One Minute To Midnight

Like many stars of the day, Frank Sinatra hosted a weekly radio show almost continuously 40s and early 50s. From 1945 to 1947, the show was Songs By Sinatra, sponsored by Old Gold cigarettes. The half hour program aired every Wednesday night on CBS, and featured Sinatra along with a special guest singing songs and doing an occasional comedy sketch. For the last of this year's holiday themed posts, we go back to the December 26, 1945 show. Frank and his guests that week, the Bob Mitchell Boys Choir, put their own spin on this song from my favorite holiday movie, Irving Berlin's classic Holiday Inn.

Frank Sinatra - "Let's Start The New Year Right" (mp3) from Songs By Sinatra: The Old Gold Shows, Volume 2

And Kings Will Come...

When I do a post on here, I usually spend almost as much time trying to find an appropriate picture as I do writing the post itself. You kind of have to when your blog has absolutely zero design element to it (it's on my list of things to do, eventually). Today the picture and the song are a perfect match for each other. And I guess that's fitting, since they were done by the same person. The painting is Joseph and Infant Jesus in Bondi by Steve Kilbey, and the song is by The Church. Some people might be surprised to learn that The Church did a Christmas song, and some fans might mistakenly argue that they haven't. But this song is just as much about today as the hymns you sang at midnight mass last night. It's also absolutely gorgeous.

The Church - "Lullaby" (mp3) from Sometime Anywhere

May peace find you wherever you are today. Merry Christmas.

Christmas with Louis and Keely

It's almost criminal that Louis Prima isn't a household name. The average person has no idea who he is, and if they have heard of him, he's usually just the guy who did the song in that Gap commercial a few years back. But the man is an unqualified entertainment legend, whether the average Joe on the street has heard of him or not. When he partnered with Keely Smith, backed up by Sam Butera & the Witnesses, their lounge act is part of what made Las Vegas so great in the 50s and 60s. Louis and Keely were known as the King & Queen of Las Vegas, and their routine with him as the wild jokester and her as a stone-faced straight woman later became the template for Sonny and Cher. But more important than their influence on Las Vegas and entertainment in general is the fact that their music is simply pure, unadulterated joy. You seriously cannot listen to it without smiling.

As I type this, Santa Claus and his reindeer are already making their way around the globe. According to the NORAD Santa Tracker, the sleigh is currently flying over China. So these two songs seem appropriate for the most awesome night of the year. Louis' track comes from his 1930's big band era, and Keely's song, from her 1963 Christmas album, features a special cameo appearance as Santa Claus. I'd tell you who it is, but that would ruin the surprise (though you can probably guess).

Louis Prima - "What Will Santa Claus Say When He Finds Everybody Swinging?" (mp3) from Yule B' Swingin'
Keely Smith - "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" (mp3) from A Keely Christmas

Merry Christmas from Nashville

With Christmas a mere four days away, everyone seems to fall into one of two categories; the bah-humbug types who are fed up with the last minute hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping, and those who are bound and determined to spread holiday cheer. Some of my favorite local bands apparently fall into the latter category, and have posted seasonal songs on their Myspace profiles. Here's a roundup the yuletide offerings from some of Nashville's finest...

Last year Lylas released A Christmas Kiss from Lylas, and they have both of the "proper" songs from the EP available for download, along with the b-side from their first single, "Let's All Go Caroling." Since they haven't posted either of the two brief instrumentals that bookend the EP (and no one else has either), here they are for your listening pleasure...

Lylas - "Theme for Saint Nicholas" (mp3)
Lylas - "Snowfall Since Midnight" (mp3)

Former Save Macaulay frontwoman Caitlin Rose has recorded recorded a straight up country version of the classic "Blue Christmas," only with trombone. Why haven't more people thought of including trombone on country songs? It sounds surprisingly awesome.

Two of the local bands that contributed songs to the Toys For Tots benefit album Peace On Earth have their tracks availalble for streaming, Sleeptalker's "This Is Christmas," and The Winston Jazz Routine's "Through The Snow."

Several years ago Matthew Ryan contributed a incredibly cool version of "Little Drummer Boy" to Nettwerk's Christmas Songs album. It's not posted on his main myspace profile, but you can listen to it here.

The Features have a track up called "Father Christmas" that is not a cover of the Kinks classic. I'd love to tell you more about it, but I couldn't find a lick of info about it online. Anyone???

Timbre is one of my favorite local artists, but I always struggle to describe her music (indie classical?). Regardless, she has two Christmas songs posted on her profile; the traditional "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," and a new song which tells a variation of the fable about the Robin fanning the embers of the fire to warm Baby Jesus, "Robin Red Breast."

And finally (self promotion alert), my own band Paris Street released a Christmas EP this year, simply called Winter. Three of the four songs (two originals, and a cover of "A Marshmallow World") are available for download on our myspace profile. The one that isn't is a cover of a song by Hefner.

Paris Street - "The Little Baby Hefner's Xmas Song For Holland" (mp3)

If you know of anyone I forgot, feel free to link to them in the comments. And from our city to yours, have a super fantastic very merry Christmas.

photo by Chris Wage

Morris The Moose

According to Google Analytics, the post I did last year for the lost Christmas classic "Roly Poly The Polar Bear" is the fifth most visited post I've ever made on this blog. That ought to say something about the interest in The Peppermint Kandy Kids. According to this post at Falalalala, the company that owns the rights to the old Peter Pan Records catalog has started transfering these old albums to digital formats and are releasing them on iTunes. Several albums by the Caroleers are already available, so hopefully the Peppermint Kandy Kids won't be too far behind. In the meantime, here is another one of my favorites from Rudolph's Christmas Party.

