5 "Must See" Christmas Entertainments

And just like that it’s Christmastime again. Okay it took a year since the last time…but it doesn’t seem that long, does it? The season is a celebration…of the Christ child’s birth…of the wondrous bonds of love and friendship that inform our lives…of gifts given freely and accepted gratefully…of food and drink…of music (the subject of an upcoming entry)…and, in those rare down moments, of enjoying some of the classic entertainment of the season.

Now personally I don’t need to see yet another adaptation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (if you’re so inclined pick one of the dozens of movies, plays, or “very special episodes” of TV shows and have at it.) I don’t need to sit through It’s a Wonderful Life again either (it’s a fine movie…probably a wee bit darker than you remember if you haven’t seen it in a while…but I’ve had that particular experience enough for the time being.)

There are Christmas entertainments that I can…and do…watch happily every year.

The five "must see" Xmas entertainments:

1) A Charlie Brown Christmas: still the gold standard of animated Christmas specials even after 40+ years.

2) Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas: not that over-stuffed movie from 2000 but the magical animated special with the voice of Boris Karloff and the unforgettable singing of Thurl Ravencroft (see the classic "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" below.)

3) A Christmas Story: the endearing and delightful trip down nostalgia lane with Ralphie and his quest for the best Xmas present in the whole wide world (a Red Ryder bb gun, natcherly :-)

4) Miracle on 34^th Street: the 1947 version with Edmund Gwenn and young Natalie Wood (the 1994 version is okay but it’s overlaid with a bit too much seriousness and cynicism when compared to the ’47 winner.) Avoid the colorized version this movie looks grand in black and white.

5) A Wish for Wings That Work: a personal favorite that wasn’t an especially big hit featuring Opus (the penguin from the great Bloom County comic strip) and his quest to be able to fly (with “help” from the ever-addled Bill the Cat.)

Those are 5 great ways to make you smile after a hard day of Christmas shopping (or while sitting around after that last slice of pumpkin pie has made walking not something you have much interest in…)

A New Thought for Christmas

Melissa Etheridge’s “new thought” for Christmas isn’t really new…giving peace a chance and celebrating the soul of the season and the power of love are a classic ideals we should all adhere to all year long…but when it’s presented in such a potent, heartfelt, soulful collection of songs that doesn’t matter one little bit.

A New Thought for Christmas is a consistently engaging collection of holiday songs new and old. There’s no Santa Claus here but there is an abundance of hope and joy and pleas for peace.

It kicks off with a grand, bluesy version of “Blue Christmas” and that inviting vibe inhabits rocking takes on “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” and the sly and sassy reading of the immortal “Merry Christmas, Baby” as well. Etheridge is in fine fettle throughout these rockers as well as on the propulsive “Christmas in America”, an Etheridge-penned plea for a lost lover to come home for the holidays, and during the boogie-woogie strut of “It’s Christmas Time”.

She is also in fine, fine vocal form during the mellower tracks such as the original “Glorious” (a sweet paean to love and family during the holidays that incorporates some of the traditional “Angels We Have Heard on High”) and the hopeful “Light a Light”

There’s a sweet jazzy vibe (including a very tasty guitar solo by Philip Sayce) to her sedate take on “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” that vaults into the upper echelons of the many versions of that charming chestnut.

The peace anthem “Ring the Bells” (see below)…co-written by Salman Ahmad, who also contributes vocals and guitars…has a Middle Eastern vibe that invests it with additional power as it soars up towards the heavens.

By the time the disc ends with the inspirational “O Night Divine” (with incorporates aspects of the traditional “O Holy Night”) you feel immersed in the Christmas spirit without the need of nary a jingle bell nor a flying reindeer…and it’s a lovely thing indeed.

Come Darkness, Come Light: 12 Songs of Christmas

‘Tis the season for many things…including and especially new holiday music…and that can be a lovely thing indeed. Mary Chapin Carpenter’s new Christmas album is a soothing, stripped down, reflective affair featuring three musicians Carpenter herself (with acoustic guitar and her luminous and honeyed vocals), Jon Carroll (on piano), and co-producer John Jennings (on everything else…including bass, acoustic and electric guitars, drums, percussion, accordion, piano, and harmony vocals.)

The 12 songs on the disc…a mixture of original songs, found songs, and traditional songs…are soothing, reverent, and moving. From the opening “Once in Royal David’s City” to the love song “Hot Buttered Rum”…from Carpenter’s lilting title song to the bittersweet “Bells are Ringing” (co-written with Jennings…see below) to the closing with the traditional “Children, Go Where I Send Thee”…there is not a misstep on this fine collection.

