December 16, 2011
Miraclers
Alexandra (Alix) Tyler/Oakland & Laura Compton/San Francisco
Season's Greetings to you Miraclers who possess a deep love, open or secret, for Christmas music, be it high camp, high nostalgia, or high lonesome. There's something here for everyone.
ALIX'S Retro Holiday Mix vol 1
Full of goofy "cocktails-by-the-fire" kinda music.
01 Too Fat For The Chimney -Gisele MacKenzie
02 Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Loretta Lynn
03 Winter Wonderland - Louis Armstrong
Full of goofy "cocktails-by-the-fire" kinda music.
01 Too Fat For The Chimney -Gisele MacKenzie
02 Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Loretta Lynn
03 Winter Wonderland - Louis Armstrong
04 Jingle Bells - Ella Fitzgerald
05 Here Comes Santa Claus - Doris Day
06 A Christmas Song - Shawn Philips
07 Christmas Island - The Lennon Sisters
08 Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree - Partridge Family
09 Frosty The Snowman - Gene Autry
10 That Old Christmas Moon - Leon Redbone
11 Santa Claus Is Back In Town _ Elvis Presley
12 Christmas In Killarney - Bing Crosby
13 Buon Natale - Sergio Franchi14 Feliz Navidad - Jose Feliciano
15 Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland
16 I Want A Hippopotomous For Christmas - Captain Kangaroo
17 Wagon On Christmas - Slim Boyd & The Rangehands
18 O Holy Night - Johnny Mathis
19 The Christmas Waltz - Sinatra Family
20 We Need A Little Christmas - Angela Lansbury
05 Here Comes Santa Claus - Doris Day
06 A Christmas Song - Shawn Philips
07 Christmas Island - The Lennon Sisters
08 Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree - Partridge Family
09 Frosty The Snowman - Gene Autry
10 That Old Christmas Moon - Leon Redbone
11 Santa Claus Is Back In Town _ Elvis Presley
12 Christmas In Killarney - Bing Crosby
13 Buon Natale - Sergio Franchi14 Feliz Navidad - Jose Feliciano
15 Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland
16 I Want A Hippopotomous For Christmas - Captain Kangaroo
17 Wagon On Christmas - Slim Boyd & The Rangehands
18 O Holy Night - Johnny Mathis
19 The Christmas Waltz - Sinatra Family
20 We Need A Little Christmas - Angela Lansbury
Alixmas Vol 2 (2010)
This year’s mix is a tad more lively and chock full o’ retro fabulousness that I hope you’ll love as much as I do (The Border Brass is a particular fave...)
01 Silver Bells - Dean Martin
02 We Wish You A Merry Christmas -The Border Brass
03 Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer - Burle Ives
04 Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town - Santa Claus is Coming to Town
05 Christmas Time All Over The World - Sammy Davis Jr.
06 Hey! Santa Claus - The Moonglows
08 Up On The House Top - Jackson 5
09 Frosty the Snowman - Esquivel
10 Jolly Old St Nicholas - The Border Brass
11 I'm Too Much - Heat Meiser/ Snow Meiser
12 I'm Gonna Lasso Santa Claus - Brenda Lee
13 Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me) - Elvis Presley
14 The Man In The Red Suit- The Peppermint Kandy Kids
01 Silver Bells - Dean Martin
02 We Wish You A Merry Christmas -The Border Brass
03 Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer - Burle Ives
04 Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town - Santa Claus is Coming to Town
