[Rock And Roll]

One of my favorite things about the Christmas season is undoubtedly the music. I love Christmas music and I actually look forward to listening to it every year. I start on December 1st and then end on January 1st. People give it a bad wrap because it's overplayed at the malls (and played way too early), but Christmas songs are actually some of the greatest songs ever written from a harmonic and melodic stand point. These are solid pieces of music and it's a huge reason why I love listening to them.

I've listened to a lot of Christmas albums over the years and there are a few that I come back to repeatedly every year. This is a semi-list of them, sort of ranked but not really. I go to these albums repeatedly as soon as December 1st rolls around and then I put them on throughout the season as I decorate, drive to work/places, bake/cook or just at night when I want to chill out and feel peaceful.

I think lots of people just listen to Christmas music on the radio or on random playlists, but there are actually a lot of great albums out there that you can listen to start to finish. I will be posting one album a day for the next 12 days, with some song selections to check out. I highly recommend giving the whole album a spin if you dig it.

Of course, feel free to post your own favorites, I am always on the lookout for great new albums to throw into the rotation. Let's begin.

 

[Rock And Roll]

12. Home For Christmas - Dolly Parton



I really enjoy country music despite my Canadian upbringing, getting into it in my 20s as I was doing cruise ship gigs in America where I had to play it. I've listened to a lot of country Christmas albums and to be honest, most of them don't do much for me. Dolly's 1990 album is the exception. It almost begins as a concept album, as she tells the story of growing up and singing songs in Church. You hear a congregation singing (along with some people who are out of tune, which is honestly a nice realistic touch) and eventually it moves to Dolly. The track list is pretty solid top to bottom with a mixture of religious and commercial Christmas tunes. It's got a few of the more annoying tunes (Jingle Bells, Rudolph) but she pulls them off nicely without it ever reaching the "I have to skip this track" point. A few standout's are Go Tell It On The Mountain, which starts off as your standard country 2 step before ending as a gospel shout chorus. O Little Town Of Bethlehem is one of my favorite lesser done songs, and the version here is really nice, stripped back and mountain-y. It's got a really good version on We Three Kings as well, but I don't want to repeat tracks so more on that one later.

 

[Franky Family]

Last Christmas
I gave you my Cawk
The very next day
You threw it away

 

[HE1NZ]

Best one

 

[Rock And Roll]

11. The Dean Martin Christmas Album - Dean Martin



The first of many classic Christmas jazz albums that I listen to every year. Dean Martin recorded a few Christmas albums over the course of his career but I feel this one stands out above the rest. This album has something very few Christmas albums have and that's an overall theme of romance. Dean has that perfect delivery that makes you want to get wine drunk and shimmy with your gal. Even on the more typical "sad" Christmas tunes (I'll Be Home For Christmas, Blue Christmas), Dean's voice never makes you feel forlorn or sentimental. As I mentioned in the last post, Jingle Bells is a pretty annoying song most of the time, but I think Dean has the best version. It's incredibly fun and the swing behind it makes it a much more enjoyable listen than how you usually hear it in other versions. A Marshmallow World is another favorite underutilized Christmas tune, I've always loved the imagery used in the lyrics, they paint such a strong image of a fresh snowfall (minus the dumb line about the sun being red like a pumpkins head). Once again, Dean sings it with a slurry playfulness that makes him sound kind of drunk at points and the last verse about lovers and taking a walk with your favorite gal captures how romantic snow can be. Except when you are driving in it. Then spring can't come soon enough.

 

[Rock And Roll]

10. It's The Holiday Season - Martina McBride



This is an album I discovered last year and immediately it rose into my top albums list. Martina McBride is a country-pop singer and this album blends her shiny vocals with big band jazz, with some really fantastic arrangements of classic Christmas songs. To her credit, Martina doesn't really try to swing or sing like a jazz singer; she stays true to her voice and it definitely works out for the better. If she tried to be something she's not it would have sunk the album. But her pristine vocals behind the backdrop of classic big band instrumentation with some nice backing vocals/harmonies makes this a stand out album. It's also got one of the most solid track lists start to finish out of all the albums on my list. All the classics are there along with a handful that you don't hear as often but are still great. Personal standouts for me are the title track, Happy Holidays/It's The Holiday Season, which has a great jazz arrangement with some serious kicks from the rhythm section and It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year. The drumming really stood out to me on that track with the drummer killing the comping in 3/4 time, I had to google the liner notes to see who was playing. Not surprisingly, it was Peter Erskine for the whole record. I really believe a band is only as good as their drummer and when you have a great drummer driving the ship in a big band setting, you're going to have a great sound, which is what we hear throughout this album. So hats off the Martina, Peter Erskine and whoever did the fantastic arrangements.