The Peppermint Kandy Kids - "Morris The Moose" (mp3)

As for the picture, I know that the Mariners mascot isn't named Morris (for the uninitiated, his name is simply Mariner Moose). But he is awesome. And he plays the drums!!! Seriously, I saw him sitting in with Blue Thunder along with the Blitz and Squatch (the Seahawks and Sonics mascots) at Qwest Field when I was in Seattle last month.

UPDATE (11/17/08): Usually I hate doing anything Christmas related until after Thanksgiving, and that includes posting Christmas songs. But for the third year in a row, I'm getting bombarded with visits (12% of my traffic over the past two weeks) and e-mails regarding the Peppermint Kandy Kids. So I'm reposting this song two weeks early. Consider it an early Christmas present. Enjoy!

Just Like Christmas

Aberdeen City was one of my favorite musical discoveries of 2006. Last December they spent an off night of their tour recording a cover of Low's "Just Like Christmas" in a hotel room in Alabama, with the lyrics slightly revised to reflect their own intinerary. The result was paired with an acoustic version of their single "God Is Going To Get Sick of Me" and released as a free holiday single on their website. Since I never got around to posting it during last year's Christmas blitz, and it's kind of awesome, here it is...

Aberdeen City - "Just Like Christmas" (mp3)

The Beatles Walk Hard

I almost never go see movies on opening weeked, but I think I'm going to have to make an exception when Walk Hard comes out next week. I've been looking forward to seeing it ever since a friend showed me one of the first trailers a few months ago. After seeing this clip of the Beatles scene from the movie, it's jumped to number two on the list of things I'm looking forward to in the few weeks... above Christmas, but below meeting my new nephew. It is absolutely hilarious.

And since I'm now in a Beatles spoofing kind of mood...

The Rutles - "Love Life" (mp3) from The Rutles

Happy Birthday Frank

In my book, today is a national holiday. The birthday of one Francis Albert Sinatra. And since all birthdays should be spent with friends, here are a couple of duets to celebrate the occasion.

Frank Sinatra & Nat King Cole - "The Christmas Song" (mp3) from Sinatra 80th: All The Best

This is basically a mashup. Produced by Phil Ramone in 1995, it was assembled by combining Cole's 1962 recording with Sinatra's take from 1957 (the one that appears on A Jolly Christmas). Sinatra's version had to sped up to make it work, which might offend some purists, but I think it sounds great.

Frank Sinatra & Cyndi Lauper - "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" (mp3) from A Very Special Christmas 2

This duet was done in 1992 by pulling the vocal from Sinatra's 1947 Columbia recording and having Lauper sing over a rerecorded version of the song. Generally I abhor these kinds of electro-duets, but this one works. I think it's because Lauper does a great job matching up with the tone of Sinatra's performance. Frankly, it doesn't sound all that different from some of Frank's campier duets from the late forties.

Beasts

Your Black Star - Beasts

A few months ago (July to be exact), Your Black Star released their fourth CD, the mini LP Beasts. After the year and a half wait it took between recording and the stateside release of their last album, Sound From The Ground (reviewed here), it had to be a relief for them to put out their latest a mere six months after recording it. Musically, the album has a similar urgency. They still have the same sonic trademarks they've always had, with heavily effected guitars anchored by a driving and unshakable rhythm section. But somehow the songs seem more direct... less atmospheric and more grounded. Whether that is the result of their seemingly constant touring or the hand of producer Erik Wofford (who has previously worked with Explosions In The Sky, Snowden, and The Black Angels), the result is a strong six song addition to their already impressive body of work.

Your Black Star - "Fight" (mp3)

You can hear two other tracks from the album, "The Break" and "Skyjacketing," on their myspace page.

Song Of Mary

Last year a local artist, Erika Chambers, released one of my favorite songs of the Christmas season, "O Star O'er Bethlehem" (you can read about it here, and you can listen to it on her myspace profile). This year she's released another holiday tune, and it's equally excellent. With today being the start of Hanukkah, I figured it was especially appropriate to post it today. It's not about the festival of lights at all, but it is about a jewish mother, and it's partially sung in Hebrew. That's close enough, right?

Erika Chambers - "Song Of Mary" (mp3) from Holiday Noise 2

Erika will be performing at 3rd and Lindsley this Friday, December 7 at 7:00 pm, along with several other of the artists who appear on this year's Holiday Noise CD.

Art Carney, Hip Hop Pioneer

Saturday night was my annual Christmas party, and as I usually do, I threw an assortment of Christmas compliations into the CD player to serve as the evening's soundtrack. When this track came on, one of my friend's asked if it was some kind of 1940's rap. I've heard this song a lot over the last several years, but his question inspired me to try and track down exactly where it came from. Turns out that in 1954, Art Carney released a single on Columbia called "Santa And The Doodle-Li-Boop," and this song was the b-side (you can hear the a-side at Musical Fruitcake). Becuase it predated Clarence "Blowfly" Reid, Fatback, and the Sugar Hill Gang, you could make the argument that Carney released the world's first rap record.

Art Carney - "Twas The Night Before Christmas" (mp3) from Jingle Bell Swing