Santas Working Overtime

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Dinsdale's Festive Faves Day Eight (Boston Pops, Singers Unlimited, Over the Rhine, Tracey Thorn...)

The Boston Pops - Pops Christmas Party (1959)

The Philadelphia Brass Ensemble - A Festival of Carols in Brass (1967)

The Singers Unlimited - Christmas (1972)

Ferrante and Teicher - Christmas is so Special (2000)

Over the Rhine - Snow Angels (2008)

Michel Legrand - Noel! Noel! Noel!

Tracey Thorn - Tinsel and Lights (2012)

Bonus Playlist
A Scandipop Christmas

Do you hear? (Steeleye Span, Emily Hall, Revels, Huey 'Piano' Smith, Comps, Rarities...)

While reading these brief reviews please keep in mind that I’m a grumpy old man who’s heard all the Christmas music and you might love what I hate and vice versa and that’s totally cool.

Steeleye Span - Winter (2009)

Another case of “I wish they’d done their seasonal album earlier in their career”. This 2009 release is far from peak Steeleye and it pains me to have an album by one of my favorite folk groups in such light rotation. There are still some nice moments, but it doesn’t work for me as a whole.
Luckily Maddy Prior has produced, with the Carnival Band and others, a good deal of other seasonal work that we play throughout the yuletide

Emily Hall - My Only Wish This Year

Acoustic Christmas covers is pretty much a sub genre of a sub genre at this point. This collection is perfectly fine as seasonal aural wallpaper but the song choices and performances are predictable and by the numbers.

The Christmas Revels: In Celebration of the Winter’s Solstice (1978)

1978 recording from New England holiday favorites. Not the best of the bunch but a decent record of what is essentially an upscale Christmas pageant.

The Decibels - Christmas Moods (2019)

Holiday power-pop all sounds the same to me these days, so this is both the best and worst of it.

<a href="https://thedecibels.bandcamp.com/album/christmas-moods">Christmas Moods by The Decibels</a>

Huey "Piano" Smith - 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (1962)

This is a fun album, give it a listen.

Next up some compilations with more hits than misses...

This Warm December: A Brushfire Christmas Vol 2 (2011)

Gift Wrapped (2009)

Holidays Rule (2012)

A Very Special Christmas Vol 2 (1992)

And finally, there’s a lot of music I listen to each year that isn’t available to stream. Some of it came from online sharity sites, some from long out of print records and cassettes I’ve picked up over the years and much of it is in the form of mixes and compilations (shared on the intertubes, my own and ones shared by friends).

3M Seasons Greetings - Background music demo album full of very nice instrumental easy listening tracks.
Various Reader’s Digest LP box sets (Christmas Through the Years, Together at Christmas, Back Home for Christmas and so forth)
K-Tel Orchestra - Disco Christmas Party (1977) / The Mistletoe Disco Band - Christmas Disco 1978 / The Salsoul Orchestra - Christmas Jollies (1976) - Love these kinds of cheesy disco records.

Ernie (Not Bert) - A magical repository of out of print Christmas treasures and oddities.

Andy Cizran Christmas CDs, Sound Opinions Christmas Shows

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

Yule Logged (The Christmas Thief, Reba's Christmas in Tune, Christmas Miracles, Kirstie and Phil, Bonacini, Babes in Toyland, Smurfs, Disney on Ice,,,)

The Christmas Thief (2021)

Just when I thought I’d washed my hands of this sort of holiday cheese they pull me back in. I don’t know if it's the PTSD from Santa Inc. or just the festive spirit softening my humbug heart but I kinda enjoyed this Ion original. It’s a light mystery romance that tackles the genre in a far more satisfactory way than hat crummy Hallmark one earlier this season. I only watched it because it was on at my Mother-in-laws and I was sort of trapped, luckily it was pretty decent.

Reba McEntire’s Christmas in Tune (2021)

Another contentious reunion story this one with Reba and John Schneider as a hitmaking duo who broke up both their personal and professional relationships long ago, Whenever the lead pair are on screen it’s pretty good, for what it is, everyone else seems a bit out of their depth. I gave up half way through, not because it stunk but it was dull and overly familiar. My wife liked it though.

A Christmas Tree Miracle (2013)

Not very good.

Miracle on Christmas (2020)

Not very good either but better than Christmas Tree Miracle. Faint praise indeed.

I hit up Pluto on demand for some cooking and craft shows...

Watts Up for the Holidays (2016)

Basic Xmas cooking 101 from a a fella that reads, to me, as sort of a Canadian beta-Guy Fieri. If you’ve never cooked Christmas dinner before, or watched someone cook it, or watched another show about cooking it then this is right up your alley.

Not a bad show but nothing great.

Kirstie and Phil’s Perfect Christmas (2010)

Charming and informative four part series featuring UK Christmas Queen Kirstie Allsopp and her Location, Location, Location co-host Phil Spencer plan the perfect holiday celebrations. Great fun and highly recommended, though the eleven year old product reviews may not be super helpful anymore.

Christmas with Bonacini (2019)

More Canadian content but this time with far more interesting recipes and superior instruction. A chef who’s new to me that I’m looking forward to watching more of.

