Christmas Compilations?

[Alex]

Seeing Seb’s Christmas compilation the other day got me thinking that there must be a few people on here that also make up their own Christmas CD/ playlist each Christmas. I’m just interested to see what other people are listening to as I always like to expand my list and mix it up a little bit.

Here’s my current mix, which is largely a mix of people doing interesting takes on well know Christmas songs, comedy songs and the odd classic well known one I always keep in.

Bob Rivers – A Message from the King
Ted Nuggent – Deck The Halls
The Prog World Orchestra (Neal Morse) – Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Bob Rivers – Twelve Pains Of Christmas
Zakk Wilde – White Christmas
BB King – Merry Christmas Baby
The Brian Setzer Orchestra – Zat You Santa Claus? / Stray Cat Strut
Jethro Tull – A Christmas Song
Tim Minchin – Woody Allen Jesus
The Brian Setzer Orchestra – Jingle Bells
The Prog World Orchestra (Neal Morse) – Little Drummer Boy
Spinal Tap – Christmas With The Devil
Kenny Wayne Shepherd – Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
Gregg Lake – I Believe In Father Christmas
Bob Rivers – Holidaze (S’cuze Me, I’ve Got Gifts to Buy)
The Darkness – Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End)
Robin Trower – O’ Little Town Of Bethlehem
The Pogues – Fairytale Of New York
Weird Al Yankovic – The Night Santa Went Crazy
Jethro Tull – Ring Out Solstice Bells
The Prog World Orchestra (Neal Morse) – Shred Ride / Winter Wonderland
Tim Minchin – White Wine In The Sun

Topic

[genericnerdyusername]

Ted Nugent is a racist cunt. Other than that, I love your mix!

[Alex]

He is a terrible prick, but his version of Deck The Halls is good. The BBC used it a couple of years ago. Worth a look on YouTube.

[MANI506]

I’m just going for an instrumental version of Last Christmas looped throughout the big day. The morning DJ on 6music uses it as a bed and it always makes me smile.

I bought Don’t Let The Bells End on three formats because I wanted it to be number one so much! The new Darkness album is brilliant as well.

[si]

I like to break out KT Tunstall’s ‘Have Yourself A Very KT Christmas’ EP round about this time of year.

[Pete Part Three]

Away from the obvious stuff (and ignoring the swapsies I have with Ben):

Hurts – All I Want For Christmas is New Year’s Day
Fall Out Boy – What’s This? (from The Nightmare Before Christmas)
The Killers – The Cowboys’ Christmas Ball
John Williams – Christmas Star/ Preparing the Traps (from Home Alone …or possibly Home Alone 2)
The Lancashire Hotpots – Carry You Home
Murray Gold – The Stowaway

[anniescribe]

What, no “Christmas in Hollis?”

[Reece]

Hurts – All I Want For Christmas is New Year’s Day

Yes, oh god yes.

[Reece]

My choices are eclectic as fuck, so apologies. Some of them ain’t even about Christmas, but they just get me in the Christmas mood.

Pet Shop Boys – It Doesn’t Often Snow At Christmas
Hurts – All I Want For Christmas Is New Year’s Day
Kate Bush – Snowflake
Flight of the Conchords – Petrov, Yelyena And Me (… I don’t even know)
Elbow – Starlings
Tears For Fears – Head Over Heels
Bee Gees – Heart Like Mine

[Alex]

Ah, totally forgot about Kate Bush’s last album. Some perfect winter music in there.

[HelloMabel]

David Sedaris – Santaland Diaries
David Sedaris – Six to Eight Black Men
Neil Innes – Tinsel and String

[Ridley]

Bigamy at Christmas

[si]

Tony Ferrino doesn’t get the praise he deserves.

[Jo]

Murray Gold – Song for Ten

[mick]

Alot of my picks are on Alex’s list! but here’s a few more of my favorites:

Chris Squire’s Swiss Choir – Run With The Fox (its terrible but I love it)
Blackmore’s Night – Christmas Eve
Sarah McLachlan – River
Jethro Tull – Last Man at the Party
Tori Amos – Pink and Glitter
John Anderson – Where Were You?

[Ben Kirkham]

“Murray Gold – The Stowaway”

Fucking brilliant.

