Friday, December 29, 2006

See you next year!

See you Christmas 2007!
ffffff
HAPPY NEW YEAR
vvvvvv
FROM:
Mordi from Blowupdoll - Christine from SpikedCandy - Bruno from Schlocker - Guuzbourg from Filles Sourires - Roy from Germans Under Cover - Brainwerk from Check The Cool Wax - Erik from Earth Goes Around - Wouter from The Blues Are Still Blue and me !

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Snoozin' Thru Christmas


EDIT: Everything in the original post was gone when I looked again (in 2020), but my guess is that the original had a link to one the (great) Suburban Sprawl Christmas compilations, that ran from 2001-2013. All compilations, starting with some highlights, can be downloaded from HERE. The song originally posted here, was THIS one (direct download link). One day, when I find the time, I will look back on these comps with an extensive post, I promise.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

The Blues Are Still Blue Christmas Compilation 2006



The Blues Are Still Blue presents:

Christmas Compilation 2006

The Pipettes – In The Bleak Midwinter
Tom Waits – Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis
Sufjan Stevens - Only At Christmas Time
The Ronettes - I saw mommy kissing santa claus
Ella Fitzgerald - Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
The Beach Boys - Little Saint Nick
Bob Atcher & The Dinning Sisters - Christmas island
Mary Gauthier - Christmas in paradise
The Waitresses - Christmas wrapping
Yo La Tengo - It's Christmas Time
Peggy Lee - Happy holiday
Kylie Minogue - Santa Baby
The Long Blondes - Christmas Is Cancelled
Otis Redding - Merry Christmas, Baby
Tom Jones & Cerys Matthews - Baby it's cold outside
Fountains of Wayne - The man in the Santa suit
Jackson 5 - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
Augie Rios - Donde Esta Santa Claus (Where is Santa Claus)
Mabel Scott - Boogie Woogie Santa Claus
Brenda Lee - I'm gonna lasso Santa Claus
Claudine Longet - I Don't Intend to Spend Christmas Without You
Sha Na Na - Santa's on a diet
Hello Saferide - I pod X-mas
James Brown - Santa Claus go straight to the getto
Marlene Paul - I Wanna Spend Christmas With Elvis
Elvis Presley - Here Comes Santa Claus

And here's my compilation from last year.

24 Decembre




This song was my first contribution to Christmas A Go Go!
It seems fitting it's also my last...

Merry Christmas everybody!

24 decembre Yikes Peach Cut remix by HANDSOMEBOY TECHNIQUE

Your Blessing



Maybe this isn't really a Christmas song, but to me it sounds liike a Phil Spector Christmas production.
Anyway, this song by Japanese group Handsomeboy Technique is one of the best songe EVER. You don't want to miss this one on your Christmas playlist.

Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année!


If you love beautiful French girls with accents, you will love Vanessa Contenay-Quinones (Vanessa and The O's) special christmas greeting!
EDIT: this linked to V&tO's MySpace page with, apparently, a Christmas song or season's greetings, I don't remember.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Pink Christmas



Nomiya Maki - Christmas in a Picture Book
In 1981, ten years before she joined Pizzicato Five, Maki Nomiya released her debut album "Pink no kokoro" (Pink Heart).

I don't think she was very successful as a teenage idol singer, but this '80's electro-pop Christmas song with bells is actually quite good!

Merry Christmas from Saint Etienne!


Saint Etienne never failed us yet!

Listen to two brand new Christmas songs on their site (quicktime format):
21st Century Christmas
Through the Winter

Or download mp3's:
21st Century Christmas
Through the Winter

Also, check out Bran Van 3000's new Chrismas song "Couch Surfin' at Christmas" : http://www.branvanrecordings.com/
(Thanks for the link Patrick!)

Santa's Little Helpers

If you're into XTC/The Dukes of Stratosphear, early Pink Floyd and some of the more inspired works of The Beatles, this is thee band for you: The Virgineers, a phantom pair of psychedelic popsters - allegedly hailing from Antarctica, but more likely being stationed somewhere on the West Coast of the United States - whose masterful 2000 debut album went by largely unnoticed and ranks high - very high, in fact - on my list of all-time faves. Unfortunately, the record is "extinct", as the band's website states, and unless you're willing to shell out a cool 130 EUR for a copy, you'll very probably have trouble tracking the damn thing down (but wait - there's one available for $ 17,50 here). For some unfathomable reason, Bruce and Ken have been largely inactive for the past six years, so it might be a while until we hear from them again. Till then, here's the two Christmas songs they made available for download on their site in 2003 and 2004, respectively.

