Christmas albums (part 1)

When is Christmas coming? Is it the Coca-Cola Lorry convoy advert?  or the Supermarkets and shops putting up their Christmas aisles in November?

At the start of the '90s at the University of Birmingham (upstairs in the Guild at the Mermaid Bar) it was when they changed the cds in the jukebox .  As soon as John Lennon starts warbling in his thickest scouse accent "So this is Christmas...and what have you done?", joined in by three mates from Liverpool, that was it for the next month:  Shaking Stevens, Cliff, Wizzard, Slade, Jona Lewie, Paul McCartney, Greg Lake, all the classics.

Move forward twenty years to 2010, and what is there to look forward to?  Bands or popstars don't really do Christmas songs anymore, not like the ones we used to know.  X-Factor have basically wrapped up the Christmas No. 1 by having three months of free promotion on primetime Saturday night tv.  This year the winner has covered a Biffy Clyro song, which may encourage the download generation to venture outside of their spoon-fed existence and look for the original.  

So this afternoon I've got the Christmas albums out... 

A Christmas Gift for You - Phil Spector (1963)

Some of the best know Christmas radio hits are on here.  Frosty the Snowman (The Ronettes); Santa Claus is Coming To Town (The Crystals); Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer (The Crystals);  

Unfortunately, the Wall of Sound was designed for a tinny transistor radio with a mono speaker, and whereas there are some real classics, they all sound a bit samey on the hifi.  

The Christmas Collection - Johnny Cash (mostly l 963, a few from 1980)

What seems to be a 'Best Of' his several Christmas albums.  The 60's songs are the purest:- simple orchestration, June on backing vocals, harmonies, and Cash's lead - long spoken introductions and that deep voice.  There are a few covers, but it is the originals from the heart that stand out - Christmas as I Knew It, which tells of his own deprived childhood Christmases; and Ringing The Bells for Jim.  It is difficult to imagine this as the country artist of the classic 1968 and 1969 Prison albums from Folsome and San Quentin, or his last American Recordings such as Hurt. 

Christmas Present from Motown (mostly l 963-1970)

Again a fairly recent compilation album featuring classic Motown artists; Stevie Wonder, Jackson 5, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross and the Supremes, The Four Tops, the Temptations.  A single track each from the Funk Brothers and the Temptations. 

No stand-outs in here, but good to hear some of your favourite groups wishing you a Merry Christmas, and an obviously funky Motown theme to it all, with sleigh bells and coconuts to Christmassify it a bit.  My favourites are Christmas Here With You - the Four Tops and Aretha Franklin; and Frosty the Snowman - Jackson 5: Michael at his early best.  

More to follow ...