meet my christmas music: the digital collection

In July 2008, my car radio/cd player stopped working.  Later that week someone would tell me that it was a precursor to alternator trouble.  I would ignore that advice and the problem until my car would no longer permit me to ignore it about a month later.  In spite of being pretty frustrated with spending money on a new alternator, I was at least pleased with the idea that my radio would work again.  But it didn't, which was frustrating, to say the least.  I finally settled on a workable solution.  I began to listen to my mp3 player on a small battery-powered speaker.  It wasn't the worst solution ever.

So when Christmas rolled around, I was in the mood for some new Christmas music, but buying a cd wasn't going to be the simple solution that it had once been.  Plus I was kind of on a mission to own versions of a couple specific songs, and I went on a downloading mission.  After some searching and decisions, I ended up dowloading an entire album Family Christmas by Acappella, plus a couple from some other artists. Family Christmas is a combination of three different Christmas albums the Acappella Company has put out over the years plus a few new songs.  So it's got recognizable voices from Acappellas past as well as some tracks with kids and women and other folks than the four-man groupings that have been called Acappella. 
And because there are twenty-three songs to talk about here and there are several songs I've talked about multiple times already and because it's my blog and I make the rules, I'm only going to talk about the ones I want to talk about. (I'm also not going to apologize for ridiculous run-on sentences because of that aforementioned rule-making thing.)


Here's how the album has worked out for me:
1.  "Mary, Did You Know?" The first few times I heard this song (which I think was on country radio in the mid-90s), I made fun of it mercilessly.  I think some of that had to do with the particular version.  But sometime since then, I have really come to enjoy this song and its message.  This is a great version.

2.  "Away in a Manger"Gary Moyers.  That's all I want to say.  Thank you.

3.  "A Tiny Child"  I have no evidence that I'd heard this song before this album, but this exact version is so familiar that I feel I must have heard it sometime.  Perhaps I heard it live at one of the many Acappella concerts I've been to in my time.  It's Duane Adams singing lead, so it's from the right era for that to have happened, but I can't back that up.  Anyway, I love it.  That's the point I'm trying to make.

4.  "The First Noel"

5.  "Noel" Kids singing, which is risky, for me, but I like this one.

6.  "Silent Night" Wayburn Dean singing this, I'm pretty sure, but even that's not enough to completely redeem this mediocre song.

7.  "Joy to the World" This song is faster and with more vocal percussion than I would have expected, but I'll give it a thumbs-up anyway.

8.  "There Were Angels"  I don't know the origin of this one, but it sounds like it would only ever have been an Acappella song.  I like it.  It's either Wayburn again, or I just think everyone sounds like Wayburn.

9.  "O Come, O Come Emmanuel"  I don't like to pick favorites, but Duane Adams is definitely up there.  So's this song.  Brilliant combination.  Lovely.  Special.

10.  "Christmas Medley" Wordless renditions of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and a very upbeat "Good King Wenceslas" layered with "O Come All Ye Faithful.  Definitely interesting.  Mostly fun.

11. "No Other Day" This album is the only place I've heard this song.  It's quite pleasant.

12.  "Here We Come A-Caroling" Kids again.  This is a medley by a kids chorus.  They do the title song, which I thought was wassailing not caroling, "Do You Hear What I Hear," "Silent Night," "Angels We Have Heard on High," "O Come All Ye Faithful," "Joy to the World," "Hark!  The Herald Angels Sing."  Then at the end, it turns out they're caroling for their grandparents.  Kinda cheesy.  The songs aren't bad, but I also think it's odd that nearly every one is repeated in a full-length version elsewhere on the album.

13.  "That's What I Love about Christmas"  This song is annoying.  The lyrics are annoying.  The phrasing seems weird.  It makes me glad the cd doesn't end here.

14.  "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing"  There are some great things going on here--really, truly lovely acappella singing.


15.  "Angels We Have Heard on High"  This song used to be one of my favorites as a kid, and I'm not all that crazy about it anymore.  I don't know why exactly.  But since I've grown into liking so many songs as I've gotten older, I guess it's all right to grow out of loving one here and there.

