Christmas Music

There are plenty of Christmas songs out there and everybody has their favorites. Christmas albums have been cut by Bing Crosby, Willie Nelson, Elvis Presley and even the New Kids on the Block. It seems artist records a Christmas album at some point, usually containing a mixture of classics and originals. There are plenty of Christmas albums out there to make any list, be it must have Christmas music, unusual Christmas albums, novelty Christmas albums, or truly bad Christmas albums. Instead of focusing on albums of Christmas music, I list here a few of my favorite Christmas songs that were recorded for regular albums.

As far as I am concerned, Fairytale of New York is far and away the best Christmas song. Kristy MacColl joins the Pogues for this great Christmas time tale. Originally on If I Should Fall From Grace With God, Fairytale of New York tells a story of a couple whose dream of a good life in New York doesn't come to be.
The Pogues: Fairytale of New York


The Ramones recorded Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight) for their 1989 album Brain Drain. The song was recorded with original bassist Dee Dee Ramone, but by the time the recorded the video he had been replaced with CJ Ramone, who plays bass in the video.
The Ramones: Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)


When FEAR Christmas music comes up, its usually Fuck Christmas, recorded in 1982 during the sessions for their album The Record but released as a single. However, Lee Ving and company revisited the holiday on their 2000 album American Beer. Another Christmas Beer is a great take on the stress of the holiday.
FEAR: Another Christmas Beer

The Undead: Dawn of the Undead

The Undead were formed shortly after Bobby Steel left the Misfits in 1980. While The Undead definitely show their roots, they remain distinct from the Misfits. The Undead are great for fans of the Misfits that want the same kind of thing, without listening to a copycat band.
Dawn of the Undead is a compilation of tracks recorded between 1981 and 1986. It is a great collection of music that covers the bands best material.

The Way We Behave


When The Evening Comes

Les Négresses Vertes: Mlah

I first heard the name Les Negresses Vertes when I was young and adventurous. All it took for me to buy this album was to hear them compared to Mano Negra somewhere. Knowing nothing else about them I picked up this great album. It has been in my collection and in rotation ever since, well over 15 years now.
Les Negresses Vertes are a French band that formed in 1987. They took their name from an insult shouted at them at one of their first concerts. Their name translates to "The green black women". Mlah is their debut album. It is exciting and fast moving, and can best be described by listening to it.

Voilà l'Été


Zobi la Mouche

Merle Haggard: If Only I Could Fly

If Only I Could Fly is a 2000 album by Merle Haggard. I came across this in a discount bin, but it is by no means a discount album. Twelve songs almost all written or co-written by Haggard. Kicking off with "Watching while some old friends do a line/Holding back the want to end my own addicted mind/Wishin’ it was still the thing even I could do/Wishin’ all these old things were new", the album continues with nostalgic and retrospective songs.

Willie Nelson: Moonlight Becomes You

Moonlight Becomes You is a collection of standards released in 1994. As Willie describes in a spoken bonus track, it was released on indie label Justice Records because the major labels thought it wouldn't sell.
This gem would be really easy to overlook in the vast Willie Nelson collection. Nothing about it really makes it stand out until you listen to it. Then you hear the arrangements, which are just great. The selection of songs works really great with the small line-up of players that recorded this with Willie.

Motorhead: 1916

1916 is the ninth studio album by Motorhead. Recorded with the line-up of Lemmy, Phil Campbell, Wurzel, and Phil Taylor, 1916 is one of only six studio albums to feature a four peice line-up. The album starts strong with One To Sing The Blues, and ends with the haunting title track about the Battle of Somme during the first World War. Other notable tracks include R.A.M.O.N.E.S. and Going To Brazil. The production on this album sounds great. Everything is clear and loud. Definitely one of my personal favorite Motorhead albums.

The One To Sing The Blues



No Voices In The Sky


1916

Philip Glass: Hydrogen Jukebox

I came across this CD at Goodwill one day. Without knowing anything about it except the names Philip Glass and Allen Ginsberg I plopped down my two bucks and bought it. I was pleasantly surprised when I picked up Passages by Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass so I thought I was in for a similar experience. Upon first listen, I didn't really get it. Hydrogen Jukebox came off as weird and I just couldn't get into it. Months later I put it on and instantly reversed my earlier assumption. What at first sounded weird and hard to listen to quickly becomes captivating. I suggest putting the CD on from track one and just giving it time to sink in.
Hydrogen Jukebox is essentially a chamber opera piece composed my Philip Glass around Allen Ginsberg's poetry reading. Recorded near the close of the 80's, the album is divided into two parts.

