A handful of links for Christmas Day

Well, it looks like I have run out of time to write about free Christmas music for another year.  As always, though, I still have a ton of excellent music that I just haven't had a chance to do a proper write-up about  Much like I did with last year's "Stocking Stuffer" post, I'd like to post some links and brief comments on some of the other music that I've been enjoying this Christmas season.  There's no real rhyme or reason to this - I'm pretty much just flipping through my Christmas playlist and looking back at notes that I've made about various albums and songs.  

 

Hullabaloo's Holiday Hullabaloo is a short but sweet collection of fun Christmas songs (as well as a couple of Hanukkah songs) aimed at both the young and the young at heart.  Consisting of nothing but acoustic guitar and vocals, the arrangements are short and simple, and the words can all be clearly heard.  I've really enjoyed listening to it while playing with my 2 year old this year.

 

Canadian indie pop band Ohbijou have released a very nice version of Wham!'s "Last Christmas".  The female vocals and violin give it a pleasant sound that really helps it to stand out.

 

"Last Christmas" is also the first track on Sikora's The Sound of Christmas.  This EP has a slick pop feel to it, which is not a type of music that I listen to regularly, but I've still been really enjoying it - Christmas music just has that kind of effect on me.  "O Holy Night" and "I'll Be Home for Christmas" really showcase Sikora's voice very well, and he also does a nice version of John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" (here titled "So This Is Christmas (War Is Over)").

 

Jason Silver's ChristmaSongs features beautiful piano- (and occasionally acoustic guitar-) based arrangements of traditional Christmas carols.  "In the Bleak Midwinter" is very nicely done, as is "Joy to the World", which starts off as a slow ballad but soon changes to a more upbeat, swinging arrangement.

 

A Jolly J.E.L.L.i. Christmas by J.E.L.L.i. is one of the most fun albums I have come across this year.  It opens with a version of "Linus and Lucy" (from A Charlie Brown Christmas) that just rocks - it pretty much floored me when I first heard it.  "Happy New Year" does a similar thing to "Auld Lang Syne".  The album closes with "The 12 Days of Christmas", a song which I normally find pretty dull, but this one goes through a few style changes, including a funk breakdown and a big melodic rock outro, to actually make it fun and interesting.

And that is all for now.  I wanted to write even a few brief words about a bunch of other music, but I was even more pressed for time the past few days than usual.  I may do something unconventional and make another post before the end of the year, as I personally don't put the Christmas music away until around New Year's Day (otherwise I wouldn't get a chance to listen to any newly-acquired Christmas music until the following year, which just seems wrong).  Other than that, I'll be back sometime next week with this year's "Auld Lang Syne" post (yes, I managed to find a few more versions without actually searching for them).  Merry Christmas!

Free Christmas music from classical.com

Earlier this year, I wrote a post about classical.com's selection of free music on my other music blog.  I have continued to come back to that site each and every week since then, and I've downloaded quite a bit of excellent music from it.  This week's free album is a collection of Christmas music performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vaughan Meakins, and featuring a mix of singers and choirs.  There is a nice variety of music on the album, with some of my favourite songs like "Away in a Manger", "The First Noel", and "Good King Wenceslas", as well as some I've never heard before like "Shepherds Pipe Carol" and "Donkey Carol".

If you've never been to classical.com before, you will need to register for an account with the site before you can download anything; registration is free, and, among other things, it enables you to download free music from the site every week, so it is well worth doing.  The free downloads are typically kept on the site for two weeks before they get replaced by something else (although I have noticed exceptions, such as Beethoven's 9th symphony, which is still available after more than two months), so it's best to grab it as soon as possible.  Happy listening!

URL:

http://www.classical.com/free-music-download.php?download_id=113419

Artist Spotlight: Ballard C. Boyd

It's hard to imagine a ukelele-based Christmas album being anything but fun.  Ballard C. Boyd seems to be hell-bent on proving that theory, as he has been releasing a ukelele-based Christmas album every year since 2005.  I only discovered his music within the last week or so, after his latest album, Yule Kulele, was released; fortunately, the other 4 albums are also still available, so if this sounds like something you'd be even remotely interested in, you can head over to his website and download all 5 albums right now.

 

There are many obscure Christmas songs covered on these albums that I had never heard before, as well as more familiar songs like "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow", "The Christmas Song", and "Holly Jolly Christmas" (always a favourite of mine because of its inclusion in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, my favourite Christmas movie).  There are also a few original songs on most of the albums (all except the first), and Boyd even puts his own spin on some old favourites such as "The 12 Days of Christmas", which is updated as "The 25 Days of Christmas".  There are even a few "hidden tracks", including a cover of Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls" and a mashup of Steve Miller's "The Joker" with Weezer's "Undone - The Sweater Song".  One of my favourite songs turned out to be a cover of Robert Earl Keen's "Merry Christmas from the Family", which I had never heard before - the line "Little sister brought her new boyfriend, he was a Mexican. We didn't know what to think of him until he sang 'Feliz Navidad'" had me cracking up laughing as I listened to it.

 

Ballard C. Boyd's ukelele Christmas albums are definitely not the most traditional Christmas albums you will ever hear, but they will almost certainly be among the most fun.  You can download the MP3 files separately or grab a zip file for each album right here.  Happy listening!

 

URL:

http://www.ballardcboyd.com/music/