16.  "Jesus Carol"  Kids again.  What's up with that?  This is a mostly wordless version of "Carol of the Bells," followed by a slow rendition of the chorus of "Jesus Is the Answer," which appeared on the AVB album Give Me Light. 

17.  "Merry Christmas"  I don't know this song.  It's upbeat, very Acappella-ish.  I have mixed emotions about it.

18.  "What Child Is This?"  I'm having a hard time determining the lead voice here.  I think it's George Pendergrass, which would thrill my soul.  This one's very stately.  And they do more than just the first verse (which is true, but thus far unmentioned, of most of the songs on this album).

19.  "Is Born a Savior" Kids again.  I don't know this one from anywhere besides here.  It's fine.  Nothing spectacular.  Done talking about it.

20.  "O Holy Night"  Nice.  Quite nice.  Better than nice actually, but I'm suffering from adjective overload after all this reviewing.

21.  "Little Drummer Boy"  This is the final song on Family Chrstimas, a pleasant ending to a lovely journey.  Thanks, Acappella.  It's been delightful.

22.  "Mary, Did You Know?" Kathy Mattea:  I mentioned earlier that I was on a mission for some specific songs when I went downloading.  Apparently, it didn't matter that I found them on the Acappella album.  I still downloaded a couple other versions of the songs I wanted.  Obviously this is one of them.  Kathy Mattea did not record the version that was the object of my mockery.  So I can say that I paid for this one and listen to frequently without any lingering guilt.  It's a lovely version.

23.  "O Come Emmanuel" John Berry:  I may be one of about three people still living in the world that remembers country artist John Berry, but I still own two of his cds, and when I was looking for someone trustworthy to sing this song to me, I turned to him.  And he has not let me down.  Thank you, John Berry.  Thank you.

Thus ends our journey through my Christmas soundtrack.  I know you're sitting at your computer feeling just as fulfilled and accomplished as I.  I'm so pleased we could share this experience.

Now I have to find other stuff to blog about.  I will consider any suggestions offered.

P.S. I only missed having this done on Christmas by an hour and twenty minutes, so I'm not such a failure, right?

meet my christmas album: the sweetest gift by trisha yearwood

The third and final country artist in my Christmas cd collection is one that I received along with the Vince Gill as a Secret Santa gift in 2001.  The cd was released (with a different cover) in 1994.  I have been a huge Trisha Yearwood fan at various points in my life.  She might even be a voice twin, so I was terribly excited to receive this cd I didn't even know I wanted.  On the first few listens, it didn't necessarily live up to the hype.  There are several songs I hadn't heard prior to owning this cd and quite a bit of baby Jesus, and I don't know if you've heard this or not, but I kind of like my Christmas music traditional and familiar.  But there was just enough going for it, that I kept it in my rotation, and eight years later, the songs are all familiar and part of my own Christmas tradition.  Funny how that works out.

Here's what you need to know about this album:

1.   "Sweet Little Jesus Boy"  So I know I've mentioned before that I don't like too much Baby Jesus in my Christmas music, so to lead off a cd with a song called "Sweet Little Jesus Boy" that doesn't have the benefit of being a time-honored carol with formal, stately beautiful language is risky.  But you know what?  The words of this song are completely worth hearing.  Completely.

2.  "Reindeer Boogie"  I mentioned the other day that it can be particularly jarring on a Christmas album to go from a slow, reverent Jesus song to an upbeat, boisterous tune.  Just a comparison of titles would demonstrate that we find ourselves in just such a situation here.  "Reindeer Boogie" is twangy and annoying all on its own, and it sort of smacks me in the face.  I will unashamedly skip this song.

3.  "Take a Walk Through Bethlehem" And back to Jesus . . . This song is all anti-commercialism and Jesus is the reason for the season, and even though it might be a little preachy, I really like it.  And I like singing along with it.

4.  "Santa Claus Is Back in Town" Faithful readers may recall that I heartily disapprove of anyone singing this song besides the King.  People that know me should be familiar with my tendencies to exaggerate and speak in absolutes and then to later back down on those absolutes, but this isn't one of those times.  I hate that this song appears on this album.  Hate.