Friday, December 22, 2006

Christmas with Tom Waits



Just leave it to Tom Waits to create the ultimate Christmas atmosphere.

Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet - Gavin Bryars with anonymous tramp and Tom Waits
Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet - Gavin Bryars with Tom Waits and anonymous tramp
Christmas Sucks - Porn Orchard
(very good Tom Waits and Peter Murphy parody, they had me fooled!)
Silent Night - Tom Waits

Rappin' Presents

Cold Chillin' Juice Crew - Cold Chillin' Xmas Cypress Hill - The Night Before Xmas Kurtis Blow - Christmas Rappin' samflanagan - Frosty DMC The Roots - Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa Treacherous 3 - Santa's Rap

A Huggy Bear Christmas






















After having appeared in several blaxploitation movies such as Shaft, Foxy Brown and Cleopatra Jones, a small role in Karel Reisz's The Gambler got Antonio Fargas the part of the flamboyant informant Huggy Bear on the immensely popular TV series Starsky & Hutch. Shortly after the show folded in 1979, Dutch producer Ton "Shell" Schellekens, a former drummer with Netherbeat bands Brainbox, In Crowd, Big Wheel and Drama, summoned the lanky New York actor to the recording studio to lay down this rare Christmas single which saw the light of day in October 1980. While the a-side sounds disastrously like the run-of-the-mill disco stuff the Dutch used to churn out at the time (anyone remember Luv?), the b-side is a slightly funkier affair with Fargas telling a ghetto Xmas story over a fat, bass-laden backing track. I have no idea if Fargas ever recorded again, but Schellekens went on to become one of Holland's foremost producers, working with bands like Gruppo Sportivo, Herman Brood & The Wild Romance and Golden Earring with whom he recorded Cut which spawned the international hit single "Twilight Zone".

Thursday, December 21, 2006

SPECIAL Guestpost: Devon Press

A very special guestpost from one of the Christmas a go go readers:

In my search for good Christmas songs this year (they're hard to find but they are out there!), I kept coming across the French chanson"Petit Papa Noël." It's a beautiful and somewhat sad song; very popular in France. I found 16 different versions of the song and every time I heard a new one, I liked the song more and more. But I felt that none of the interpretations did the song justice. So I decided to have a go at it myself. With the help of my good friend Marie-Claire and her marvelous voice, we recorded a very stripped downversion of the song. I humbly hope you enjoy it.

(Picture of Marie-Claire to the left)

Devon and Marie-Claire - Petit Papa Noël

EDIT 2020: Untraceable, alas.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Remember all those Winters?

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Claudine Longet & Andy Williams - Silent Night

Monday, December 18, 2006

A Junky's Christmas



"It's Christmas day and Danny "the Carwhiper" hit the street junk-sick and broke after 72 hours in a precinct cel. It was a clear bright day, but there was no warmth in the sun."
His dealer in jail, no friends, no dope, no hope... What's Danny going to do? How is he gonna score. How is he going to get through the day?

A tear jerking Christmas story and no happy end? Or is it..? Hark the Herald Angels...



Word William S. Burroughs
music The Disposable Heroes of Hiphopracy and Hal Wilner.

Cancelled


By far my favourite christmas-song this year:

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Tokyo's Coolest X-mas

tokyo tower christmas tree

Tokyo's Coolest Combo - Music For December's Children

Four groovy instrumentals:
- Santa Clause Is Coming To Town
- Frere Jacques
- The Work Of God
- Santa Baby

christmas blogging round-up


If you feel like overdosing on retro Christmas songs, albums and podcasts, here are all the links you'll need:

A Christmas Yuleblog
Ernie (Not Bert)
Senses Working Overtime
Bongo Bells
FaLaLaLaLa (the album pictured at left can be found in this post from last year)


I found some of these links via the excellent Mistletunes website. It features reviews of many different Christmas compilations, conveniently organised by era and themes. Check out, for example, the Tropical Christmas section.

And some of my favourite individual Christmas posts:

Johnny Cash - '12 Days of Christmas' video @ Bedazzled
60s Singaporean band Naomi & The Boys sing a Christmas tune @ Mod-ified Music
Les Chausettes Noires' Christmas 7" @ Rato Records - another share from last year that's still up (found via Bibi's Box). (Natasha has already posted the A-side here).

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Merry Christmas you suckers!