 

[Franky Family]

 

[Rock And Roll]

@HE1NZ and @Franky Family those are actually two of my favorite Christmas songs. Sleigh Ride is a classic (will be posting a version later on in my list) and Angels We Have Heard On High is probably my favorite traditional Christmas melody with the Gloria refrain. Funny enough, I think both versions that I post will be from the same album.

9 Happy Holidays - Billy Idol



I stumbled upon this album randomly one year when I was looking for versions of Jingle Bell Rock for a student to play at a Christmas recital. I had no idea Billy recorded a Christmas album, and at the time it wasn't available on streaming platforms, so I had to buy it off ebay for around $100 (one of the most expensive CD's in my collection). This clearly isn't a serious album, it's a punk rocker goofing off to crooner tunes while doing all the traditional staples of a Christmas album (spoken word messages at the end of songs, etc...) It's really funny and you can tell Billy had a good time making it. His ad libs are often hilarious (I don't want to spoil any of them on the off chance someone listens to this). Despite the fact it's clearly a joke, it's never in your face that it's a joke. He keeps a pretty straight poker face throughout the entire album. There's nothing really standout here, just solid renditions of classic Christmas tunes. There's a couple originals on here that can easily be skipped (as is the case with most original Christmas songs). One track worthy of a shoutout is Santa Claus Is Back In Town, by far my favorite rock n roll Christmas song (originally recorded by Elvis as the album opener on his classic Christmas album). The other two songs, Jingle Bell Rock and White Christmas I'm posting the music videos he shot for them because it's pretty entertaining stuff (Jingle Bell Rock especially). If you are in the mood for a snotty nosed punk Christmas, you can't go wrong with this album.

 

[Rock And Roll]

8. Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas - Ella Fitzgerald



Ella Fitzgerald can rightly be hailed as one of the greatest vocalists to have ever lived and her Christmas album is a wonderful display of her talents. Swinging Christmas is as advertised, an upbeat high energy jazz Christmas album. What really stands out is the fact that since Ella was one of the best to have ever done it, she gives us a taste of her ability to improvise and play around with the melodies of the songs as well as any of the instrumental giants (Davis, Coltrane, Parker etc...) of the jazz era. Her melodies are really unique and they aren't obvious things you would improvise, yet it sounds perfect with how well it fits all the songs. Of course, she swings while doing this. Most vocalists use power or vocal runs to impress, but Ella does everything with such ease that it puts your typical belter to shame, I know I said I wouldn't repeat songs, but the album opener of Jingle Bells really sets the tone for the rest of the album with it's upbeat tempo and improvisations. Her version of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas is one of my favorites as well because of her treatment of the vocals/lyrics. It's usually done as a sadder, downbeat number, but the lyrics actually suggest optimism and happiness. So Ella sings it as a happy optimistic song and opts away from what everyone else does at the end (singing "hang a shiny star upon the highest booooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuugggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" as loud and dramatically as possible), she keeps it restrained and uses a smooth tone to get through that part. It's such a unique take on a song that has been done countless times and I struggle to think of other versions which approach the song this way. The only downbeat song on the album is What Are You Doing On New Year's Eve, which always has to be sung that way. But Ella sings it with a sweet innocence that it's not something that dampens the mood in the slightest. Swinging Christmas is the best jazz Christmas album to put on when you want liven things up.