5.  "It Wasn't His Child" This was the song I was really excited about when I got this album.  I first heard it when a music video of it was released in the mid-90s.  It's the only Christmas song I know about Joseph, and he's a guy that I think doesn't always get enough credit.  Besides the message, which I love, the music is beautiful.  Winner.

6.  "Away in a Manger" This song is all right.  I feel like I've talked about it dozens of time already, and it's not a song for which I have many words.  I'm sorta fading here, so I don't feel like saying more than that.  There sure is a lot of Jesus on this cd.

7.   "The Sweetest Gift" The title track here is not especially Christmas-y.  It's a story song about a mother who goes to prison to visit her son.  Sometimes it makes me feel weepy but also a bit manipulated.  Sometimes that's okay with me.

8.  "There's a New Kid in Town" This song is in no way related to the Eagles' song "New Kid in Town."  I know you were thinking it.  Spoiler alert:  the new kid is Baby Jesus.  I will say that I prefer this wise men song exponentially to "We Three Kings."

9.  "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow" Finally, an upbeat, non-Jesus song that I don't hate.  This is nice.

10.  "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)"  Lovely song, lovely version.  Great familiar ending to a cd of mostly lesser-known Christmas songs. 

Only 3 more Christmas cds to go.  Stay tuned.

meet my christmas album: let there be peace on earth by vince gill

Let me get this out of the way right off the bat:  I've owned this cd for eight years, and I had never noticed until I was finding the cover art for this blog entry that Vince Gill is sporting a mullet in this photo.  I was completely full of mocking about this, but then I did some reading to discover that the cd was originally released in 1993, fully eight years before I owned it, and much closer to the peak of the mullet heyday, if such a thing existed.  But I'm not going to let that poor hair choice dampen my enthusiasm for this album.  I received this cd as a gift from my Secret Santa person the first year that I taught school.  I also got another Christmas cd (that will be the subject of my next post) and a monkey figurine thing that had three monkeys sitting one on top of the other doing the hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil thing.  As odd as that sounds, I think it's kinda cute, and it's usually displayed somewhere in my home, but I think it is in that box of house junk that never got emptied after the last move.  But we were talking about Vince Gill or Christmas music or mullets or something, so let's just try to stay on topic from here on out, shall we?

The other day when I was reviewing Amy Grant's version of "I'll be Home for Christmas," I made some comment about her leaving her husband for Vince Gill tainting the song for me.  I never meant to imply that I cared one bit about who she was married to and not married to anymore.  I don't know her life.  I like that song; I don't have a problem with Amy Grant, and I love Vince Gill.  None of that has anything to do with their music or my enjoyment thereof.  My comment was more about how when I hear that song, I'm reminded of that brouhaha because that was going on or at least still fresh in people's minds when I first got that cd.  So it became one of those memory-associated songs for me.  It's kinda like when I hear the Dixie Chicks song "Travelin' Soldier," and I am reminded of the whole Bush feud and the radio boycott.  I love Dixie Chicks music and that song especially no matter who said what about whom, but when I hear that song, it makes me think of that other thing.  That's all I'm saying.

So can we talk about Vince Gill now, please?  Thank you.  I love Vince Gill.  And this cd is interesting.  Wanna know why? 

1.  "Do You Hear What I Hear" It strikes me as odd that this song is the first track on this cd and on the Martina McBride cd from the other day.  This song was so far off my radar until I got these cds (which happened to be in the same year), and suddenly it was front and center, squared.  And I love it.  And I love Vince Gill's voice, which was specially made to sing slow, meaningful Christmas songs.

2.  "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"  I've written about this song bunches of times so far, and I'll be writing about it at least one other time.  We already know that it's important to get this one right.  I'm happy to report that Vince Gill does not disappoint.  It's not the ultimate version (I'll get to that next time, I think), but it's lovely, and it's a song I never tire of hearing.  Good show.

3.  "One Bright Star" This was a new song to me when I got this album.  Clearly it's about baby Jesus, and it sounds like a Vince Gill song--funny how that works out.  It's pretty and has nice words and stuff.  I recommend it.

4.  "What Child Is This?" Oh, this song is beautiful.  Only four songs in and we've already hit two of my all-time favorites.  One of the things I love about this song is the language of the lyrics.  So many fun words that don't occur in modern language.  Don't you love the word "laud"?  How could you not?