Rangravers Departure Lounge shares this lovely little gem

Chappy Chanukkah






















A plus D - Give the Jew Girl Toys (Trio vs. Sarah Silverman)
dj BC - Chanukkah Song (GoyiMix)
DJ Flack - Dreidle Bells
Electric Menorah - Oh Chanukkah Bush
South Park - The Lonely Jew on Christmas
Summersault - Shalom Haverim
The Always Dangerous Steven Garvey - Dreidle, Dreidle, Dreidle
Tom Lehrer - Hanukkah in Santa Monica

Chappy Chanukkah

Thursday, December 14, 2006

White Christmas

As the effects of Global Warming will, among other niceties, be wiping about half of all European ski resorts off the map within the next few years, the romantic little dream of a "White Christmas" as celebrated in Irving Berlin's classic Christmas carol will become even more valid than before. So here's three beautiful (if rather off-beat) covers of the song: Corporal Blossom's version combines various recordings of said tune by, among others, Louis Armstrong, Elvis and Bing Crosby. As none of the samples have been cleared, the track was never actually released but appeared on Stay Free Magazine's brilliant Illegal Art Compilation. Berlin's lovely Barbara Morgenstern laid down a completely computer-generated but none the less quite cosy version, sampling bits of Ray Anthony (or is it Herb Alpert?) and a sweetly jubilating children's choir, while Miss Frenchie chimes in with a "remix" (which can be found on DJBC's excellent Santastic II: Clausome Christmas mash-up comp), setting Berlin's Xmas ditty to a delicious electro beat.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

More St. Etienne

Happy Happy Joyful

"Happy Rhodes is an enigma. This is according to the Music Industry, which has never been able to pigeon-hole her into any category. Her music is otherworldly yet substantial and her 4-octave voice has a haunting familiarity to it. Most listeners find her work difficult to describe and yet she incites an almost unheard of devotion among her fans. She goes from Kate Bush highs to David Bowie lows and you find yourself being beckoned to follow her into her futuristic worlds." This is a quote from a Happy Rhodes-biography. I'd never heard of her, but when I got to this marvellous fan page, I got hooked. Her deep voice is haunting indeed. It reminds me of a slightly more sane Diamanda Galas. Happy recorded a great X-mas song, plus a very atmospherical track that's also very suitable for these dark days.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Sarah, Saint Etienne, Snow

Brit trio Saint Etienne was featured before on this blog (see?), but Sarah Cracknell and her boys made more X-mas music. They covered Snow, made famous by Claudine Longet, they sang with Charlatans-singer Tim Burgess and cheered on Santa in Come On Christmas. Enjoy! [Merci á Dennis for the mp3s]

Saint Etienne - Snow
Saint Etienne & Tim Burgess - I was born on Christmasday
Saint Etienne - Come On Christmas

Knives out

The Knife are Olof Dreijer and Karin Dreijer Andersson. They are from Sweden and have made electronic dance music together since 1999. Their best known song is Heartbeats, famously covered by José Gonzales. This year, Silent Shout was released, one of the best and certainly the creepiest dance record of 2006. From their selftitled debut-cd, this little electronic x-mas gem was taken.
Here's what Karin & Olaf wrote about Christmas Reindeer:

Hi all,
Now it's time again for The Knife's annual christmas track Christmas Reindeer, recorded in 2000, to be downloaded! It's a bit like the Reindeer-version from the first album but with bells and no guitar solo (for you who miss that one especially, you know where to find it.)
Free pdf with DIY record cover: http://www.theknife.net


Illegal Christmas Mix


My favorite Illegal Christmas soundtrack from last year is back for another illegal download !

Made by Jesper Larsson of Next Century Modern and Tokyo Style in Gothenburg..

..you should download Next Century Moderns Illegal Christmas Mix!

(Via Jean Snow.)

Monday, December 11, 2006

A Family Affair


Most people spend Christmas with their family and eat and drink untill they get sick of the food or uncle Joe telling dirty jokes. Here's an alternative: spend Christmas with the Partridge Family and just have a jolly good time whisteling along...

Friday, December 08, 2006

Nice 'n' Easy does it



Here are 5 nice and cheesy christmas gems:
Drive > in Presents: Easy Tune vol.2, X-mas edition

featuring:
Johnny Diamond - Lonely Christmas
The Skyliners - X-mas Shopping
Olga Jankovski - Blues Noël
The In-Tunes - Easy
Juan Wells - Merry Christmas

Don't let the tracklist foor you: all tracks are written and produced by Dutch DJs Gerry Arling and Richard Cameron, before they called themselves Arling & Cameron.