 

[Rock And Roll]

7. The Beach Boys Christmas Album - The Beach Boys



1964 was an absolutely insane year for Brian Wilson and his musical output. The boys hit the studio in early January and February, recording Shut Down Volume 2, taking a month long break before heading back in April and May to record All Summer Long, then returning a month later in June to record the Christmas album. It would have been reasonable to expect that the third album recorded in under a 6 month span would be weak and half assed, considering it was made to fulfill the label's demands, but this was not the case. This was the first period Brian would be tested musically and he didn't flinch. The first half of the album is comprised of original songs, of course with Little Saint Nick but a few others that are worth listening to. They aren't great, but they aren't skips either. The second side consists of standards, mostly commercial Christmas tunes. Side one features the boys playing all the instruments, side two is an orchestral affair arranged by Dick Reynolds. All the versions of the standards are well done and the Beach Boys harmonies are unlike anything else heard on Christmas albums up until that point (even still today, for the most part). As far as the originals go, Merry Christmas Baby is a really great tune and features Brian's unique percussion arrangements. Really from an arrangement/content standpoint, it sounds a lot like Wendy off of All Summer Long. The crown jewel of this album in We Three Kings. This is a very early example of Brian's blossoming genius and a very complex yet beautiful vocal arrangement. It evolves as the song progresses, with more harmonies coming in and harmonies becoming more active in later parts of the song, not to mention he modulates three times in a very clever way. I sometimes listen to this during the year, it's just such a fantastic Beach Boys gem. Brian takes on Blue Christmas solo, delivering one of his most intimate and sweet vocals he ever cut. It's too bad we never got a follow up a few years later, as Brian's abilities reached their full potential a few years later, before the drugs and mental illness sidelined him. A Beach Boys Christmas album with the techniques he was perfecting in the later 60s would have been something to behold.

 

[Rock And Roll]

6. White Christmas - Bing Crosby



An all time Christmas classic that has never been out of print since it was released. Bing Crosby's White Christmas (or Merry Christmas on older pressings) is a staple of the Christmas season with many classic songs that you hear at the mall every year. Of course, these songs were recorded in the 40s so they sound ancient, with limitations on the recording capabilities and lots of tape hiss, but that doesn't take anything away from the music. This is actually a compilation album of many of the Christmas singles Bing recorded each year through the 40s/early 50s, which is probably why it's such a strong album. All the songs were previously released as singles. The most famous song of all being White Christmas, the highest selling single of all time (estimated sales in the ballpark of 50 million). It's a song we've all heard hundreds of times every year at Christmas, but it's got a bit on an interesting history behind it. Written by famed song writer Irving Berlin, he told his secretary "This is the best song I have ever written". Bing heard the song and recorded it, and it wasn't much of a success at first. However, the world was in the midst of WW2 and the song resonated with soldiers overseas along with the families who missed their loved ones at home. The song basically rose to popularity from requests to radio stations and heavy single purchasing from the public. The rest is history. The song was so popular that the original master to the song disintegrated due to repeated pressings and the song had to be re-recorded in 1947, which is the version we now commonly hear. Some of the best tracks on the album are the ones with the Andrews Sisters, a vocal trio, who join Bing on Jingle Bells, Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town and Mele Kalikimaka. I love Mele Kalikimaka as it is unique as the sunniest (and possibly only) Christmas song. Nice island vacation vibe to the track and the polar opposite of a White Christmas.


Here's the original version of White Christmas

 

[Asmonius]

One of my favorite albums of Christmas instrumentals (link is the full playlist):

 

[Rock And Roll]

5. The Classic Christmas Album - Tony Bennett



Tony Bennett recorded 3 Christmas albums over the course of his 7 decade career with a few one off singles/projects here and there. This is a "greatest hits" collection of his Christmas catalogue, so I kind of feel like I'm cheating a bit by including it. But the truth is I can't pick between his two albums (Snowfall and A Swinging Christmas With The Count Basie Big Band), I listen to both a lot during the holidays so putting this instead feels like a good compromise. Tony is my go to guy when I want that classy Christmas jazz mood. He always had such a smooth voice and as he got older, he started to sound even cooler/more relaxed. You can really hear the tonal change on this album, Snowfall was recorded earlier in his career (late 60s) and the Basie album 40 years later (late 00s). His phrasing and delivery is wonderful and he does such a great job conveying the lyrics. The arrangements (especially being backed by the Basie Band) are also swinging and capture the majestic feel of the holidays. Unfortunately not all the tracks are available on streaming platforms (most likely due to licensing issues), but it's got everything you want to hear off of his 2 best Christmas albums. A few standouts from the Basie album are I'll Be Home For Christmas, which in a nice twist is done uptempo & lively instead of the default sad ballad everyone else does, and I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm, a nice duet he does with one of his daughters. From Snowfall, I love My Favorite Things (how this became a Christmas song is anyone's guess) and my personal favorite Christmas tune of all time, Winter Wonderland. He's got a youthful swagger on these tracks which make them a joy to listen to and the big band kills it.

