Yule Shoot Your Eye Out!

I have 5 songs that I lost the information for. They were most likely released in 2002 (I'm pretty sure that's when I aquired them). The first three are by the same artist (2 different versions of the same song, and one other); the singer sounds similar to Cerys Matthews from Catatonia but it's not her. The other two songs are by two different artists. If anyone has any ideas about who they are, please leave a comment here. I'm going to put the file on rapidshare so more people can hear them; hopefully someone will be able to ID them.

mystery songs

My friend Paul is about as obsessed with xmas music as I am (he DJ'd an annual xmas marathon, had bands that performed xmas songs, even released a really good comp of indie xmas music, This Is Christmas (buy it for cheap)). Then he and his brother started up a Harry Potter fixated band, Harry and the Potters. On their self-titled debut album from 2003, there's a song about the Yule Ball called, appropriately, The Yule Ball. As I was readying this post, I discovered that this year he's put together a Harry Potter-themed Christmas comp called A Magical Christmas of Magic (buy it).

The Yule Ball

This year it's gonna be Christmas with the in-laws (and the brother-in-law's in-laws) for me, so I once again have taken it upon myself to make a mix to share with them &mdash this year I'm also sharing it with you fine folks. Except for a couple of songs, these are all readily available elsewhere; there's nothing particularly remarkable about this (continuous) mix but I think it sounds pretty good. Throw it on a CD and give it to your mom, the mailman, whomever; play it Christmas morning whilst opening your presents; pass the link around, or skip along to the next posting.
Merry Christmas to all!

1 | 2 (2 part rar file because it's just a hair over 100 mb.)

track listing:
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (Andy Williams)
Here Comes Santa Claus (Doris Day)
Too Fat for the Chimney (Gisele MacKenzie)
If Every Day Was Like Christmas (Elvis Presley)
Step into Christmas (Elton John)
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (The Smithereens)
Jingle Bell Rock (Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass)
Winter Wonderland (Darlene Love)
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! (Les Brown)
Cool Yule (Louis Armstrong and the Commanders)
Sleigh Ride (The Ventures)
Silver Bells (Wayne Newton)
Happy Holiday (Peggy Lee)
Frosty the Snowman (The Beach Boys)
I've Had a Very Merry Christmas (Jerry Lewis)
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (Brenda Lee)
The Real Meaning of Christmas (Ray Conniff)
White Christmas (Rosemary Clooney)
Five Pound Box of Money (Pearl Bailey)
This Christmas (Don Ho)
Christmas Island (Bob Atcher and the Dinning Sisters)
Mele Kalikimaka (Bing Crosby With the Andrews Sisters)
Baby's First Christmas (Connie Francis)
Ole Santa (Dinah Washington)
Dig That Crazy Santa Claus (Oscar McLollie and His Honey Jumpers)
Run Rudolph Run (Chuck Berry)
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Ella Fitzgerald)
Christmas Time Is Here (Vince Guaraldi Trio)
The Christmas Song (Frank Sinatra)

PS I'll post the cover when our art department (aka my wife) has finished it.

Today's double post came about inadvertantly. I had this Melissa Etheridge track that I wanted to share but since I'm not really into her music, it's just been kinda languishing here on my hard drive. Then today I was going through the stacks to pick a song and I came across a Dogbowl tune from 2001 and thought, yeah, that's the one. Then I realized that thematically it goes perfectly with the Melissa Etheridge tune, so here they are: two anti-war xmas songs. The Dogbowl track is from an album called Fantastic Carburetor Man and the Etheridge track is from her new best of (buy it).

The 1972 Christmas Bombing of North Vietnam - Dogbowl
Christmas in America - Melissa Etheridge
- - (both songs in a zip file)

I always loved the Posies song, Christmas, on the Just Say Noël comp from 1996 (buy it). It took a while before I found out that it was a cover (I had wondered why they would be singing about Boston). Turns out the original is by yet another band from Boston, Fuzzy, who were poised to be the Next Big Thing for about 6 or 7 minutes in the mid-'90s. The song is on their second album, Electric Juices (buy it dirt cheap), from 1996. It's a purty (but pretty depressing) song; I think I still prefer the Posies version.

Christmas (zip of both versions)

Oookaaay, while finishing up this post, I discovered that the Fuzzy version is not the original, either. It was written by Florence Dore, a singer/songwriter who did time here in Boston, too. Dunno what she released it on in the first place but she does have a CD, Perfect City (buy it), on her site with a version of it (the original? who knows?)

Connecticut band The Reducers have been around for quite a while at this point—since 1978, holy crap!

Originally released as the a-side of a holiday single in 1988, you can pick up this mid-tempo "I been a baaaaaad boy" rocker on their 1991 anthology CD, Redux (buy it). The double negative in the chorus drives the grammar Nazi in me crazy: "I'm not getting nothing for Christmas" means that you ARE getting SOMEthing. Petty, I know but sheesh! Still, a good, solid song.

Nothing for Christmas

While researching this post, I discovered that the band is currently offering the b-side from this single—a festive, rockin' version of "Auld Lang Syne"—as a free download at their website. Pretty cool!

The Shods are a Boston rock band whose major label debut (their second full-length) was recorded for a label that that went under before the album could be released (though the label's parent company hung onto it for FIVE YEARS before the band was allowed to release it). Their third album, Bamboozled, Jilted, Hornswoggled + Hoodwinked (buy it)—their second to see release—was my introduction to the band in 1998. I swear I could hear that album every day for the rest of my life and it would never get old. I remember vividly that my two favorite rock albums that year were Bamboozled... and Gaunt's Bricks and Blackouts (buy it dirt cheap!). Anyway, the Shods next album, Thanks for Nuthin' (buy it), did not blow me away as completely as Bamboozled... did, but it rocked me nonetheless. Also, it had a Christmas song on it.

Million Miles

Earlier this year, my good friend Pip asked me if I had ever seen a British kids show called The Goodies. To his surprise and dismay, I hadn't. Apparently he had loved it as a child and recollected it was hilarious. After our chat he set about finding a video copy of the show and on amazon.co.uk, he struck paydirt—a DVD (buy it) and CD combo at a very reasonable price. The only drawback was that he didn't have an all-region DVD player (not that it stopped him from ordering). When the discs arrived, he was all too happy to loan them to me so I could watch the show and tell him how funny it is. Unfortunately, it's not. I don't claim to be a particularly mature 30-something but the humor was just way too juvenile. (I'm sure it would have cracked me up even in high school—I still thought Benny Hill was amusing at that point.) I didn't even get to enjoy the feelings of nostalgia I would've undoubtedly had if I'd watched the show in my youth.

Along with the DVD was a CD called "Funky Gibbon—The Best of the Goodies" (named after their Big Hit) (buy it). Goofy early-'70s pop/rock, not much to recommend. However, nestled together at the end of the CD were two Christmas songs. Neither particularly great BUT not anything that I'd come across before, either. Singles released in consecutive years, they both made the UK Top 20. (Not particularly proud moments for British music history.)

Father Christmas, Do Not Touch Me (1974)
Make a Daft Noise for Christmas (1975)
- - (both songs in a zip file)

P.S. I think Pip still hasn't watched his DVD yet.