Back to my own very special Advent Soundtrack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Day One

Here begins my 2013 season of quite kitsch Christmas Music!

Week One - Groups of Men!!

Today, listening to Straight No Chaser, their Christmas Cheer album from 2009.

I do love the sound of men singing in harmony. I am also enjoying the tongue in cheek approach to Christmas and to a cappella performance. If only these boys could have joined me back in my days singing for beer at The Nott! Or perhaps their peers were there, and I married one!!

The first song - Christmas Can-Can is very much hurried, busy, definitely of the season in my experience.

The harmonies are lovely, the male voices simply lovely.

They sing about spiking the Egg Nog. Do ANY Australians get the whole Egg Nog thing? I'm more likely to be Jonesing for a jug or two of Sangria, personally!

I preferred their more traditional carols, rather than the more secular Christmas songs, but have had fun listening today!

One last note though --- you just HAVE to listen to their Twelve Days of Christmas. Sure, it is derivative, and it seems it was done by someone before them, but it is super cute AND super 80s!!!


http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Cheers-Straight-No-Chaser/dp/B001TRDPB4/ref=ntt_mus_ep_dpi_3

Day 5 of Advent - a stressful day, Faith helped a little

Today, I needed music to get through a personally challenging day.
I stuck to the weekly theme, though I am sure that other choices might have been more friendly.
I listened to Faith Hill's Joy To The World



The title track was appropriately anthemic, with a sense of pomp which suits it.  The backing to the Little Drummer Boy was lovely, I could picture all those singers working together with their Pum Pum Pums.
Holly Jolly Christmas was quite up beat, again fairly pop-y rather than Country.  However this was balanced by the Carols dotted throughout the album, and the lovely A Baby Changes Everything - true in every case, but certainly true when you consider the baby whose arrival we celebrate at Christmas time. It builds and builds, and had me crying towards the end. Just lovely.

Today's Earworm: A Baby Changes Everything

Day 4 of Advent music binge - Disappointed by the Lady

Today, I chose a group with whom I am less familiar - Lady Antebellum.
Their album On This Winter Night was interestingly particularly pop-like for an apparent Country group.  I did some research after hearing the album - they are considered to be a pop Country group ... I didn't realise that this was even a style of Country!!!

Again, I went into this with an expectation of a more Country feel. I enjoyed A Holly Jolly Christmas for it's upbeat nature, and the singing was lovely. This album did, however, fit with today's weather (less than 20 degrees Celsius) rather than the usual hot weather we have at this time of year. I actually felt like a hot chocolate, and could imagine trying egg nog.

There were more Seasonal songs than Christmas carols on this one, and it was telling that my favourite was the lilting title track, On This Winter's Night. It fitted beautifully with my mood on the day, and the harmonies were just lovely. Not particularly Christmas focused though.

Today's Earworm: A Holly Jolly Christmas

Day 3 - Kenny Kenny Kenny

Well, I dipped into Kenny Rogers today!  Definitely worth it!
While I sampled a couple of albums, my album for today was his most recent, Christmas Live!

This is a shorter album, only 9 songs, so it got plenty of listens through.  It started with My Favourite Things - thanks to Rodgers and Hammerstein - which was not what I was expecting.

This album is part of the Gaither Gospel Series, and had a definite Christian bent rather than a Country one. It wasn't what I was expecting, but I enjoyed this focus.  Mary Did You Know was a new one for me, and simply reminded me so much of why we celebrate this season.  However, the reference to his saving the nation (I am assuming this means the USA here, though it may not) smacks of the self-aggrandisement which is common in representations from the United States.
I also loved the Choral backing on O Holy Night. An upbeat version, but enjoyable. Got me singing along!!

I enjoyed Kenny's voice, and the arrangements.  I am glad that I purchased this one this year to add to my collection.

Today's Earworm - Mary Did You Know.

Day 2 of Advent - The Christmas Binge Continues

To continue with the theme, today I listened to Christmas with Tammy (Wynette).

This album is very much of it's time (apparently 1970). I keep waiting for Tammy to sing Stand By Your Man, but that isn't likely to happen. I have enjoyed the use of organ,something which seems to be wholly missing from more recent albums by popular artists. The timing of the music is quite traditional, and the first six tracks were Christmas Carols, for sure.
However, there was a little touch of the commercial and winter nature of a US Christmas towards the end of the album.  A must for fans of Tammy, and for the rest of us, perhaps just nostalgic, with a twist of the Country Christmas I was seeking initially!

My Earworm for today: Silent Night

Advent of Christmas Music

It has taken me some time to get around to blogging this, but so many people are puzzled by my choice to travel with an Advent soundtrack, that I thought I'd share my experience of Advent 2012.
For the past several years, I have collected Christmas Albums. Some are vinyl (though not many), some as CDs, and many are digital copies.  I started this when I recalled the compilation album we had when I was a child. The nostalgic moment was shared with at least one brother (I have three), but neither of us have been able to find our own copies. 

Centre fold-out Manger

of our Family Christmas Album in the 70's (photo found online)

This album had Johnny Mathis, Perry Como and many other artists of the time singing a mix of both Christmas Carols and Christmas Songs.  I wanted the eclectic nature of that album to infuse my Christmas, and also my preparation during Advent.  

I am familiar with Christmas music, having spent much of my university years as a choral singer. Our choir would arrange groups to sing in shopping centres, at corporate events and hospitals and nursing homes to raise funds during November and December to fund our concerts and exploits for the rest of the year.  I should have been as thoroughly sick of Christmas music as many of my choral friends, or as those who work in retail, particularly the Santa-copiae. However, I am not. I enjoy the different versions, laughing at the terrible ones and blissing out on the lovely ones.

So, to this Advent. I have over 60 albums, and have decided to listen to at least one album per day. It started well, with a decision to focus on Country artists during the first week. Generally, I don't purchase the compilation albums, preferring to sample all of the song choices made by an artist or their Label. I carry the music with me, and when unable to have my earbuds in place (they always get tangled with my work lanyard for a start) I have the speakers on low, and walk along to my own personal soundtrack!

Today, I have listened to Reba McIntyre's Christmas Collection. 

I enjoyed the somewhat hokey nature of the music, her 'real down home charm' is present throughout, and I keep picturing that she is actually singing to her TV Family, though I am sure that they had nothing to do with it. Still, I hope she was slapping some one along side the head at some point, just to keep it real!

My ear worm for today - Happy Birthday Jesus!