Come Darkness, Come Light would be a lovely soundtrack for a cool winter’s evening…perhaps snuggled by a fire while sipping hot cider…it’s a sweetly mellow Christmas collection and a most welcome addition to my ever-burgeoning collection of holiday CDs.

Merry Christmas Baby

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band bringing the Xmas joy on the Conan O'Brien Show.

A Christmas Story

Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life (with James Stewart and Donna Reed) is, by according to many, THE classic Christmas movie. There were times when the movie, which fell into public domain, seemed to being shown almost constantly between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

And yes it’s a fine movie…kind of dark along the way (Stewart’s George Bailey is seconds away from committing suicide at one point after all) and a bit saccharine at the end but fine…but for my money there are two Christmas themed motion pictures that are much better. One is the 1947 version of Miracle on 34^th Street (filmed in glorious black and white) with the incomparable Edmund Gwenn in his Oscar winning turn as Kris Kringle and the young Natalie Wood as Susan, a girl who rediscovers the wonders of childhood (the 1994 color version…with Richard Attenborough and Mara Wilson…is okay I guess but it pales by comparison to the original.)

But for my money the most engaging Christmas movie is 1983’s A Christmas Story…the whimsical (and sweetly comical), sardonic (but not snarky), nostalgic (but not overly sentimental) tale of Ralphie (played with guileless spunk by Peter Billingsley), his earnest quest to get a bb gun for Christmas (the story is set in the 40’s when bb guns were an uncontroversial present for a boy), and his interaction with his somewhat dysfunctional parents (his blustery father played with manic aplomb by Darren McGavin and his fluttery mother played with ditzy grace by Melinda Dillon.) The story is tied together and moved along by the breathlessly arch narration by Jean Shepard, the author of the semi-autobiographical story.

It’s not a deep or complicated story but it is charming and funny and touching (with just enough slapstick to keep things lively) and it never fails to make me smile. What more could you want from a Christmas movie? :-)

(The original theatrical trailer is below.)

Vanessa Williams

Vanessa Williams' very cool smooth jazz version of "What Child is This?"

U2 - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

From A Very Special Christmas.

Home for Christmas

There are some music fans who believe that pop artists have jumped the so-called “shark” if they release one or more of four types of albums: greatest hits, live recordings, covers collections, and holiday records. While this can sometimes be true, I’m willing to cut folks some slack on the matter…especially when it comes to holiday records. There is a burgeoning sub-section of my CD collection that is devoted to holiday records…at least a couple get added every year…and I am unabashed in my fondness for them (and no, there’s no such thing as “too many” versions of “O Holy Night” or “Jingle Bell Rock” :-)

Daryl Hall and John Oates, their hit-making days behind them for the time being, have released albums in all four of the categories mentioned in the previous paragraph. Their holiday offering, Home for Christmas, is a heartfelt, soulful, sparkling gem of the genre that never descends into dullness or treacle.

With a soaring overture leading into a very fine, gently funky version of “The First Noel”, the CD gets off to a grand start indeed.

Some of the songs are the usual suspects… “The Christmas Song” (aka “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”…written by Mel Torme & Robert Wells but totally owned by Nat “King” Cole), “Jingle Bell Rock”, “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”, “O Holy Night”…but Hall and Oates bring a vibrancy to the proceedings that makes them all shine once again. Hall’s still potent voice brings a heartfelt and delightful urgency to the tunes and the arrangements are fresh and exceedingly well-played.

Two of the songs are originals: Oates takes the lead vocal on his self-penned “No Child Should Cry on Christmas” (he also does an admirable job on the oft-covered “Christmas Song”) and he acquits himself admirably while Hall delivers a sweet, mid-tempo jewel with the title song which he co-wrote.

The Stax song, “Everyday Should Will Be Like a Holiday”, co-written by the great Booker T. Jones, fits right into Hall’s R&B wheelhouse and he knocks it out of the part. Their version of one of my favorite holiday songs, Robbie Robertson’s lovely “Christmas Must Be Tonight”, is just as fine.

The rollicking, toe-tapping gospel of “Children Go Where I Send Thee” is righteous enough to make even the biggest sinner smile and dance along. And “Mary Had a Baby” makes a smooth, joyful noise of its own.

By the time the closing song, a soul-filled and soaring take on “O Holy Night” , was done I was filled with enough Christmas spirit to bring light to a cold, gray Autumn’s day…can’t ask more than that, can I? :-)

(Below, Hall and Oates performing "Christmas Must Be Tonight" on the Megan Mullally Show.)

Merry Christmas to You

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,
Jack Frost nipping at your nose
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir,
and folks dressed up like Eskimos

Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe
help to make the season bright
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow
will find it hard to sleep tonight

They know that Santa's on his way,
He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh
And every mother's child is gonna spy
to see if reindeer really know how to fly

And so I'm offering this simple phrase,
to kids from one to ninety-two
Although it's been said,
many times, many ways:
"Merry Christmas to you."

