffle and appreciate a certain kind of humor.  Many of the songs are supposed to remind one of older jazz or string band music, but the humor is modern.  Most humorous music is for kids, and because it talks down to them, it’s toxic to adults.  Christmas Jug Band is more like Peanuts.  The humor really functions at an adult level without excluding children.  If this sounds appealing to you, head over to www.globerecords.com and check out the audio samples.

    Kings College Choir – pretty much anything
    The Mormon Tabernacle Choir might be seen as THE Christmas choir, but Kings College Choir is way better.  Why?  Because the treble parts are sung by pre-pubescent boys instead of women.  You need a bunch of powerful women singers to do Wagner, but that’s just a little too Mall of the Americas for me.  Boys sound like bells or (I almost hate to say it) angels which seems much more appropriate if you are going for a religious experience.  They are all great so pick the one with the carols you like best.  Just be aware that anything subtitled “a lesson and carol service” will be half Bible readings.

    Various Artists – Midwinter
    This amazing 4-CD collection was released by Free Reed, who are known for their comprehensive British folk-rock box sets.  It contains the artist one might expect: Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, The Watersons, Martin Carthy, The Strawbs, Maddy Prior, Shirly Collins, Jethro Tull, etc.  With this bunch, you’re going to get a bunch of really old English songs with possibly pre-Christian roots.  The set also includes some Americans incuding Loudon Wainwright III, Blind Boy Grunt (Bob Dylan, but you knew that right?), Joan Baez, John Fahey, and even Mahalia Jackson.  The few spoken word pieces range from Robert Frost reciting “Stopping By Woods On a Snowy Evening” to an excerpt of The Grinch featuring Vincent Price.

    I could go on but Rock Dad has some crafting responsibilities.  Let’s open this up to comments.  What favorites or guilty pleasures do you have?

    I’ll be back soon with Christmas future.  What the heck could that be?  No idea.

  • Not Necessarily The News – DMB, Prince and (of course) Kanye

    What Would You Say?: If DMB Went Back To Work:
    After a four-year absence from the studio and the loss of saxophonist Leroi Moore, the Dave Matthews Band are soldiering on with a new album and tour. The album is scheduled for release on 4/14, with the tour kicking off in New York on the same day. This new album is produced by Rob Cavallo, who manned the boards for Green Day’s massive “American Idiot” album (speaking of which, where the hell are those guys??). As a veteran of DMB shows numbering into the double digits, I am looking forward to both a new album and tour from these guys. See? I can write something without being smarmy!!

    Photograph by Penner.

    What Will Wendy & Lisa Say?
    In the “I Love His Music, But The Guy’s a Douchebag” department, Prince allegedly revealed himself as a homophobe by saying “God came to Earth and saw people sticking it wherever and doing it with whatever, and he just cleared it all out”. Of course, Prince (who, in case you haven’t heard, has been a Jehovah’s Witness for the past several years)’s people denied that he made the statement, but the New Yorker, the magazine in which the statement was published, is standing by the quote. Talk about sticking your foot in your mouth, especially when you’re an artist who has traded in on gay imagery and tons of gay fans for years. I wonder how a cuban heel tastes in your mouth, Mr. Nelson?

    Mr West: Lip Synching?
    So, according to this news clip, the message boards are abuzz, wondering if Kanye lip-synched his “Saturday Night Live”. Folks, find a place somewhere that has the clips of his performance and you tell me if he’s lip-synching, because if I was miming, I’d have made sure the vocals I was miming to sounded a hell of a lot better than Kanye’s did on Saturday night. Kanye fairly obviously used a background singer to hit the high notes he would have otherwise muffed, and the Auto-Tune was in full effect, but anyone with half an ear can tell the dude wasn’t lip synching.

  • The New Music Files 12/16/08: Ending the Year With a Bang

    Well, folks, we’ve come to the end of the road for 2008. The last big release date of the year. The labels are emptying their chambers until 2009 (and from the looks of the ’09 release schedule…those chambers won’t be emptied until we’re way into 2009). Here’s what you can expect to see on the new release shelves in stores today.

    Fall Out Boy Folie a Deux: This is supposed to be Pete Wentz and the boys’ “political” album, originally scheduled to release on Valentine’s Day. While I kinda like FOB (their last album impressed me, actually), I’m not so sure that I want to hear them talking about politics. Anyway, Folie a Deux continues their move from emo to power-pop as evidenced by their hit single “I Don’t Care”. Debbie Harry and Lil’ Wayne-of course-are among the guests on this album.

    Anthony Hamilton The Point of it All: This man, ladies and gentlemen, is a soul singer the way they used to make ’em. His first two albums have been excellent, and even the pre-fame vault releases that have been put out are pretty good. The Point of it All is touted as a more uptempo effort from Anthony, but I’ve heard the whole album, and it’s not much different from his first two. This is a good thing, because I was scared when I found out the first single had a cameo from rapper David Banner.

    Keyshia Cole A Different Me: It took Mary J. Blige 13 years and seven studio albums before she went from “troubled” to “diva”. Keyshia Cole is trying to turn the same trick in five years and three albums. Of course, Mary had to deal with drug and alcohol addiction and an abusive relationship. Keyshia’s pretty much only had to deal with being a hoodrat. This new album is already off to a shaky start, as the first single heads back to the grave of Tupac Shakur one more time. Leave the man alone! He’s been dead 12 years now!!!

    Soulja Boy Tell ’em ISouljaboytellem.com: What’s that sound? It’s the sound of Soulja Boy Tellem’s career dying a quick and undignified death! The maker of last year’s biggest novelty hit returns for round 2, only this time, no one cares.

    Jamie Foxx Intuition: Back when Jamie was playing Ugly Wanda on “In Living Color”, did anyone think the words “Oscar winner” would precede his name? Probably not, but here we are a decade and a half later, and Foxx has a successful dual career as actor and singer. This, his third solo album, features more slightly lecherous R&B (dude, you’re 40!) with cameos from T.I., Ne-Yo, and (you guessed it) Lil’ Wayne.

    But wait, there’s more!

    The All-American Rejects follow up their breakthrough album, Move Along, with When the World Comes Down, which features the hit single “Gives You Hell”. They’re joined on this week’s release schedule by rapper Plies (didn’t he just release an album?), Josey Scott & Saliva, and in this week’s oddest release, Vibes,a reggae album by Heavy D. Yes, that Heavy D.

    On the reissue tip, The Bee Gees re-release their Love Songs compilation a full month and a half in advance of Valentine’s Day.How thoughtful. There’s also the annual Dave Matthews Band live album (I think this might be one of the last shows sax man Leroi Moore played), a best of from Ghostface Killah, and budget compilations from the likes of Bob Dylan, Brooks & Dunn and REO Speedwagon, so if you’ve been interested in checking these bands out, you can do so at a low price.

    Get your full list of this week’s new releases here.

    And with that, “The New Music Files” is taking the remainder of 2008 (and the first week or two of 2009) off. Enjoy the holiday season and see you next year!!