Have yourself a Nice & Easy Christmas!

White Italian Christmas

Mina's Bianco Natale, in gorgeous black & white. Thanks to Pplipp for the link.

Whistle along..!

Here's a finger-snapping remix of Nat King Cole's version, by MJ Cole. (Boy, am I glad Natasha didn't choose the version of Alvin and The Chipmunks..!)

One more Christmas critter after all . . .

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Yellow in the snow

Natasha tells another tale: "I once witnessed a guy from Jamaica at a Canadian hotel freaking out at seeing snow for the first time. He took off his shoes, ran outside in his bare feet, turned around to look at the crowd watching him with a stunned expression on his face, realised his feet were cold and ran back in. Then, he ran back out dragging some of his reluctant Jamaican friends and started taking pictures. Yellowman’s ‘We wish you a reggae Christmas’ goes out to them and their culture shock."

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Jerry Lewis :: I've Had A Very Merry Christmas

People who have visited my blog for a while know I'm a big Jerry Lewis fan. I know he isn't for everyone one. Love him or hate him, you just have to love this song if you love Christmas music.

and another Danish band..

In Denmark we celebrate Christmas on the 24th. We eat roast pork or duck, with candied potatoes and red cabbage. Dessert is rice pudding. I wish every new Christmas song sounded like this. The thing about Danish duo Raveonettes is that they sound very much like the 60's. Their biggest inspiration are The Shangri-Las. Retrolovers, go download!

Tiger X-mas

Danish trio Tiger Baby (the Scandinavian Stereolab) decided to put their 2004-smash This Christmas online for free download. A fantastic, six-minute long song to cuddle up to and watch snowflakes fall down. Or, this year, imagine you see snowflakes fall down. Mre free Tiger Baby songs here.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

No snow

Guess you heard that all the big skiing events in Europe are cancelled for lack of snow. Seems like we'll have yet another X-mas without snowman-material. Canadian duo Lola Dutronic wrote the perfect melancholy-filled song for an upcoming depression.

You know how to whistle, don't you?

And yet another guestpost by Natasha from Radio Oh-la-la: Hopping on the ‘all I want for Christmas’ bandwagon, the children’s classic All I want for Christmas (is my two front teeth) sung by crooner Nat King Cole, brings backs some unforgettable dental memories. There are many versions, including one by Alvin and The Chipmunks – speaking of teeth! I’m sure Christmas music on helium is passé and, well, they’ve got huge front teeth. I’ll take Nat’s pearly whites, thank you.

Monday, December 04, 2006

Johnny Adams

One of the saddest Christmas-songs I know: 'And goodness knows, he didn't want a lot...'

Twistin' with Santa

Another guestpost by Natasha Oh-la-la: A Christmas song is a lot like a slice of bread: you can top it off with anything you like. This time, it’s a twist of twist with enough French bop-bop-shoobeedoo-wop to kick off any retro Christmas party. The rockin’ guys of Les Chaussettes Noires definitely have a good argument for a Christmas twist number by giving Santa Claus a guitar for Christmas. How nice!

Christmas in Outer Space

A small selection of Space Age Christmas ditties, tied up in a neat lil' bundle for your easy listening pleasure . . . Dickie Goodman - Santa and the Satellite Bobby Helms - Captain Santa Claus Sonny Cole - Santa to the Moon Troy Hess - Christmas on the Moon Milton DeLugg & The Little Eskimos - Hooray for Santy Claus! (from the motion picture Santa Claus Conquers the Martians) Senor Tonto - Hooray for Santy Claus! Barry Gordon - Zoomah the Santa Claus from Mars Shonen Knife - Space Christmas Various Artists - What Can You Get a Wookie for Christmas (When He Already Owns a Comb) [from Christmas in the Stars - A Star Wars Christmas] EDIT: You'll have to google the rest of these yourselves, sorry.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

The Three Suns :: A Ding Dong Dandy Christmas!

Another favorite at Brainwerk studios. The Three Suns. Some say this was the peak of their career here with A Ding Dandy Christmas! What Lenny Dee does for the organ, these guys do for the xylaphone and tuba. Is this not one of the coolest covers ever?