- Mel Torme and Bob Wells -

Dig That Crazy Christmas

Brian Setzer loves the swing music…that was evident even when he was a Stray Cat…and apparently he loves the Christmas music, too. Dig That Crazy Christmas (which came out last year) is the Brian Setzer Orchestra’s second yuletide CD and it is, to coin a phrase, a gas!

This record jumps and jives and just pulsates with energy, life, and the most fun-filled aspects of the Christmas season.

From the percolating title tune to the frenetic “Hey Santa”…from the gently swinging version of “Angels We Have Heard on High” (featuring a guitar riff that sounds like it was lifted from Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue”) to the grand instrumental take on “My Favorite Things” (featuring some very tasty fretwork by Mr. Setzer)…from snappy big band workouts like “Getting’ in the Mood (for Christmas)” (a rewrite of Glenn Miller’s immortal “In the Mood”) and “Cool Yule” (which Bette Midler features on her 2006 Christmas disc of the same name)…the spirit of the season is joyfully embraced from the beginning to the end.

Even though their version of “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” isn’t a gloss on Aimee Mann’s playful take on her holiday CD, it’s a great deal of fun just the same…the same holds true for “’Zat You Santa Claus” (hard to top Louis Armstrong on this one, of course.)

Dig That Crazy Christmas is a fun holiday party record…and what could be cooler than that during a stressful holiday season?

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More Christmas celebratin' is goin' on here:
Christmas Annex

And here:
Bread and Roses

Christmas Music

The Christmas tree is up in the corner of the front room and Christmas gifts are patiently waiting to be festooned in bright paper and shiny bows. Two new Christmas tales are written and waiting to be inserted into this year’s Christmas cards (which themselves are waiting to be handed over to the tender mercies of the US Postal Service.) Despite my advancing age, I retain an undeniable fondness for the season of lights and magic (mindful of the gaudy veneer of commercialism that has become part and parcel of the holidays I still choose to see the season as being touched by wonder and, yes, magic.)

And, of course, there is music. I take unabashed delight in the music of the season. There are some for whom hearing the umpteenth version of “The Christmas Song” or “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” by a pop star is akin to fingernails slowly scraping across a blackboard…but, while acknowledging that there is a fair measure of crappy holiday music, I remain a true fan usually adding 2 or 3 holiday CDs to my collection most years.

Last year, I highlighted some of my favorites (see here) and this year I add a few of my newer favorites (well, one’s not so new but it could be the best Christmas album ever…)

In the spirit of full disclosure, I must say that my favorite Christmas CD is probably Someday at Christmas, a 22-song compilation I burned a couple of years ago and gave out with that year’s Christmas cards to selected friends and family. Kicking off with Patti Austin’s soulful version of “Christmas Time is Here” and ending with a lovely “Auld Lang Syne” by James Taylor, it features Springsteen, John and Yoko, Macy Gray, Lena Horne, The Supremes, Donny Hathaway, Barenaked Ladies, Laura Nyro, and the Jackson 5 (on the title cut) among others. I played it yesterday and it still sounds grand (however immodest that might sound :-) from beginning to end.

This year offers up some new delights including and especially the immortal soundtrack from A Charlie Brown Christmas (arguably the best animated Christmas special ever) by Vince Guaraldi wonderfully re-mastered (it sounds amazing) and bolstered with a handful of alternative takes (all quite lovely.) This sublime music has been the soundtrack of the season for yours truly (and many others of my generation and those that followed) and it’s never sounded better.

Aimee Mann’s One More Drifter in the Snow is a warm, appealing versions of holiday chestnuts (“The Christmas Song”, “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”) along with a couple of new songs (the bittersweet “Christmastime” written by Mann’s husband Michael Penn and the wistful “Calling on Mary” co-written by Mann herself) and a delightfully playful “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” with Grant Lee Phillips ably taking the narrator role made famous by Boris Karloff on the original version from How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Sufjan Stevens (who apparently has as much unreleased music in his archives as Tupac did) has a holiday offering, Songs for Christmas, that is chockfull of goodness: 42 charming, witty, reverent songs spread out over 5 CDs (one each for the 5 years in which the songs were recorded: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2006), stories, an animated music video, a quirky, charming comic strip, photos, essays. It’s a groovy collection.

