Early on in the holiday season, I like to randomly hit up my Christmas music library to find gems i haven’t heard in a while, or perhaps haven’t even gotten a chance to really listen to at all. I usually find a few treats to add to the season’s playlists, and more than a few meh’s to be consigned to an archival drive. Since it’s a random selection from my entire library it always turns up some perennial favorites as well, such as our first entry of the year...
Lou Rawls - Merry Christmas Ho Ho Ho (1967)
First-rate jazzy, soulful, so good, Rawls nails it on every track. Always in heavy rotation.
Highlights include Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, The Little Drummer boy and Christmas Is.
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Ron Goodwin - Christmas Wonderland
First rate orchestral easy listing album from 1967. Always a favorite around here.
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Jim Nabors Christmas Album
Engagingly earnest holiday effort from the multi-talented Nabors. His vocal style isn’t my favorite, so this usually ends up in medium or, more likely, light rotation, but that’s just me.
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Paul Overstreet - Christmas, My Favorite Time of Year (2001)
Middling country album with at least one stand-out track - The Greatest Christmas which has a great soft rock vibe with jazzy flute and electric guitar. There are some other decent songs here - Merry Christmas Mary and Wise Men Still Seek Him - and there are no total clunkers, though his version of White Christmas has me reaching for the ffwd button.
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B.B. King - A Christmas Celebration of Hope
This Grammy-winning 2001 release from blues legend King (his 39th studio album!) is, despite the awards, merely an adequate holiday time filler for fans of the Blues. It’s in no way a bad album but it is disappointing considering King’s amazing body of work over the years. Not being a huge Blues fan this one doesn’t get a lot of play sound here.
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The Brian Scartocci - I Call Her Noel / Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) (2019)
Decent single from the soulful former The Voice contestant.
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Noel (2005)
Compilation on VIA Records featuring a few names familiar to me like Brent Bourgeois, Carolyn Arends, and Buddy Miller & Julie Miller. Some nice rock/folk-rock tunes here.
This album also came up on last year’s Do you hear? series as well which was probably the only time that year I listened to it. Same this year, though there are some very nice moments on it.
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Winter Snow / Silver Bells - Booker T and the MGs
Winter Snow: Melancholy soul instrumental. Not a favorite.
Silver Bells: Decent mid-tempo take on the classic standard. It’s okay.
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London Symphony Brass Ensemble - Holiday Brass (1986)
Seasonal brass arrangements, fine for background music but nothing special.
