Christmas Day Stocking Stuffer edition

[Update: A few of the links referenced in this post no long work.  Namely, Aaron Schust and Chris Sligh's 4 Songs for Christmas, and the Joel Rakes and Sounds Familyre links.]

Well, it's Christmas Day now. This day always seems to come much more quickly than it ever should. I've listened to a ton of great Christmas music over the last six weeks or so, and I've tried my best to post about as much of it as I could; I hope you've enjoyed reading about it and listening to it as much as I've enjoyed listening to it and writing about it. Since this will likely be my last chance to post about Christmas music this year, I thought it might be nice to round up some of the music I've really enjoyed but haven't had a chance to post about yet. I won't go as in-depth about it as I normally do, but if you're looking for some last minute musical ideas for Christmas, feel free to pick and choose from the links below.

One of the first songs I ran across in my search for Christmas music this year was Sofia Talvik's 2007 single "Christmas", which, musically, is a rather pretty little song; lyrically, it is rather dark and disturbing and not typical Christmas fare at all. I won't spoil anything, but please consider yourself warned. Sofia has released another Christmas single this year entitled "A Carol for the Lonely", which is very beautiful. Though the single is free to download, she "[urges] you to use the money you would have spent on it on iTunes to help someone less fortunate."

From the Internet Archive comes a recording of "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht" (better known to some as "Silent Night") from 1906. This is a beautiful instrumental version of the song, and I think the historical value of the recording alone makes it worth listening to.

Along similar lines is Voices of Christmas Past 1898 to 1922, a collection of Christmas skits and musical recordings from the early part of the 20th century. If you want an idea of what Christmas was like so long ago, this would be a great place to start.

Also from the Internet Archive comes Bela Fleck and the Flecktones' "Christmas Medley", which puts a cool jazzy spin on some well known Christmas songs.

From The Fa-la-lattes comes a pair of newly-recorded Christmas albums. Christmas on Public Property is a collection of public domain Christmas songs. I really like their rocking "Angels We Have Heard on High", their country-tinged "In the Bleak Midwinter", and their laid back "Lo, How a Rose Ere Blooming", which has some beautiful vocal harmonies. The other album, entitled (Your Christmas Here), consists of all original Christmas songs - thirteen of them. I don't know of too many Christmas albums with all original songs, so the ambition alone on this one makes it worth a listen. As a little bonus, both of the albums will fit nicely onto a single CD, should you decide to burn a copy.

Aaron Schust and Chris Sligh's 4 Songs for Christmas is a nice little EP with a great, rocking version of "O Come O Come Emmanuel" and a nice version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

Brian C. Duyn's Home for Christmas is something that I downloaded last year and dismissed a little too prematurely as being cheesy. When I took another look at the web page this year, I had to laugh because even he admits that a lot of the tracks are cheesy, as he used karaoke style accompaniments. If you can get past that, you'll be treated to some outstanding singing on a good selection of both traditional and contemporary Christmas songs.

The White Christmas Album by The Sleeping Brothers has very little information about itself, but it's a pretty cool album nonetheless. "Fruitcake" is a fun, original song, and the cover of "Silver & Gold" should appeal to any fans of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer - I should know, as I've counted myself as one for most of my life. :)

Happy Birthday Jesus is a free compilation from the Christian electronica site Creuk Radio. It's a rather strange compilation, similar in spirit to the Electric Fantastic Christmas albums, but perhaps even weirder. My favourite track is Anguidara, Delta-s, Tranquil Chaos' industrial version of "Let it Snow", which has a bit of a Marilyn Manson sound to it.

And that's about it. Don't forget to check back with both Joel Rakes and Sounds Familyre for the remainder of their releases. Joel has posted a great version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", and his final song for this year will be released later today; the tracks for Sounds Familyre Vol. 2 have been released in batches of 2 or 3 tracks a day lately, so be sure to grab them while the download window is still open. I'll be back in a few more days to make another "Auld Lang Syne" post, so in the meantime I hope that you are enjoying your Christmas and that at least some of this music can play some small part in it. Merry Christmas, and happy listening!

URLs:

http://www.last.fm/music/Sofia+Talvik/Christmas
http://www.sofiatalvik.com/news/download-my-christmas-single-for-free/
http://www.archive.org/details/electra-600
http://www.archive.org/details/Voices_of_Christmas_Past_1898_to_1922
http://www.archive.org/details/bfft2004-12-10.shnf
http://falalattes.com/2008/10/28/the-fa-la-lattes-have-found-a-home-on-the-web/
http://aaronshust.blogspot.com/ (not currently available)
http://www.brianduyn.com/christmas.html
http://www.archive.org/details/TheSleepingBrothersTheWhiteChristmasAlbum
http://www.creukradio.org/compilations/index.html
http://www.joelrakes.com/christmasmusic/ (not currently available)
http://www.soundsfamilyre.com/blog/2008/12/15/a-familyre-christmas-vol-2/ (not currently available)

Song Spotlight: Auld Lang Syne (special New Year's edition)

[Note: As of October 4, 2009, the Fisher album is unavailable.]