Christmas Time in DIY Hell

Thu Nov 30, 9:28 AM ET LONDON (AFP) - British DIY superstore B and Q has apologised after staff blasted out the filthy song "Christmas Time in Hell" by Satan and the Damned on the soundsystem, shocking customers. Instead of the usual festive hits ringing through the aisles, shoppers were subjected to a foul-mouthed song from the television cartoon series "South Park". Due to an "oversight" at the store in Stockport, northwest England, bungling staff put on "Christmas Time in Hell" from the album "Mr Hankey's Christmas Classics". The offending track contains references to sex, torture and US cannibal serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Shopper Grant Sullivan, 42, from Stockport, was in the store's Christmas grotto with his daughter, Deonne, aged four. "I couldn't believe my ears," he told The Sun newspaper. "We were buying a tree and Deonne was looking for the star for the top of it. I was speechless. Christmas should be a wonderful time for kids -- they shouldn't have to listen to filth." B and Q, which is owned by Kingfisher, Europe's largest home-improvement retailer, apologised over the incident. "The playing of South Park's 'Christmas Time in Hell' was an oversight on our part and we did not wish to cause offence or embarrassment to any of our customers, a spokesman said. "The song was removed as soon as the oversight was pointed out to us and please be assured that we will not be playing this song in this or any of our other stores."

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Happy Happy Joy Joy

Everybody loves a Christmas story because there is always a happy ending. And when it's sung over a melody by Burt Bacharach... well, it's irresistible.

Pee-Wee's Christmas Special

I love Pee-Wee. I've been posting songs of his since I started my blog a year ago. I thought I'd grab the great opening song off of his Christmas Special and a sound byte. Perfect for your Christmas mix this year.

PEE-WEE'S CHRISTMAS SPECIAL THEME WITH GUESTS

PEE-WEE'S CHRISTMAS SPECIAL THEME

WHAT WOULD YOU PUT ON MY CHRISTMAS LIST IF YOU WERE ME?

Jungle Jingle

Ending this small reindeer-free Christmas bestiary, here's the Four Seasons celebrating the fifth one with a hot 'n' humid Yule parade under the jungle's gala greenery.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Madonna and Child

It's december already and Christmas is getting nigh, so I feel it's time to introduce the two main characters in the original story. TV Jesus by TV Jesus from their album TV Jesus Superstar Japanese Glamrock Alternative picture I could've chosen for this entry:

Or would you prefer . . . ?

Wreck the Halls

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Tres Navidades

One, two, "three christmas" by the fabulous mexican singer Queta Garay.

Classels Christmas

Natasha, from Radio Oh-la-la-fame, makes a great guestpost on this blog. She says she has more goodies coming up! Christmas in Québec is a big, cold, snow-covered affair. It starts the day after the Halloween stuff has been cleared from store shelves and lasts until people finally decide to chuck out their drying up Christmas tree onto that big pile of snow by the driveway so it can be recycled into Canadian paper sometime in February. This song by sixties sensation Les Classels has all the trappings of a Christmas song, with lots of neige. And that island rhythm is so much warmer than a fake fireplace!

noël avec sheila

(click for larger version. if adding any of my scans to another site/blog, link to spikedcandy.com)


According to the Sheila TVgraphie, this is from a program entitled Douce France and was broadcast on December 18, 1966.

The video truly lives up to this blog's name! Sheila, mercifully out of her insane bouffant phase, and her high-booted friends sing and dance in front of Christmas trees and inside what looks like a department store.




Or watch it at Youtube.

Hippopotamus amphibius





























Xmas with the Beatles? Yeah, quite nice. But doesn't Yuletide with a hippo beat the eggnog out of Christmas with, er, Ringo? Judge for yourself . . .

Gayla Peevey - I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

(A Little Touch Of) Bach at Christmas, With Takako Minekawa

Takako Minekawa
Every Christmas playlist needs a bit of Bach for the real Christmas spirrit!

Here's a nice ep by Minekawa Takako (mrs. Cornelius)

(A Little Touch Of) Baroque in Winter.

Tracks:
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (J.S. Bach)
Christmas Wish
La Valse Grise n3 on Aminure
Snow frolic

With The Beatles



Christmas in Graceland is nice, but nothing beats Christmas with the Beatles!

Ringo for Christmas - The Rainbow Choir
All I Want For Christmas Is A Beatle - Dora Bryan

Hark! The Herald Angel Sing . . .


















A real guilty pleasure from those gloriously innocent days of childhood when winter was chilly, snow was high, and each and every Christmas record featured a terribly blaring children's choir: a truly shameless piece of unadulterated heavy pomp from Washington, DC, glamsters Angel's 1977 album White Hot which used to tint my frozen cheeks with a tender touch of glowing scarlet - and still does.

Angel - Winter Song