Christmas Songs

[wyntarvox]

Lazyweb, I have need of you! What are your favourite Christmas songs/albums? I'm totally a sucker for Christmas songs and I'd like to buy/acquire a few albums for this Christmas.

I'm pretty open as to the type of Christmas songs I like. I'm not huge on the overtly religious stuff, but my heathen ears won't shrivel at the sound, either. I also like to sing along, so songs in, say, Aramaic are probably right out.

Comments

[kareila]

I like a pretty wide variety myself. Here are a few diverse favorites of mine:

The Gift by Liz Story. Instrumental piano, very jazzy in the style of Bill Evans. Perfect background music for a Christmas party.

To Drive The Cold Winter Away by Loreena McKennitt. She's done a more recent Christmas CD, but this one from the late eighties/early nineties benefits from a rawer, more haunting sound. Consists mostly of traditional seasonal carols that have largely fallen out of favor in recent years. If you enjoy this, you might also enjoy Maddy Prior & The Carnival Band's Christmas albums.

The soundtrack for the movie Home Alone by John Williams. A good mix of classic Christmas pop songs and the Boston Pops type of symphonic arrangements.

Barenaked for the Holidays by Barenaked Ladies. I defy you to find any other recording of "Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg."

I also enjoy the Bing Crosby/Andy Williams/Frank Sinatra stuff, because those are the records my mom played at Christmas when I was growing up. And I would consider a recording of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker to be essential as well.

[zarhooie]

Trans-Siberian Orchestra has a couple good albums out, I *love* Barenaked for the Holidays, and a Christmas with the Rat Pack is great too.

[purple_smurf]

My Christmas music collection increases each year due to legal purchases (Muppets Christmas albums are available on iTunes) and due to the Christmas Music Sharing Meme, which isn't as brilliant as it was last year but I'm not scanning it as obsessively so I'm missing some (and I'm not necessarily looking at everyone's "here is my Christmas music folder!" comments).
♪ CHRISTMAS MUSIC SHARING MEME ♪
'Tis the season to be jolly, fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!

[jd]

I'm a big fan of Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas albums.