Tracey Thorn – Tinsel and Lights
Albums, we are reliably informed, are to be read as coherent wholes.
Alan Mills – Christmas Songs From Many Lands
Alan Mills could elocute. He had a distinguished voice with authority. He was a classically trained operatic bass.
Funky Christmas
There are – which I’m sure surprises precisely none of you – a lot of artists past their prime who record Christmas music.
Mae West – Wild Christmas
When was the last time you heard a Christmas album that was actually fun? I don’t mean funny, in the sense of being a humorous novelty or something awful that a more maliciou
Sammy Kaye – Christmas Serenade
What’s the first Christmas album? Well, of course, this would have been before the vinyl record was invented in the late 1940s.
Mighty Sparrow – Christmas With Sparrow
By pure sales figures alone, the traditional pop crooner, softly singing into electrified microphones, is the king of Christmas music.
June Christy – This Time Of Year
Christmas, even to those who despise it, is a singularly meaningful holiday.
Ella Fitzgerald – Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas
Ella Fitgerald, jazz critic Frank Rich wrote in a reflection published after her death, “is American song”.
Willie Colón – Asalto Navideño
Sometimes, the world of Christmas records can seem pretty isolated from the rest of music.
Mahalia Jackson – Silent Night: Songs for Christmas
Sometimes, it’s not about the notes someone sings, about their purity and quality and intrinsic meaningfulness. Sometimes, it’s about the pauses.