Part One: Song #1 From Iron Horse


Part Two: Song #7 From Howl Part II

Rollinghead: Daddyhorse

Rollinghead were a Kalamazoo band from the mid-nineties. They were one of my favorite bands back in the day and I saw them every time they did an all ages gig. They released two studio albums and one live album. Their debut, Daddyhorse came out on Piranha Alley Records.

I Hate Myself: 10 Songs

I Hate Myself is one of several bands from brothers Jim and Jon Marburger. The 10 Songs CD contains the 10 songs from the vinyl plus and additional great compilation track To A Husband At War. The CD kicks off with This Isn't The Tenka Ichi Budokai, an exercise in the quiet/loud dynamic. Continuing through ten more screamy emotive songs, with long song titles and interesting lyrics.

Soul Asylum: And The Horse They Rode In On

While Hang Time might be Soul Asylum's best album, And The Horse They Rode In On is my favorite.  Released after almost ten years of kicking around as a band, ATHTRIO was released at a time when the band was considering calling it quits. Shortly after this album they were picked up by Columbia Records and started having some mainstream success.

 

Easy Street


We 3

Helmet: Meantime

Meantime is the second album from Helmet. Although their debut full length, Strap It On, released two years earlier on Amphetamine Reptile is a classic, Meantime is a great follow up. Released in 1992 on Interscope, I've always felt there was just something perfect about this album. From the songwriting to the production, it just all falls together.

Shank-O's: Shank-O-Vision

The Shank-O's were a band that I came across while I was booking shows. They played a great set for me at Jefferson Street. As far as I know this is the only album they recorded. I'd love to hear the full story of what happened to them.

Album Review.

Painkiller: Buried Secrets

Painkiller's Buried Secrets was suggested to me one day at my favorite record store. It was my first introduction to John Zorn's work. This particular John Zorn project features Bill Laswell on bass guitar and Mick Harris on drums. This album also features Justin Broadrick and G. C. Green from Godflesh. The album is out of print but is available in the Collected Works box set.

Russian Red: I Love Your Glasses

Russian Red is the stage name of Spanish singer-songwriter Lourdes Hernandez, who sings in English. I love Your Glasses is her debut album, and it is just great. Twelve songs including a Cyndi Lauper cover to close out the album.

Maury Muehleisen: Gingerbreadd

Maury Muehleisen was Jim Croce's friend and musical partner for the last period in his career. As second guitarist, Maury played a big part of the sound of the last three studio albums Jim Croce put out. Most of the time Jim Croce played live he was backed only by Maury on second guitar and vocals.
Before he helped to shape the Jim Croce sound we all know, Maury put out an album on Capitol Records, Gingerbreadd. Although the original is hard to find, the album, along with a CD of demo recordings, has been released on CD by Maury's sister, Mary Muehleisen. Both CD's are available at www.maurymuehleisen.com.

MD.45: The Craving

MD.45 was a side project with Dave Mustane of Megadeth fame and Lee Ving from FEAR. I am not a Megadeth fan, and I cannot compare this to other Megadeth releases, but I can say it is certainly a departure from Lee Ving's work in FEAR. Originally released in 1996, this was remastered and partially rerecorded in 2004 with Dave Mustane redoing Lee Ving's vocals. The 2004 sans-Ving version might be alright for Megadeth fans, but the original version is a great album that is worth tracking down.

Common Rider: Last Wave Rockers

Jesse Michaels took a long hiatus after disbanding his seminal Berkley, California punk band, Operation Ivy in 1989. Although he had a short stint with his next band, Big Rig, in the early '90s, his big comeback was Common Rider, releasing their first record, Last Wave Rockers, in 1999.
 

Skrewdriver: All Skrewed Up

Skrewdriver is best known as a pro-white power band, and a lot of people find it hard to look past this. The truth of the matter is that before Skrewdriver developed Nazi-sympathies, they were a straight forward English punk band. In short, the original, non-political, non-racist Skrewdriver broke up in 1979, but reformed in 1982 with only one original member, Ian Stuart. It was the reformed Skrewdriver that became poster boys for the white power movement. This leaves me with a thought. If Ian Stuart at used a new band name when he started his new version of Skrewdriver, would people look at this album differently?