05 Christmas Time All Over The World - Sammy Davis Jr.
06 Hey! Santa Claus - The Moonglows
08 Up On The House Top - Jackson 5
09 Frosty the Snowman - Esquivel
10 Jolly Old St Nicholas - The Border Brass
11 I'm Too Much - Heat Meiser/ Snow Meiser
12 I'm Gonna Lasso Santa Claus - Brenda Lee
13 Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me) - Elvis Presley
14 The Man In The Red Suit- The Peppermint Kandy Kids
15 A Holly Jolly Christmas - Burle Ives
16 Christmas Alphabet - The McGuire Sisters
17 Santa Claus Is Watching You - Ray Stevens
18 Go Where I Send You - Nina Simone
19 Suzy Snowflake - Rosemary Clooney
16 Christmas Alphabet - The McGuire Sisters
17 Santa Claus Is Watching You - Ray Stevens
18 Go Where I Send You - Nina Simone
19 Suzy Snowflake - Rosemary Clooney
Blue December by Laura Compton (2009) Mix notes:
Some time in November, I usually have the urge to start listening to Christmas music. But I find that melanchony holiday songs speak to me more than cloying carols and the piped-in gaiety of the retail landscape. My beloved, music-loving father passed away in September of 2002, and that year especially, hearing “It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” everywhere I went seemed like a cruel joke. This mix was inspired by Holly Cole's cover of Merle Haggard's "If We Make it Through December," and from there it wasn't hard to compile other favorite bittersweet takes on the classics, plus some originals. I could easily go through the entire season listening to only Sufjan Stevens'"Songs for Christmas," Mary Margaret O'Hara's holiday EP, and Aimee Mann's "One More Drifter in the Snow," on rotation, and hope you will be similarly hooked.
01 If We Make It Through December - Holly Cole
02 River - Joni Mitchell
03 25th December - Everything But The Girl
04 Ding! Dong! - Sufjan Stevens
05 Christmas Time Is Here - Ivy
06 Calling on Mary - Aimee Mann
07 Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis - Tom Waits
08 Blue Christmas - Mary Margaret O'Hara
09 Flowers in December - Mazzy Star
10 The Winter Solstice - Sufjan Stevens
11 Carol of the Bees - The Bird and the Bee
12 2000 Miles - The Pretenders
13 Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Diana Krall
14 That Was the Worst Christmas - Sufjan Stevens
15 What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? - Mary Margaret O'Hara
All 4 holiday beauties are UP. Let's get
12 comments:
I love this mix! That melancholy mood suits my temperament, tho I should mention that I awoke this very morning with Burl Ives' Have a Holly Jolly Xmas running thru my head, so caveat emptor.
I like a mix where the first tune opens the door to all that follows. I wasn't familiar with the opener, and now it's a favorite. Plus I forgot how much I love Joni's River. And Christmas Time is Here may be my desert island song. I never tire of that chestnut.
This a wonderful antidote to those of us who want some seasonal music that satisfies without feeling like your shopping. Nice finale too.
I should add that the Ivy version of Christmas Time is Here sounds like it should be in a David Lynch film.
Lara -- I'm generally a Scrooge when it comes to holiday music (the exceptions being Vince Guaraldi Tchaikovsky, and the worst possible Krazy Kristmas Kitsch) and that's why I'm so diggin' the beauty of this melancholic mix. /// Charles "Merry Christmas Baby" Brown would feel right at home at your bluesy Christmas Party. /// Lovely photo, by the by. Thanks!
Oops. Missed the "U" in Laura. Eyes too old for this screen...
Hi, Mark and Tim -- Thanks for your comments. Glad I got this one in before the 45-minute limit, as there would have been too many painful choices otherwise. I agree Ivy sounds like David Lynch -- or maybe they are playing it at Silencio right now. "River" was on "Glee" the other night ... can a cast Xmas album be far behind??
I've listened to the Nina Simone version of Go Where I Send You a few times and I can't quite figure out why I find it so melancholy; blue enough to be on the Blue Christmas album. It's not the lyrics nor the arrangement. Maybe it's her voice and the songs I associate with it. Anyway,I find the song lovely, just surprisingly mournful. Thanks for the mix.
All this Christmas music is making me feel soooo.... Christmas-y.
Jeffrey,
This might add some levity to that tune: it's the first version I knew. (Yep, our family had the Firestone record collection).
Shout out Tennessee Ernie!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwqWcn2gbTM
Kelly,
I just watched the Tennessee Ernie Ford clip on YouTube. It's genius on so many levels.How much do you love that kid rocking out? Thanks for sharing.
Some strange ones in there, Alix. (Gawd I hate Ray Stevens. But Nina Simone more than makes up for it.) Thanks for broadening my holiday music horizons. Except for Ray Stevens.
And Laura—nice to have your mix back in the crèche this December. It's a Christmas miracle!
Nice Christmas present. Thank you.
So happy to have another awesome Christmas mix to add to my vast collection. Thanks
sis!
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