Music For Listeners 2007/12/22
Can You Say Christmas? - IV
1) The Beastie Boys-"Country Mike's
Theme" From the CD 'Anthology'.
2) Tex Ritter-"Christmas Carols By the Old Corral" From
the CD 'I'm Gonna Lasso Santa Claus'.
3) Asobi Seksu-"Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)"
From the UK CD single for "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight
Tonight)"/"New Years".
4) Frightened Rabbit-"It's Xmas So We'll Stop" From
the brand new UK CD single for "It's Xmas So We'll Stop".
5) Hot Club De Paris-"Will You Still Be In Love With Me Next Year?"
From the forthcoming UK 7" single for "Will You Still
Be In Love With Me Next Year?" Limited to 300 copies worldwide
and released on December 24, 2007.
6) Scissors for Lefty-"Christmas Intentions" Free download
from the myspace page http://www.myspace.com/scissorsforleftyremixed
7) Super Furry Animals-"The Gift That Keeps Giving"
From the CD 'Hey Venus!'.
8) The Black Arts-"Christmas Number One" From the limited
UK 7" single for "Christmas Number One"/"Glam Casual".
9) Bears-"Merry Christmas To Me" From the limited CD
single for "Merry Christmas To Me" sold by the band
during December 2006 at their live shows
10) Saint Etienne-"21st Century Christmas" From the
UK limited editon CD single for "21st Century Christmas".
11) Wild Billy Childish and the Musicians of The British Empire-"Christmas
Lights" From the CD 'Christmas 1979'.
12) Manic Street Preachers-"Ghost of Christmas" Free
download from the band's website: http://www.manicstreetpreachers.com/07/index
13) Daniel Johnston-"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" From
the CD single for "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree".
14) Robbers on High Street-"Seasons Greetings" Free
download from the bands myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/robbersonhighstreet
15) The New Pornographers-"Joseph, Who Understood" From
the brand new CD Single/E.P. "Spirit of Giving".
16) The Wave Pictures-''We Dress Up Like Snowmen" From the
UK 7" single for "We Dress Up Like Snowmen".
17) Tiger Baby-"This Christmas" From the CD single for
"This Christmas".
18) Holly GoLightly-"Chirstmas Tree's On Fire" From
the UK 7" single for "Christmas Tree's On Fire".
19) Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass-"Las Mananitas" From
the CD 'Christmas Album'.
20) North Sea Radio Orchestra-"O Come O Come Emmanuel" From
the CD 'Arctic Circle presents...That Fuzzy Feeling'.
21) Maps-"Stay Another Day" Free download from http://www.mute.biz/maps/ecard/ecard.html
22) The Pogues-"Fairytale of New York" From the CD 'If
I Should Fall from Grace With God'.
23) Klima-"Sing To Me (Rainy Christmas)" From the CD
'Arctic Circle Presents...That Fuzzy Feeling'.
24) Ween-"Silent Night" From the CD 'Demos, Outtakes,
and B-Sides'.
25) The Kittens-"Happy Christmas" From the CD 'The Tiny
Motions E.P.'.
26) The Beatles-"Christmas Time is Here Again! (1967)"
From the vinyl LP 'The Beatles Christmas Album'.
27) Binky Griptite and the Dee-Kay's-"Stone Cold Chirstmas"
From the 7" single for "World of Love"/"Stone Cold
Christmas".
28) LeRoy Carr-"Christmas In Jail, Ain't That A Shame" From
the CD 'Banged Up: American Jailhouse Songs'.
29) Johnny Guarnieri with Slam Stewart-"Santa's Secret" From
the CD 'Papa Ain't No Santa Claus, Mama Ain't No Christmas Tree'.
30) James Brown-"Let's Make Christmas Mean Something This Year"
From the CD 'Funky Christmas'.
31) "The Mid-Morning Recording" The
Shins-'Wincing the Night Away'
The story of this album for me starts with The Shins taping their appearance
on the PBS program Austin City Limits. After the band played, I walked
up to James Mercer and asked him if his love of Pink Floyd would show
up more on the next album. "Are you going for more atmospheres?"
He looked at me as if I was a little odd for asking, and then he replied
with a stern, "Yes, that is the plan; more space". After this
ACL appearance was aired, I found out why he looked at me so strangely.
It turns out that during the interview portion of the show, the band
was asked, "What is next for the Shins?". They replied, "Space".
When the album was finally released in January of 2007, I put the CD
in, and during the first blips and bleeps of "Sleeping Lessons",
I was not let down. "Sleeping Lessons" really
sends you to another place, and is
certainly one of the best songs Mr. Mercer has ever penned. That is
saying a lot, as he could be my favorite songwriter still writing today.
He's not Brian Wilson, or Nick Drake, or the Davies brothers, or even
Harry Nilsson, but he is definitely up there in that league. He's helped
to write another great album full of amazing songs,
and one can only hope that their next album will be even more of a space
journey. This album has staying power
as well. I've been listening to it all year long. It was also the first
recording by the band to chart, but being a fan since 'Oh, Inverted
World' was new, I wasn't going to snub my nose at the possibilities
of this album.
I knew it would be full of quality work. They may be more popular now,
but that is what happens when a band writes songs as good as these guys
do. For me, it has to be the best album of 2007. It seems my father
even found this to be the case. It's spacey, atmospheric, wintery, and
full of twilight. "So give me your hand and let's jump out the
window".
Michael - MFL
32) James-"Sayonara" From the CD 'Wah-Wah'.
BONUS TRACK
33) Poster Children-"What's Inside the Box?" From the
CD E.P. 'Just Like You'.
34) Poster Children-"21st Century" From the CD 'RTFM'.
Merry Christmas - Happy Holidays and the like,
Michael and Orly
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