Eventually every pop star who no longer reach the upper levels of the charts will offer up a Christmas collection (even nice Jewish boys like Neil Diamond have made Xmas discs) so it’s not surprising that the Divine Miss M has finally broke out with Cool Yule. While I would have preferred fewer ballads drenched with swelling, syrupy strings (that said, the Christmas version of “From a Distance” is very cool) and more sassy fun (thank goodness for the delightfully jaunty “Mele Kalikimaka”, the charming duet with Johnny Mathis on “Winter Wonderland/Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!”, the snappy version of “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm”, and the swinging title song), Bette’s collection finds her in grand voice and it’s a fine addition to the burgeoning pantheon of pop Christmas CDs.

* * * * *
Some Christmas stories by your host
can be found here: Christmas Annex
and here: Bread and Roses

Holiday Music

Okay, bear with me here (this will be kinda long and unabashedly geeky.) It’s December. Thanksgiving is gone and Christmas is a few weeks down the road. I love Christmas and, more on point here, I love Christmas pop music. I don’t know why…I’ve stopped trying to understand it and I just go with it. A burgeoning subsection of my CD collection (60+ titles as of last count) is filled with Christmas CDs…almost every year (including this one) I find at least one or two to add to the ranks.

There are countless Christmas CDs, of course, and they are definitely not created equal. The six discs I’m highlighting here are purported to be the “best”…what floats individual holiday music boats is too subjective to bother with that kind of hubris…but rather a half-dozen cool ways to embrace the musical season (you know you wanna…)

New this year is Joan Osborne’s very tasty Christmas Means Love, a soulful mix of traditional tunes and less reverent yuletide offerings (including the wonderfully sassy “What Do Bad Girls Get?”.) Apparently this one is only available at Barnes and Noble.

Also new is Diana Krall’s swinging, impeccable Christmas Songs featuring a lot of the usual holiday suspects (“Sleigh Ride”, “The Christmas Song”, “Christmas Time is Here”) presented in a relaxed, engaging set aided and abetted by the Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. (Not sure why they went for the cheesecake cover but whatever works…)

From last year is the utterly delightful Barenaked for the Holidays by the utterly delightful Barenaked Ladies. It swings from straightforward renditions (including the wonderful “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings” medley with Sarah MacLachlan and a neat cover of “Do They Know it’s Christmas?”) and witty, tongue-in-cheek numbers (the opening “Jingle Bells” starts as a languid piano ballad but after a minute and a half it suddenly kicks into sprightly gear…and they include the “Batman smells” verse…how cool is that? And “Deck the Stills”, a short version of “Deck the Halls” using only the words “Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young” has to be heard to be believed.) There are also some cool original tunes.

Some of the best Christmas discs are compilations and the others on this list are three of my favorites.

First up is the 2-disc, 36-track set Now That’s What I Call Christmas!...no seriously, it’s a great collection. The first disc is filled with old school Christmas stuff…Nat Cole’s “The Christmas Song”, Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas”, the Carpenters’ “Merry Christmas Darling”, the Beach Boys’ “Little Saint Nick”, Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”, etc…along with a couple of wild cards (“Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” and the Bing Crosby/David Bowie duet “Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth”.) The second disc is more (relatively) contemporary stuff…John & Yoko’s “Happy Xmas”, Band Aid’s “Do They Know it’s Christmas”, Bruce Springsteen’s great version of “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town”, etc….and features tracks by an eclectic lineup including Paul McCartney, Shaggy, Diana Krall, Britney Spears, Mannheim Steamroller, Boyz II Men, Harry Connick Jr., and ‘NSync.

Time-Life’s Jingle Bell Rock (from 1987…I have no idea if it’s still in print) features 25 tracks of classic pop and R&B. Two tracks each from Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Temptations, and the pre-wacko years Jackson 5 (a nice cover of “Someday at Christmas” and a cute version of “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”) plus cool stuff from Elton John (“Step into Christmas”), Chuck Berry (“Run, Rudolph, Run”), Bobby Helms (the title track), the Beach Boys (“The Man with All the Toys”), Booker T. & the MG’s (“Jingle Bells”), Otis Redding (a majestic “Merry Christmas Baby”), and Donny Hathaway (the immortal “This Christmas”), among others.

And, last but not least, A Very Special Christmas, the first of what would become a series of discs benefiting the Special Olympics. There are some fine tracks on subsequent volumes but the first one is still the best. From Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band’s playful live version of “Merry Christmas Baby” to U2’s yearning “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”…from the Pretenders’ lovely reading of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” to Madonna’s playful vamp through “Santa Baby…from Whitney Houston going to church with a mighty "Do You Hear What I Hear?" to Run-DMC’s clever, show-stopping “Christmas in Hollis” everybody on the disc brought their A-game to the party (okay, so Bryan Adams is no Chuck Berry on “Run, Rudolph, Run”, it’s the thought that counts…)

As I said before, I love this stuff so if there’s some cool holiday music out there you think I may not have heard of I welcome you to let me know about it.

Happy Holidays, y’all.