 

[Rock And Roll]

4. What I Really Want For Christmas - Brian Wilson



We never got a Beach Boys follow up Christmas album, but nearly 40 years later Brian did it by himself and the outcome was incredible. I'll get it out of the way first, the original songs aren't really good. They sound like Pet Sounds songs trying to be Christmas songs. They might have been decent tracks as something else, but they just don't cut it as Christmas tunes. The rest of the album is amazing and it's got some of the finest versions of Christmas songs ever recorded. It's interesting how Beach Boys Christmas was more secular songs and this album is more standard religious tunes. Brian's trademark brilliant vocal arrangements take center stage as always, but the actual arrangements of songs are pretty interesting as well, like on God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen or It Came Upon A Midnight Clear. These are some very unique takes on classics which not only work surprisingly well but they also tower over all other renditions. The First Noel is beautiful, starting off with what sounds like the bobby pin trick they used on You Still Believe In Me. It's so peaceful and serene throughout the song before gently fading out. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear is such a great rendition too which settles into a very interesting groove for the second half of verse/form. Great doo wop vocals in this part as well. My personal favorite on the album is definitely We Wish You A Merry Christmas, again a song that can be pretty repetitive and boring. But Brian uses all his tricks to make this memorable and turns it into something special. It's got the waltz flavor of Friends with Heroes And Villains backing vocals and a surprise ending that will make any Beach Boys fan grin. The only thing that this album is missing is the Boys. Other than that, it's pretty much everything a fan could have wanted for a follow up album to BB Christmas. You can tell Brian was really happy and had a lot of fun recording this album too, and the guy deserves it after everything he went through.

 

[TaySan]

 

[Rock And Roll]

3. The Ventures' Christmas Album - The Ventures



Surf rock Christmas tunes. This is one of my all time favorite albums due to it's simplicity. A bunch of Christmas classics with the instrumental guitar surf sound The Ventures birthed. It's a fun album that you can put on in the background for the holidays, all the tracks are pretty upbeat and enjoyable renditions of Christmas standards. As a unique twist however, each song would start of with a famous guitar riff or melody from another popular rock song (example, the opener of Sleigh Ride starts off with the drum part from the Ventures popular theme to Hawaii Five 0). As such, many songs start off sounding like something else before settling into the song's original melody. Some of my favorites are the Tequila inspired Frosty The Snowman, or the I Feel Fine inspired Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer and the Wooly Bully Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town. Ventures Christmas is an album I always look forward to putting on every year, I think it's the best "rock" Christmas album out there.

 

[Rock And Roll]

2. A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector - Phil Spector and Various Artists



I don't think an album has had a bigger impact on Christmas music than Phil Spector's classic Christmas album. It took classic Christmas songs and reimagined them as contemporary pop songs. Phil used his innovative "wall of sound" technique to add a layer of dimension to Christmas songs that had not been done up until this point. Backed by some of the groups/artists he produced (The Crystals, The Ronettes, Darlene Love and Bob E Soxx) and the legendary Wrecking Crew (all star studio musicians), Phil made an all time classic which is still heard widely today and it's influence is still felt. His arrangement of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town almost became standard, with the delayed lyric at the start of the chorus. Sleigh Ride's backing vocals have been imitated countless times. It's one thing to do your own version of a song, but when your version becomes the blue print for other artists to follow, that really says something. Everything on this album is an essential Christmas listen, but I'd like to shout out a few. @HE1NZ already mentioned Sleigh Ride earlier. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town is the definitive version in my opinion and the often left out second verse (little tin horns, little toy drums) provides such a nice change up to the flow of the song, really transports you to Santa's workshop in that section. And the energy of the song is unmatched. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town! It's urgent stuff guys. Darlene Love's emotional Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) is a stand out track, and if you were a Letterman fan, you watched her perform it every year. The climax of the song with the call and response of "Please" (please) "Please" (please) etc... really hits you in the feels. And I also want to shout out the two tracks that almost never get mentioned or played, The Bells Of St Marys and Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers. Both have such a great sonic soundscape, with the majestic cathedral sounds on Bells and the toyshop ambience of Parade. They're both wonderful songs and a masterclass in teaching how to convey emotion/ideas through sound selection. This is the first album I put on every year, it doesn't feel like Christmas has begun until I hit play on this gem.

