Christmas A Go Go!

Every time Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward team up as dynamic popduo She & Him they produce a great album. Their much anticipated third album contains 12 holiday classics. I haven't heard the entire album yet, but the first two songs are really great: She & Him - The Christmas Waltz ( A Very She & Him Christmas ) She & Him - The Christmas Waltz by MergeRecords She & Him - Christmas Day by Double Six

  American duo M.Ward and Zooey Deschanel released their now more or less famous album  ' A Very She & Him Christmas ' in 2011. Now, 10 years later, it seems there will be a limited  10th anniversary deluxe edition  with a bonus 7 inch single. On the single their version of  'Last Christmas'  and a cover of Madonna's 'Holiday', which I do not consider to be very christmassy. But if they insist....... :-)

The richness of Christmas pop lies in the extreme variety of genres (EVERY genre has a Christmas song), the themes (Christmas in space, Christmas on a surfboard, Christmas in hell, Christmas sex, etc) and the way songs that aren't Christmas songs are turned into Christmas songs. In the past we had Christmassy songs growing into full blown spruces (Jona Lewie's 'Stop the Cavalry', 'Fairytale of New York' by The Pogues, standards like 'Jingle Bells', 'Baby It's Cold Outside' and 'Let it Snow'), then we had songs that had little or nothing to do with Christmas getting a merry overhaul ('White Winter Hymnnal' by Fleet Foxes, Frankie Goes to Hollywoods's 'The Power of Love', Dolly Parton's 'Hard Candy Christmas' and Paul McCartney's 'We All Stand Together') and now we have songs that are a far cry from Christmas getting tapped as standard holiday fare. Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' ...

It IS the most wonderful time of the year! For the second time, the CAGG crew is gonna Christmasfy the Paradiso Upstairs Room for a party with spruce needles, coloured lights, ugly sweaters and red velvet hats. What we got in store, apart from dyanamic dj duo Natashka & Oscar? We-e-e-e-ll: RICK BUUR , our blog troubadour, the man we love to call our Dutch desafinado hero. Because he might miss a note, but never misses your heart. Rick is on the blog since 2018 , when he translated a Robert Earl Keen country Xmas classic. Ever since, he's been with us with, and FINALLY we're gonna see him (and his brother) live. Here's a blast from the past, a Nick Lowe cover: Rick Buur · Kerstmis Op Schiphol RO HALFHIDE , local Amsterdam hero, gangleader of the Amsterdam Songwriters Guild, producer. The guy who brings the sun, the guy who was on the blog in 2021 with a cool Christmas track, and who promised to write another classic. Oh, the anticipation. Here Ro sing his first C...

Like any Christmas classic, there are endless covers of this one too: Silver Bells. The original is composed by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, but the first recorded version is by Bing Crosby & Carol Richards in 1950. We made a valiant attempt to separate the good from the bad and came up with a list of ten not-to-be-missed covers. "Ring-a-ling, Hear them ring, Soon it will be Christmas day" Let's start off nice and quiet with the one and only Billie Eilish (live) and her brother Finneas O'Connell on piano. She owns the track immediately and turns the Silver Bells into pretty delicate golden bells at once. When Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings sink their cover teeth into something, you know it's going to be good. In 2015, they recorded this glowing soulful version of the classic.  The Annihilators (earlier on the blog this year) came up with this wild 'n catchy, punky pub "woohoho" version. Silver Bells by The Annihilators The Thoug...

I didn’t know that Devo had ever released a Christmas song: ' Merry Something To You' . I had completely forgotten that we already covered it back in 2010. Read here . The track first appeared on the compilation ' Gift Wrapped Vol. II: Snowed In ' . On November 28 it’s Black Friday Record Store Day, and among the many special releases is a 12" picture disc with four versions of Merry Something To You . The drawing on the record is by Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo).  Mark also released several Christmas songs himself, such as the album ' Joyeux Mutato ' (1999) and the single ' I Don’t Have A Christmas Tree' . On the Black Friday Record Store Day lists there’s another Christmas album: a reissue of ' A Very She & Him Christmas ' (2011) on snowflake white vinyl. We already wrote about this one, here , in 2011 and again in 2021 (reissue). At the same time Blood Records drops a special coloured vinyl of this album with an extra star-shaped bonus...

A follow up to the post below, more songs we forgot about, but shouldn't: From 2012, retro-soul outta Auckland, NZ. Only single they made, according to Bandcamp. Vocalist reminds me of Levi Stubbs. How'm I Gonna Lose You This Christmas by The Cosbys Weird 50s style waltz, deep deep horns. Think Addams Family. Oh, how could we forget this indiepop ballad from Boston. Love that golden horn that suddenly pops up. I'm Always Broke in December by The Hush Now When you listened to a lot of Phil Spector, and indierock, and decided to give it go. Glad they did. Whatever You Want (For Christmas) by Dressy Bessy Actually recorded in Ecuador, but by an indierock band from Minneapolis. A bit off, but that makes it all the more charming. Christmas in Ecuador by Buffalo Moon OK, I'm a sucker for vocals such as these (think She & Him), and the retrovibe. It's Christmas Time by Bearkat Way before Trump, this fierce rockin' track (love that organ) makes c...