Then it was time for a trip through the archives...

Babes in Toyland (1986)

Drew Barrymore and Keanu Reeves headline this somewhat bizarre 80’s take on Victor Herbert’s classic operetta.
Not offensively bad but nowhere near good either.
The weirdness might be enough to hold one’s attention.

Frosty the Snowman (1969)

I must have watched this classic special multiple times a year with my kids for a couple of decades and it’s still nice to throw on in the background now and again.

Crafts for Christmas with Lynette Jennings

From a 90’s VHS, I’m assuming this played on Discovery or one of its related networks back in the day. It’s a straightforward instructional with some good info and useful techniques.

ITV Schools - My World: Christmas

Children’s TV from a simpler age

The City That Forgot About Christmas (1974)

Terrific voice cast, including Charles Nelson Reilly, Sebastian Cabot and Casey Kasem, in an okay seventies animated special.

The Smurfs Christmas Special (1982)

We were never a Smurf family so this one doesn't much for me. It’s not bad, I’m just not a major fan of the license.

Disney Christmas on Ice (1990)

Skaters mingling with Mickey, Minnie, Roger Rabbit, Tigger, Pooh, and the rest of the Disney crew include Peggy Fleming, Katerina Witt, Tai Babilonia & Randy Gardner, and Scott Hamilton. This was a nice wholesome special, at least until the some crappy pop group called The Party shows up.

Sunday, December 5, 2021

Yule Logged (Santa Inc., Elves, Father Christmas is Back, 8-Bit Christmas, Christmas in the Clouds, Red Skelton, Flying Nun...)

Another week of holiday viewing, another week of, mostly, disappointment and disgust. Let's see how it went...

HBO-Max crapped out a couple of new holiday offerings

Santa Inc.

After watching the opening episode of Santa Inc. I was left with a melancholy longing for the comparatively brilliant, heartwarming, poignant, and uplifting Dr. Seuss’ Grinch Musical of last year. But now that I’ve seen two episodes of Santa inc. I can never go back to the more innocent times of Dan Hagerty’s Elves, Home Sweet Home Alone, or Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas. Bad Christmas entertainment has reached its' peak.

It’s no secret that most Christmas movies made these days are created by people who don’t really care about, or for, Christmas. To them it’s just a job, a market to be exploited and a customer base, with surprisingly low standards, that rewards the least possible creative effort. Compared to the forces behind Santa Inc these folks are egg nog swilling, mistletoe wearing, holly swinging, carol singing saints.

Santa Inc. hates Christmas and it hates you. I don’t need to be in an abusive relationship with my holiday entertainment. So, excellent job HBO-Max, you’re driving me back to Hallmark who are merely cynical drones mining superficial, aspirational, performative sentiment for dollars. Hallmark-style movies are merely passively destroying the true meaning of Christmas, Santa Inc is on a kamikaze run against it.

8-Bit Christmas (2021)

Crappy, soulless A Christmas Story rip-off.

Let's see what Netflix has to offer...

Father Christmas is Back (2021)

Hijinks ensue, amongst a group of generally unpleasant and perpetually horny rich folk in the English countryside when the estranged patriarch of the family shows up unannounced for the holidays. Luckily the cast is pretty great and the writing's solid enough, so it’s not as insufferable as it might be.

The script has some pacing problems, most of the big dramatic moments are unearned and plot points sometimes appear out of nowhere without set up. Still, it’s the best 2021 production I’ve seen so far this year.

Elves (2021)

Danish YA horror. I’ve only watched the first couple of episodes and it seems fairly well made but the story, and in particular the dull characters, haven’t really grabbed me yet. I’m not certain I’ll return to it.

Merry Happy Whatever (2019)

The only laughter this holiday sitcom delivers are the canned variety. Junk.

How about The Roku Channel?

Christmas Time (2017)

Excruciatingly unfunny comedy. So bereft of humor that the idea this was a ’The Producers” style tax fraud crossed my mind.

Christmas in the Clouds (2001)

I wasn’t expecting much from this little indie comedy, despite The Roku Channels assuring me it was “critically praised”, but, despite the occasional lack of (camera0 focus, the less experienced actors, and obviously low budget, it was a nice, quirky little treat. The script is a cut above your average Christmas flick and primarily Indigenous cast and setting on the Rez seems organic and not merely a diversity stunt.

Christmas in the Clouds hits some familiar genre tropes but in a unique and charming way. What a nice surprise, especially after the train wreck of Christmas Time. My only gripe - not very Christmassy.

Time to palate cleanse with some vintage TV

Drop the Dead Donkey - Xmas Party (1991)

Topical for its time, which won’t be great for those of you who weren’t following UK current events in late 20th century, but it’s still a great episode from a classic show.

Standing Room Only: Red Skelton's Christmas Dinner (1981)

Made for HBO back i the pre -Max days when garbage wasn't their main export.

Late career Red Skelton reprises his maudlin Freddie the Freeloader character, never my favorite, but Skelton still had the chops to pull off a heartwarming, if old fashioned Christmas show. Guests include Imogene Coca and Vincent Price.