[anniescribe]

Oh gosh, “Six to Eight Black Men” … and pretty much every other Sedaris family Christmas tale. Do you have Holidays on Ice?

[HelloMabel]

> Oh gosh, “Six to Eight Black Men” … and pretty much every other Sedaris family Christmas tale. Do you have Holidays on Ice?

The audio book, of course. :) Though it’s almost as fun to hand the book around and see if any of your relatives can read any of it out loud without corpsing.

[Seb Patrick]

For those who didn’t click through to my blog, here’s my DAMNED EXCELLENT list. I tweak it some years but make sure to ensure it always fits on a single CDR. AND it’s got a Rob and Doug song on it!

1. Vince Guaraldi Trio – Christmas Time Is Here (2:44)
2. Murray Gold & Neil Hannon – Song For Ten (3:29)
3. Mariah Carey – All I Want For Christmas Is You (4:01)
4. Fountains of Wayne – I Want an Alien For Christmas (2:19)
5. Loudon Wainwright III – Christmas Morning (3:49)
6. Low – Just Like Christmas (3:08)
7. The Ronettes – I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (2:41)
8. The Ventures – Sleigh Ride (2:22)
9. Grandaddy – Alan Parsons in a Winter Wonderland (2:59)
10. Bright Eyes – Blue Christmas (2:19)
11. Eels – Everything’s Gonna Be Cool This Christmas (2:48)
12. The Vandals – Oi To The World (2:15)
13. The Beach Boys – Little Saint Nick (2:10)
14. Zombina & The Skeletones – A Chainsaw For Christmas (3:11)
15. The Ramones – Merry Christmas (I Don’t Wanna Fight Tonight) (2:06)
16. The Kinks – Father Christmas (3:43)
17. Rilo Kiley – Xmas Cake (5:24)
18. Jonathan Coulton – Chiron Beta Prime (2:51)
19. Spitting Image – Santa Claus Is On The Dole (3:48)
20. The Long Blondes – Christmas is Cancelled (4:29)
21. Half Man Half Biscuit – It’s Cliched To Be Cynical At Christmas (3:48)
22. She & Him – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (3:42)
23. Badly Drawn Boy – Donna and Blitzen (4:19)
24. My Chemical Romance – All I Want For Christmas Is You (3:45)

[Seb Patrick]

That Darkness track is the one I keep forgetting to add each year. Despite it being the one Darkness track I actually really like.

[si]

You forgot I’m Gonna Spend My Christmas With A Dalek by The Go-Go’s.

[srmcd1]

“I Want an Alien for Christmas” is awesome. Haven’t heard that in years.

[genericnerdyusername]

I love Fountains of Wayne but had no idea “I Want an Alien for Christmas” existed. THANK YOU.

[Lexo Ross]

The Darkness – Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End)
The South Park Mr Hankey Album (I would name them all but then we’d be here all day)
Family Guy – All I Really Want For Christmas
The Pogues – Fairytale Of New York
Weird Al Yankovic -The Night Santa Went Crazy
Any performance of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, usually Alfie Boe’s

[si]

Ah, Mr Hankey’s Christmas Classics. A proper gem, and no mistake.

[Ben Kirkham]

Mr Garrison’s ‘Merry Fucking Christmas’ is my favourite.

[Sam Johnson]

Agreed. That song is pretty much offensive on every single level. “Christmas Time in Hell” is also very catchy.

[Lexo Ross]

Deck the halls with Swiss Colony Beef Log lalalalalalalalala

[Ben Kirkham]

““Christmas Time in Hell” is also very catchy.”

My favourite lyric “There goes Jeffrey Dahmer with a festive Christmas ham. After he’s had sex with it, he’ll eat up all he can.” Obscene.

[genericnerdyusername]

They Might Be Giants – Feast of Lights

Coz you can never have enough of the Johns in your life.

[HelloMabel]

Once again I’m probably the last to know, but, Howard Goodall has written A TON of Christmas music. I only know this because I just visited the Faber Music site to check whether his Red Dwarf piano arrangements are available yet (they’re not).

[Pecospete666]

I stole this off twitter.

[genericnerdyusername]

Swear I’ve seen that before, very recently?

[Pecospete666]

It was on twitter! I grabbed it! I take no credit for it. It was. some Aussie guy!

