Tuesday 23 November 2010

New Christmas Records

It's always difficult getting the Christmas Laws right. One of my Christmas Laws is that I can't listen to Christmas music until 1 December. That's when I get out all the CDs and load them onto my iPod and can start listening to some old favourites again. I also like to discover new favourites and every year brings a few new Christmas records. This year I've got four new Christmas albums to get to know and enjoy.

The first one is 'Destination ... Christmas' by The Superions. For those of you who've never heard of them before then you need to know that Fred Schneider is the singer and co-writer of the songs and Fred is, of course, the voice of the most wonderful B-52's. Fred's involvement means the songs are quirky, electronic, a bit daft and not quite what they seem. I think my favourite is 'Fruitcake'...

There's a new record from the Indigo Girls called, 'Holly Happy Days'. The packaging is great, with a cardboard ribbon wrapped round it and three card baubles inside - a lot of thought and design has obviously gone into it as well as into the songs.

Another new record is Annie Lennox's 'A Christmas Cornucopia' with Annie singing traditional carols and I'm pleased that, today, 'This Is Christmas' by Petula Clark was delivered. This is another record of traditional songs with a couple of new ones written by Petula. I've listened to just a few tracks from each record (I'm saving them for December) and I already love Petula's version of 'Il Est Ne, Le Divin Enfant' in her impeccable French. Mind you, I also love Annie's more upbeat version with some big drumming and harmonising.

Bearing in mind the Law Of Not Listening To Christmas Music Before December I haven't actually listened to all these albums yet. I've dipped in and played a few songs - just to make sure the CDs work, of course - so I still have a lot of unheard music to enjoy next week.

Of course, the big Christmas news this year is the free single from Poly Styrene (and Celeste Styrene) 'Black Christmas' - needless to say, I love it.

What new Christmas music have you discovered this year?

1 comment:

David said...

I think it's going to be a Glee Xmas for me