5.  "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" There's a thing that sometimes happens on albums, that I've particularly noticed during this Christmas music journey.  It's the juxtaposition of slow, mellow ballads played back-to-back with upbeat, boisterous songs.  On a Christmas albums this also usually means mixing up Baby Jesus and Santa, which almost always bothers me.  (Speaking of mixing the infant Christ with Jolly Ol', have you seen those yard decorations where Santa is kneeling at the manger?  I think they're creepy.)  This particular Santa song is a purely instrumental version, and it's as upbeat and boisterous and country as can be.  It makes me think of Chet Atkins, so I love the song, but it just sounds kinda funny coming right on the heels of that stately Baby Jesus song on track 4.

6.  "I'll Be Home for Christmas" When I set out on this Christmas soundtrack sharing adventure, I didn't stop to think about how many songs would be repeated on multiple albums, and how many times I'd have to talk about them, if they did.  So I love this song.  It's well-documented by this point.  And I love Vince Gill, which has been well-documented so far in this post.  So I feel completely boring and repetitive.  But it's just charming and full of longing for home, and that speaks to me. 

7.  "Let There Be Peace on Earth"  This song is a giant gamble for me.  It's a duet with his daughter Jenny, and I think children singing on professionally recorded albums is dicey.  Yeah, it's sometimes cute and often sweet, but it's a little too sweet for me, usually.  I have no idea how old Jenny Gill was when they recorded this, and I'm okay with letting you down by not finding out right now.  She's not a tiny kid, by the sound of her voice, and ultimately, she does a fine job on it.  But it's a gamble.  The words of this song are beautiful, and not necessarily just a Christmas message.

8.  "White Christmas" Though he eventually does sing this song, it's instrumental only the first time through.  Unlike the instrumental track 5, this one is slow and not terribly country, and still altogether pleasant.  And then he sings, which I certainly don't mind either.

9.  "Till the Season Comes Around Again"  This song was unknown to me prior to this cd also.  It's a family and love and being together kind of Christmas song, which is probably my favorite niche of Christmas music, because that's the best thing about Christmas for me.

10.  "It Won't Be the Same This Year"  If you know much about Vince Gill, you may recall a song called "Go Rest High," which is about Keith Whitley but also about VG's own dead brother.  Apparently this cd came out fairly soon after his brother died, and this song is one that he wrote about the first Christmas without him.  I could cry just from the backstory, so the song has the potential to turn me into a big ol' bawl-bag.  I can typically resist the urge to weep, but it's an emotional song.  That's all I'm saying.

 This is by far the most slow and contemplative cd I've covered so far, and honestly I'd never even noticed that until I started going through the songs one by one.  So I guess it's a good thing that they threw in that lively "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" before things got to depressing or people were lulled to sleep by Vince Gill's sweet voice.

meet my christmas album: white christmas by martina mcbride

Note:   You may not have realized this, but I'm doing this little jaunt through my Christmas music collection chronologically.  I promised one more college-era post last time, but I can't exactly find the cd in question at the moment.  So enjoy this out-of-order post.  

I was raised on country music (and Elvis and Lionel Richie and Journey but mostly country music), and though I'm not all that into current country music (or any current music, if I'm being truthful), I still honor and embrace my rural roots.  So there's a fairly strong representation of country artists in my Christmas collection.  Jess and I were coming home from a family grocery store run the other day, and she, who is far from a country music fan, concluded after discovering that what we were listening to Vince Gill, "I guess I like country Christmas music."  I don't blame her.  In my experience, country artists tend to take fewer liberties with Christmas music.  That's not written in stone, but the familiar songs and carols on my country Christmas albums are much more reliably traditional.  And I'm a traditional sort of girl.