Given the nature of this blog, I think it is pretty much a given that posting will be somewhat sparse now that Christmas has come and gone. I will probably make an occasional post if I have some news to share or if I happen across a really great find, but things will definitely not be as active here as they have been for the last couple of months.

With that said, I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you who have been reading this blog from the bottom of my heart. I have had a lot of fun checking on the stats for my site feed on Feedburner every day and seeing the number of subscribers increase steadily. I also feel truly humbled to know that this blog has been read by people from all over the world, and I hope that the music I have featured here has touched at least some of you as much as it has touched me. Thank you, and I hope that you will all keep your subscriptions active, as I still have a huge amount of free Christmas music that I have not yet been able to feature here, plus I am sure that 2008 will bring more treasures which I will feature as soon as I find them. I'd also love to hear more from my readers next year, so I will be encouraging interactivity a lot more than I did this year.

I would also like to invite all of you to visit a new blog that I have started, entitled Totally Free Music. My initial intention is to have it be a more general version of Free Christmas Music and feature links to free music of all types, along with my own brief reviews and opinions about the music. If you have enjoyed getting free music from this blog for Christmas and would like to continue getting free music throughout the year, I will be happy to be your guide at Totally Free Music. I hope to see you there!

All right, and now on to this blog's very last spotlight of 2007. "Auld Lang Syne" is a song that will very likely be familiar to anyone who has been through a New Year's celebration, even if you may not actually know the words to it. In fact, for years I thought of it as only "that New Year's song", having heard it in countless TV shows and movies that feature a New Year's celebration. Since I have found a few versions of it in my search for free Christmas music, I thought it would only be appropriate to feature it here.

• An orchestral version by Frank Pido (done on a computer) can be found at the Garritan Christmas Music Player. It's track 19 on the 2004 album, which is about 3/4 of the way down the page.
• A faster, noisier version by A Beautiful Lotus can be found on Christmasasaurus vol. 2.
• A more traditional version with vocals can be found on Fisher's December album.

As a bonus, I'll also include the lyrics here so that you may actually be able to sing along with this song the next time you hear it. I got this set of lyrics from Wikipedia, which also features the original lyrics by Robert Burns as well as a pronounciation guide.

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne ?
CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And surely you’ll buy your pint cup !
And surely I’ll buy mine !
And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
CHORUS

We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine ;
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.
CHORUS

We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine (dinner time) ;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.
CHORUS

And there’s a hand my trusty friend !
And give us a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.
CHORUS

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and that 2007 was a good year for you. Here's to hoping that 2008 will be even better. Happy New Year, and happy listening!

URLs:

http://totallyfreemusic.blogspot.com/

http://www.garritan.com/Xmas.html

http://www.archive.org/details/CANDY032

http://www.fishertheband.com/christmas.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auld_lang_syne

Album Spotlight: Allison Crowe - Tidings

[Note: as of October 2009, Tidings is no longer available for free from Allison Crowe's site.  This issue is currently being looked into.  In the meantime, the traditional half of the album can still be downloaded for free from Jamendo.]

Oh, have I got a treat for you tonight. As you may or may not have noticed in the comments for my last post, Allison Crowe's manager, Adrian, mentioned that there is more free Christmas music to be found on Allison's Tidings page. I checked that site out before heading to work today and was amazed to find that the entire album is available for download. I downloaded the songs onto my flash drive so that I could listen to them at work today, and I was simply amazed by what I heard.

The first thing that struck me, even before I had heard a single note, was the song selection. There are the traditional Christmas carols that one almost expects to hear on a Christmas album; songs like "Silent Night", "O Holy Night", "The First Noel". Joni Mitchell's "River" also makes an appearance; as this has become one of my favourite Christmas songs (even though it's not really "about" Christmas per se - but more on that in a later post), I was happy to have another version of it. Then there are some songs that have even less to do with Christmas, but more about "spirituality and redemption" (as the album's Wikipedia article states); among these songs are Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", Sarah McLachlan's "Angel", and a pair of Beatles songs, "Let It Be" and "In My Life". An intriguing lineup of songs, to say the very least - it looks like this is an album that can be enjoyed at any time of year.

After listening to the album, I am practically speechless. Just hearing this music has made me feel like I received an early Christmas present. I don't think my words could possibly do it justice, but I'll try to describe it as best I can; after all, if you've read this far it likely means that you want a little more information before heading over to her site and listening for yourself. Allison is clearly a very gifted performer. Her voice is so powerful that it sometimes seems to overpower the recording equipment; I can only imagine that seeing her perform live would be an unforgettable experience. She also accompanies her vocals with her own accomplished piano playing; most of the songs actually consist only of vocals and piano. It's nice to hear such refreshing arrangements of many of these songs. I think the real standout of the album is "Hallelujah", which she performs with a passion and intensity that is rarely heard in a cover version; she really manages to make the song her own. Some other highlights include "Angel", which features another powerhouse of a vocal performance; "O Holy Night", which is given an upbeat, jazzy treatment unlike any I've ever heard; and the a capella album opener, "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear".

Now, please go and check the album out for yourself. I'd love to know what my readers think about it, so please leave a comment here if you listen to it. Enjoy!