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 American singer and producer Kurt Vile (ex War On Drugs) made his version from 'Must Be Santa' in 2022 for a Spotify christmas list:  Spotify singles: Holiday collection . Although lots of people think it's a Bob Dylan song, we at CAGG know better. It dates back to 1960 and is written by  Hal Moore and Bill Fredericks. It was first released in November 1960 Here's Kurt Vile's version: And Bob Dylan (from 2009) She & Him did a great version too: And British sixties singer Alma Cogan:

For the seventh year in a row The Blues Are Still Blue Presents: Christmas Compilation 2011(download here) 001 Camera Obscura - The Blizzard 002 My Bubba & Mi - Pumpkin Pie 003 Summer Fiction - Christmas Eve for Two 004 The Kik - A Christmas Song For You 005 The Very Most - Wombling Merry Christmas 006 The Winston Jazz Routine - Through the snow 007 Caitlin Rose - You Never Come Home For Christmas 008 The Head And The Heart - Winter Song 009 Beta Radio - The Song the Season Brings 010 Birdy - White Winter Hymnal 011 Breathe Owl Breathe - Snow Blow 012 Chris Bathgate - Auld lang syne 013 David Bazan- Just Like Christmas (Low) 014 Marike Jager - Frosty The Snowman 015 Emmy The Great & Tim Wheeler - Christmas Day (I Wish I Was Surfing) 016 Megafaun - I Saw Three Ships 017 Renee & Jeremy - Sunny Christmas 018 Rick Fines - Country Christmas Blues 019 Rue Royale - What Next Dear One 020 She and Him - The Christmas Waltz 021 Smith & Burrows (& Agnes Obel) - The Christmas...

With - again - the words "Hey Mark" the never-ending saga between Loes Wijnhoven of Clean Pete and Mark Lohmann enters their next Christmas chapter. But ever since Loes managed to persuade Mark back in 2018 to write a Christmas song together in front of the fireplace at Christmas Eve, six years later things haven't improved very much. Because with 'Samen Kerst / Liever Alleen' (Christmas Together / Rather Alone) they recorded a variation on 'Baby, It's Cold Outside', the classic by Frank Loesser from 1944 and it has become another painful affair between these two. It's a kind of Q&A song through the telephone with lyrically opposing choruses, because he doesn't want to celebrate Christmas with her, while she desperately tries to persuade him to do so. And despite Loes' seductive dancing in her glitter dress and blowing kisses to the camera in a final attempt to change Mark's mind, he sighs and even disconnects. You have to dare. ...

For the 12th year in a row  The Blues Are Still Blue Presents: The 2016 Christmas Compilation (download here) 01 My Bubba - Champagne Drops 02 Lisa Hannigan - Snow 03 Coeur de Pirate - Last Christmas 04 The Hidden Cameras - Log Driver's Waltz 05 Best Coast - Christmas And Everyday 06 The Pooches - New Years 07 Reindeer Tribe - Mistletoe Christmas 08 Clean Pete & Marien Dorleijn - Gaan We Kerstmis Samen Vieren 09 Howe Gelb - Severe Season 10 Billie Marten - White Christmas 11 The Avonden - IJsbloemen 12 Candy Cigarettes - A Whale's Christmas In Childress, TX 13 Charlotte Carpenter - Cheer 14 Lydia Liza & Josiah Lemanski - Baby It's Cold Outside 15 Marika Hackman- Winter Wonderland 16 Robert Rex Waller Jr - Walking Through Your Town In The Snow 17 Joe Purdy - New Year's Eve 18 Trampled by Turtles - Christmas In Prison 19 The Dyer Spawn - Wild Christmas 20 She And Him - All I Want For Christmas Is You 21 The Grapes & Friends - Christm...

Short notes, where we write short notes on notable Christmas songs, quick and easy:  Not a lot of reggae this season, but The Intercepteurs from Salisbury, UK, made this sweet, bouncy EP released in August. With covers and originals like this melancholy rocker: Lights Are On by The Intercepteurs We posted Frog 's Christmas drinking song last year, this year they wrote a proper seasonal song. But Frog being Frog, 'proper' is kinda offbeat: DID SANTA COME by Frog This is SO cool. Popular Müzak = Popular Music, the duo from Los Angeles consisting of Prudence Rees-Lee and Zac Pennington. Yep, he of Parentethical Girls. Makers of THIS great Christmas album . Under the Popular Müzak flag Pru & Zac make instrumental tracks, originals and covers, 'incidental music for abandoned department stores.' Made with mostly vintage synths, it sounds like public service announcement-music gone astray. GOOD STUFF: Carols For Consumers by Popular Müzak Probably one of the mo...

Since most writers for this blog are Amsterdam-based, we tend to post a Dutch language song every now & then (we did so today, see the Covid Christmas post below). Rick Buur, who was on this blog before , send us a desafinado-version of the bitter Lyle Lovett song Christmas Morning . The original (about a man who not only lost someone, he lost his faith in everything people say and said to him) is grand. Rick's cover is sparse, just a man, a guitar and the howl of loneliness. Kerstkinderen II by Mensenkinderen le="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Rick Buur · Kerstlied 3 (Het Meisje van de Groenteboer) Also from the Netherlands, is Mensenkinderen . Bas van Nienes is the genius behind this act, if his name rings a bell you're a credits spotter. Bas was part of How To Throw A Christmas Party , the now-defunct Dutch alt.Christmas band. And he now is one third of indie pop band Dansu . Mensenkinderen is something else. On his three albums, he updated old...