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First off, I'll quickly mention a few records that I bought as early Christmas presents for myself. I ordered - brand new - David Bowie's album ChangesOneBowie, a very nice compilation of his best songs from 1969 to 1976. This recent reissue of the '76 album was pressed to both black vinyl and clear vinyl, so that there was an element of mystery for the buyer. I was sort of hoping for a clear record, but ended up with a black one. No biggie.
The tracklist covers all of my favourite early Bowie tunes, including Ziggy Stardust, Space Oddity, Rebel Rebel and Suffragette City. Bowie had a ripping band during that era, and the memorable guitar riffs perfectly complement his classy rock'n'roll vocals. I much prefer his music of the 70's to the more pop, sort of dance-y 80's tunes (which aren't all bad... I kind of like some of them).
I also got myself a compilation called Best of Cream, by that psychedelic hard rock trio from the late 60's. I've long enjoyed their biggest hit songs, White Room, Sunshine of Your Love, and so on, and until now only ever had a CD collection of their tunes. What I really wanted was their famous album Disraeli Gears, but that wasn't available where I was looking, so this "gently used" 1969 UK release was a solid runner-up. I'm happy with it, since it's got those durable classics I've always liked - this time on vinyl. That'll be in good company with the handful of other 60's rock records on my shelf... like Beatles, Monkees, The Who, and The Doors.
For something completely different, I went for what would be my very first vinyl record picture disc, the 12-inch UK limited edition single of Chocolate, by Kylie Minogue. I have no intention of playing it, instead opting to frame and display it in my living room music area. The image on the record is beautifully "printed", a vivid colour photo of none other than Kylie.
As for actual Christmas music listening, I don't really go for much nowadays, since I hear festive tunes on a loop all day at work. So it's rare that I want to hear more when I'm at home. But if or when the mood strikes, I've got a handful of Christmas albums, most on CD, to choose from. My favourites are Elvis' Christmas Album, The Dean Martin Christmas album, A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack from the TV show by the Vince Guaraldi Trio, Christmas Songs by Diana Krall, a compilation of jazzy renditions (my CD is buried away, and I can't recall the title), A Classic Cartoon Christmas (a Nick-at-Nite series entry), a couple of home-made CD comps with stuff from artists as varied as The Beatles and Spice Girls, and last but not least, The Great White North comedy and music album by Bob & Doug McKenzie (both on CD and vinyl - the original 1981 pressing!).
The Elvis and Dean albums are pure nostalgic holiday magic, great vocalists putting their own spin on the old standards. I'm not much into the jazz takes on festive songs these days, so I won't revisit those. I might, however, spin that Bob & Doug album - it'll be the very first playing of my vinyl record since I bought it way back in 1981! Among the drunken comedy bits featuring Canadianisms galore (back bacon, beer, toques) there are a couple of music tracks: the song Take Off with Geddy Lee of Rush on vocals; and our favourite hosers do their version of The Twelve Days of Christmas... if you know Canada (eh), then this is hysterical.
If I listen to nothing else, I'll at least put on the Charlie Brown Christmas album. That music is so timeless and likable that I'm happy to play it on repeat endlessly. That Nick-at-Nite cartoon disc is pretty awesome, too, packed with songs from a whole wack of classic Christmas TV shows like Grinch, Frosty, Muppets, Charlie Brown, and those Rankin Bass animated-puppet shows from the 60's, like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Santa Claus is Comin' To Town.
Tra-la-la-la-la....
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