 

[HE1NZ]

I' guessing Elvis will be #1

 

[Rock And Roll]

1. Christmas Portrait - Carpenters



I don't remember where I read it, but in an interview Richard Carpenter was talking about how much Karen loved Christmas and the music of Christmas. They both wanted to work on a Christmas album and it took them many years to finally find the time to do it in the late 70s. What elevates Christmas Portrait above every other Christmas album is the fact it is written/produced to flow as a single piece of music, like you are listening to a Christmas symphony. The songs weave in and out of each other, and many of those songs feature brief snippets and melodies of other songs that weave in and out of the main song. The amount of Christmas songs/melodies on this album is staggering, no other album has so seamlessly combined so many songs in a musical manner that never becomes distracting or unbalanced. The song selection is varied as well, with an equal balance of popular secular and religious songs. The album starts off with Richard singing It Came Upon A Midnight Clear acapella before transitioning into the main overture of the album. It's fantastic stuff hearing a bunch of brief snippets of songs back to back that almost 10 minutes goes by and you start to wonder "where is Karen?" You can hear her voice in the harmonies, but Richard sings all of the leads for the first 10 minutes. Finally, on Christmas Waltz, she enters like a guest arriving to a party fashionably late (as in "look who came waltzing in"), a great song to enter to begin with as it captures both the romantic and playful nature of Karen's voice in the lyrics and music. From there, she takes over for the rest of the album and you hardly notice the next 40 minutes go by. Using her complete range as a singer, we hear the playful side (on track's like Sleigh Ride or Winter Wonderland), the romantic side (on the original track Merry Christmas Darling, which is a really good original) and some of the spiritual side (Christ Is Born, Ave Maria). In the middle, Richard takes the solo spotlight again with O Holy Night, but he does so on piano. He's a really underrated pianist to be honest, guys in the 70s like Elton and Billy Joel had a lot more blues/rock to their playing but Richard had the classical/jazz thing going for him. On the televised special, he introduces it as his favorite Christmas songs. It's one of my favorites too due to how beautiful it is in both the music and the lyrics, but hearing it instrumentally really makes you focus on the music, and Richard's brilliant flourishes on the piano make the chorus hit hard.

What's impressive is there were a bunch of outtakes from the album which were released on a later package and the majority were incredible as well. It was simply a case of not having enough room on the album. The version I linked is actually slightly different from the original pressing, which isn't available on streaming. The original beings with O Come Emmanuel instead of Midnight Clear, and Old Fashioned Christmas was added after the overture before Christmas Waltz. But both fit in with no problem to the original album. Attached on to the end after Ave Maria were some instrumental Nutcracker songs and a few more Karen tunes. And other tunes were included on a follow up album "Christmas Collection" which was released a year after Karen's death.

You can tell so much hard work and attention to detail went into this album to make sure it flowed effortlessly. I can't imagine how long it took them to work out all the transitions, which songs/melodies worked with which other songs/melodies, the track order etc.... but I can tell you it wasn't something they figured out over a weekend. We're talking months, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was in the ballpark of a year. For the ambition and scope of the music, the amount of Christmas classics from traditional to commercial and for featuring the throat GOAT doing some of her best work, Carpenters Christmas Portrait is in my opinion the greatest Christmas album ever recorded, and I believe in time it will be recognized as such.







(not on the album, but an outtake definitely worth checking out)



Richard posted the TV special on his youtube channel. I know he definitely misses his sister at this time of year.



Thanks to all who read and listened. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and I hope these albums serve you well for this Christmas and all the rest to follow.