December 22, 2024

"Christmas in a Minor Key."

Meade has found a distinctively un-annoying Christmas album:

25 comments:

Peachy said...

Youtube also has their stuff.
Very nice. Thanks!

selfanalyst said...

Spotify carries "Christmas at the Movies" by Michael Chertock. Sixteen songs, all piano music (no lyrics). Each title is a mix of a classic with a movie song. Beautiful background music for gatherings. Became familiar with Chertock from charity concerts he participates in each year in my area.

Rightflyer said...

Previewed on Apple Music. Beautiful! Great call Meade. Bought it.

P.S. My first comment after following for nearly 20 years. :-)

tim maguire said...

Listening to it now. Thanks for the link.

Balfegor said...

I always enjoy the verse of Three Kings that goes "Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume breathes a life of gathering gloom. Sorrowing, sighing, breathing, dying, sealed in the stone-cold tomb."

Ann Althouse said...

"I always enjoy the verse of Three Kings that goes "Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume breathes a life of gathering gloom. Sorrowing, sighing, breathing, dying, sealed in the stone-cold tomb."

David Sedaris has some fun with that phrase in "Carnival of Snackery": "[A] brief skit was performed. Shepherds appeared early on, and while the upper two-thirds of them was convincing enough, they lost me every time on the footwear. “Sneakers?” I whispered to Leslie. That was nothing. Both Mary and Joseph had glasses on. We came upon them after we’d sung “We Three Kings,” which here includes the lyric “Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume / Breathes a life of gathering gloom / Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying / Sealed in a stone-cold tomb.” They’ve got to be making this up, I thought. What Christmas song has the phrase stone-cold tomb in it? And is sorrowing even a word?"

Kate said...

Thanks, guys! I'll sample a listen and see if I like the albums enough to push my playlist to 800 Christmas songs.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

AI will be really cool when it is allowed to make Frosty The Snowman in the style of Metallica.

amr said...

It's "Sorrowing, Sighing, Bleeding, Dying"... even more metal than you had it, Balfegor.

Narr said...

Un-annoying is in the ear of the beholder.

AnotherJim said...

Yeah. At first, I thought I'd dropped my phone again, causing it to sound like that.

Lamont said...

Thank you Meade and Ann. I'm grateful for the chance to listen to this on a could, sunny Virginia Sunday afternoon in Advent.

Balfegor said...

Re: amr: even better!!

WhoKnew said...

Not bad, but everything sounds the same and that makes it sound suitable for background music. I'd probably like each song better if I heard it mixed in with other stuff. Quality Street by Nick Lowe is (possibly) my favorite Christmas album. Christmas at the Airport deserves to be a classic.

Gerda Sprinchorn said...

Any theories as to why transposing the songs to minor makes them less annoying?

Narr said...

Not to me; it reminds me of those "If Mozart wrote 'Frosty the Snowman' novelties . . .

Southern Pessimist said...

The favorite Christmas album at our house is John Denver and the Muppets.

Kate said...

Ben Folds (never heard of him before) has a new album with the great title "Sleigher". Every song catches me by surprise. I'm not sure yet if I like it or absolutely love it.

Jars of Clay possibly has the best Christmas album ever produced.

JAORE said...

Between Spotify, Sirius and U-Tube I have learned two tings:
1) Nearly every singer/group has put out a Christmas album.
2) Not every singer/group should have put out a Christmas album

The Godfather said...

Balfegor, many thanks! When I was a kid, I was big for my age and had a deeper voice, so I got cast as one of the Kings in our church's Christmas Pageant, and specifically Balthazar. That last verse is kind of a downer, "Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume, breathes a life of gathering gloom . . . ." But it's a reminder that at the end of the story comes Easter.

The Godfather said...

Ann, never forget that Christmas leads to Easter .

RCOCEAN II said...

Enjoyable, though I think Bing crosby had the best version of "God Rest you merry Gentlemen".

Bunkypotatohead said...

I have all their albums, but this one seems pretty lame.

WWPaulKlee said...

I have a Milk Carton Kids T-shirt from Billie Reid's shop in Charleston!

Magilla Gorilla said...

The Roches' "We Three Kings" is the best Christmas album ever, available on Amazon through the Althouse link! Two dozen songs, and every one is great, even the Little Drummer Boy and Frosty the Snowman.