Here's what else I will tell you about this particular cd:  I sometimes consider Martina McBride to be country music's answer to the diva, not so much in dramatic lifestyle choices, but when it comes to a powerful voice and a tendency to show off an impressive vocal range, she's all diva.  On country night on American Idol, some powerhouse of a girl (or Scott) always sings Martina McBride.  And while I always admire her talent and range and all, I sometimes think she's too much.  So this whole Christmas cd experiment could have been just as traumatic a mess as Mariah Carey over-singing "O Holy Night," and I know none of us are likely to forget that fiasco for a while.  But praise the Lord, country music artists just have more sense than that.  Martina McBride does have a strong, amazing voice, but I think the songs here are powerful yet simple.  So this little gem of a Christmas cd is a triumph, one that crosses musical taste boundaries and brings people together in the spirit of Christmas and piracy--I know this because Jess took it hostage last Christmas and may or may not have illegally made herself a copy.

So here's what I love about it:

1.  "Do You Hear What I Hear?" I haven't always loved this song.  I do now, and I have to give at least a measure of the thanks for that to this version.  It's definitely the reason I know all the words in the right order.  And though I'm no Martina McBride, this song is easy to sing along with.  (I just ended that sentence with a preposition.  I'll miss you when you cannot in good conscience continue to visit this blog.)

2.  "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" This song seems to be cropping up on lots of my cds, but careful readers will recall that it's a personal favorite.  This is a great version.  Not the best ever by anyone, but definitely enough to fill my heart.  Thank you, Martina McBride. (I don't feel Martina McBride and I are close enough to be on a first name basis, but typing out her full name is tedious.  Just sayin'.)

3.  "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow" Martina McBride is not my voice twin (pop quiz:  who is my voice twin?), but when I listen to this cd, I almost believe she could be.  I love singing along with it, and it doesn't hurt that I really love almost all the songs on it.

4.  "O Come All Ye Faithful" When I was kid, I had no idea that Christmas songs had verses.  I knew lots of Christmas songs back then, but I had no idea that some of them were so long.  Later in life, when I would go to a church that sings Jesus-y Christmas songs in season, I would discover them in the back section of the song book with all sorts of verses that I'd never known.  I really love that.  And since the birth of my Christmas-music obsession which begat my collecting Christmas cds, I have discovered that some artists, like Martina McBride for instance, actually sing those verses.  So the point I'm trying to make is that she sings verses to this song (but no Latin), and it's good.

5.  "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" I'm starting to feel like all my song comments in this post have are repetitive.  I've talked about most of these songs at least once before, I like them all.  Martina McBride does really solid, traditional performances of them all.  She has that powerful voice but resists the over-singing temptation.  I feel like I'm not being enthusiastic enough about the cd because it really is one of my favorites.  But when you love ever song (or at least, every song so far), it's hard to keep the hype alive.  Please infer the hype.

6.  "O Holy Night" Bless Martina McBride's beautiful voice, I love this song.  Singing this song, or at least singing it well, is not for the faint of heart.  It's serious, but when it's done well . . . I could weep.  Are you feeling the hype now?  Because seriously, this song.  I die.

7.  "Silver Bells"  Don't quote me on this, but this may be the only version of this song that I own.  And this song is one that I forget about until I hear it again and remember how much I love it.  Love.

8.  "Away in a Manger"  Did you know this song has verses?  It does.  Did you know Martina McBride can take even the most mediocre, played-out Christmas carol and make it beautiful and meaningful?  What--you didn't?  Have you not been reading?  Why do I bother?

9.  "White Christmas" This song has been on every cd I've reviewed so far.  Maybe it just occurred to me that at the end, I should go through and rank in order the different versions that appear on multiple cds.  That's obsessive.  And I haven't wrapped any presents yet. 

10.  "What Child Is This?"  Seriously, Martina McBride hit all the big ones for me.  If only she'd done "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," though at the time that I got this cd, I didn't realize that I loved that song as more than a friend.  I did know that I loved this one times a million.  And it's beautiful.

11.  "I'll Be Home for Christmas"  Martina McBride, you are killing me.  That is all I can say.

12.  "Silent Night" Well, we all make mistakes, right?  And it's very difficult to hold this one less-than-perfect song choice against my friend Martina and this delightful cd.  See that?  We're on a first-name basis now, just to show you that I'm not mad at her for the whole "Silent Night" thing.

If you didn't stop reading this blog midway to cut over to amazon and order this cd, what are you waiting for? 

P.S. Can you end questions with a preposition?  I sure hope so.