Nero: Dune Concept Album

Eight tracks by the band Nero inspired by Dune, culminating in the nearly eighteen minute epic "Kwizzach Haderach". Available both on CD and digitally from a number of sources.

From Temporary Residence Limited.

Trampled By Turtles: Palomino

Trampled By Turtles is a bluegrass band from Duluth, Minnesota. Palomino is their fifth full length. Official website: trampledbyturtles.com.

Anti-Scrunti Faction: Damsels in Distress

I first discovered A.S.F. on the Best of Flipside Vinyl Fanzines CD. This long out of print LP is the only full length the band put out in their short run. Bass player and vocalist Leslie Mah went on to form Tribe 8.









Slave to My Estrogen:

Boys Will Be Boys:

Slapp Happy: Sort Of

The debut album from Germany's Slapp Happy. Released in 1972, Sort Of is a great blend on unique pop melody's. Fans of Mazzy Star may recognize the original version of Blue Flower.

Miles Davis: Agharta and Pangea

Miles Davis recorded two concerts in one day on February 1, 1975 in Osaka, Japan. These concerts were released as two albums, Agharta and Pangaea. Shortly after recording these two concerts, Miles Davis would retire from music for six years.


Agharta track one: Prelude Part One (excerpt)

Pangaea track one: Zimbabwe (excerpt)

Boredoms: Onanie Bomb Meets The Sex Pistols

Onanie Bomb Meets The Sex Pistols was my introduction to Japan's Boredoms. I had seen them open for Nirvana a year before but wasn't ready for them yet. I picked this CD up in Florida and it hit instantly and helped to form my abstract definition of music.






Track 2: Boredoms Vs SDI


Track 3: We Never Sleep

Hesher

Hesher is a 2011 film written and directed by Spencer Susser staring Joseph Gordon Levitt, Natalie Portman, Rainn Wilson, and Devin Brochu. This movie is about a mysterious metalhead named Hesher that drifts into the lives of several people.



Hesher [Blu-ray]
Hesher DVD

John Lee Hooker: Boogie Chillun

Boogie Chillun is a live album by John Lee Hooker released on CD on Fantasy in 1989. It was originally released on vinyl as two separate albums: Live At Sugar Hill and Boogie Chillun. The two albums were recorded live in November 1962. One track (Matchbox) was omited to accommodate the running time of the CD. The recorded concerts feature John Lee Hooker alone and unaccompanied. This is a great way to hear John Lee Hooker at his best, playing solo. Preview the tracks on the Amazon link below.



Boogie Chillun

Bedouin Soundclash: Root Fire

Bedouin Soundclash, from Kingston, Ontario. Root Fire is their debut album.

Official Site

Wikipedia

State of Alert: No Policy EP

Before Henry Rollins left his home in the District of Columbia, he was Henry Garfield. Before he became the iconic, tattooed Black Flag singer, he was the front man for State of Alert. The band released a ten song 7" e.p. called No Policy.


My Review

Wikipedia

Dischord Records

Willie Nelson and Family Live

Willie Neslon has a very long recording career, but he is a master when it comes to performing live. Watching him perform with his band is truly a lesson in how it should be done. Everyone should see him perform live at least once.

Willie Nelson and Family live in Amsterdam, 2000.

Gleaming The Cube

Gleaming the Cube is my favorite skateboard movie.

Wikipedia

IMDB

Trailer:

Nuages by Django Reinhardt

Nuages is a song composed by Django Reinhardt. It has been recorded not only by Django himself on many occasions, but by many other guitarist that were influenced by Django.

Wikipedia: Nuages.

Django Reinhardt and the Quintette du Hot Club de France, 1940.


Joe Pass, solo guitar, 1946.


Willie Nelson, Live.

Mano Negra: Puta's Fever

Mano Negra was an outstanding band. They were based in France but had influences that were widespread. Puta's Fever is a great starting point to explore the music of Mano Negra, as well the work of front man Manu Chao, who has gone on to have a great solo carrer after the demise of Mano Negra.

Mano Negra: Puta's Fever review.