[genericnerdyusername]

Hmm, maybe I cam across it on tumblr or reddit, or somewhere like that. Still, I like it :)

[fozzibear1]

Santa claus is on the dole was probably my fav spitting images sketch

[takerdemon]

I have a soft spot for Darlene Love’s ‘All alone for Christmas’.

In my opinion, the greatest Christmas song that nobody normal has heard is definitely the Smashing Pumpkins’ ‘Christmastime’. A quite wonderful little song and quite touching if you identify with it.

[genericnerdyusername]

Hmmm, I don’t listen to Smashing Pumpkins because of the way Bill Corgan took Pavement’s song “Range Life” very personally when it jokingly called out SP, and he’s kicked up a fuss about Pavement and Malkmus at every opportunity, refusing to play unless they get dropped from the same festivals as them, insulting them in the press, that sort of thing. Stephen Malkmus has always been good about it, said it was just a joke and he didn’t mean any harm, and that he still likes Smashing Pumpkins. It puts me off bands altogether when their members act the same way as Corgan has.

[Seb Patrick]

Aside from anything else, Pavement are musically about a bajillion times better than TSP anyway.

[genericnerdyusername]

I love you, Mr Patrick.

[Phil]

> It puts me off bands altogether when their members act the same way as Corgan has.

It puts me off bands altogether when their members sing the way Corgan does. Ever heard him live? He’s fucking awful.

[takerdemon]

I will unashamedly state right now that I think Billy Corgan is a musical genius and that my Smashing Pumpkins fandom is probably more intense than my love of Red Dwarf.

I can understand people being dismissive of the band because of his voice, BC’s persona in the media and the new line-up… points I all disagree with but there’s no denying that musically, the guy is fucking amazing. ESPECIALLY LIVE!

They’re just one of those bands that have that Marmite effect.

So I will simply say with the greatest respect that I strongly disagree with the above four posts. Well, except for the love of Seb!

[genericnerdyusername]

Oh I’m not saying he isn’t a musical genius, I’m just saying he needs a better sense of humour ;)

I haven’t heard enough of the actual music to make any assumptions, really.

[Seb Patrick]

I think he’s written a few great songs, but it can’t be coincidence that the song of his I enjoy the most is one not sung by him: Celebrity Skin.

I saw them live at Reading in 2007, and it was largely tedious, interminable drivel. Although I still think Tonight Tonight is great.

And he does seriously need a sense of humour transplant. He’s always been far too pretentious/taken himself far too seriously.

[Phil]

Any Christmas compilation needs this.

If it doesn’t have it, I’ll add it.

[genericnerdyusername]

You better not be joking, Phil, coz I’m 100% in agreement.

[Phil]

I’m absolutely not. It’s one of the reasons I most looked forward to December this year…an excuse to bust it out daily. :D

[takerdemon]

> I think he’s written a few great songs, but it can’t be coincidence that the song of his I enjoy the most is one not sung by him: Celebrity Skin.

I saw them live at Reading in 2007, and it was largely tedious, interminable drivel. Although I still think Tonight Tonight is great.

—-

I’d argue all day that he’s written way more than a ‘few’ great songs but you’d have to have listened to all of the albums and many of the b-sides to be aware of many of them. They’re definitely one of those bands where the singles aren’t always the cream of the crop. Fair dues on enjoying the ones not sung by him though, his voice is one I love but definitely something I can understand people strongly disliking.

The Reading 2007 set was amazing however, that set was massively for the hardcores. They opened with ‘Superchrist’ which at the time was a song that they’d just written and wasn’t known by anyone outside the bootlegging community or those people who attending shows earlier that month in San Francisco. Come to think of it, it’s not widely known even now. That set the tone for the entire set, he played for his fans and he wasn’t fussed about crowd pleasing. Arrogant and selfish? Yeah probably but I didn’t care, those are the songs I wanted to hear.

…and Phil, how the the heck have I missed that song? I’ve never heard that before in my life!

[Jo]

>They’re just one of those bands that have that Marmite effect.

They make everything brown, sticky and inedible?

[Seb Patrick]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8qE6WQmNus
Any Christmas compilation needs this.
If it doesn’t have it, I’ll add it.

[takerdemon]

Ahh Jo, I love Marmite too! It makes every meal better!

[Author]

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