POLL: Seasonal Music

[eldritchhobbit]

Happy December to all!

My new "Attack of the 5'2" Woman" column is now up, featuring my top recommendations for holiday mood music. In retrospect, I suppose George Winston's December would be a good addition, although, despite the fact I love it, somehow it never finds its way to the CD player as often as the others.

Which brings me to a question:

[Poll #625126]
Other items:

Thanks to agentxpndble for pointing out the Map of the Star Wars Galaxy.

And thanks to wildviolet4 for pointing out the Boston terrier love on the cover of the new Lands' End catalog:




"When night comes on with song and tale we pass the wintry hours;
By keeping up a cheerful heart we hope for better days.
We tend the cattle, sow the seed, give work unto the ploughers,
With patience wait till winter yields before the sun's fair rays.
And so the world goes round and round, and every time and season
With pleasure and with profit crowns the passage of the year,
And so through every time of life, to him who acts with reason,
The beauty of all things doth appear."

from "The Seasons," traditional

Comments

[jalara.livejournal.com]

Great idea listing your favorite holiday albums! I'll have to try out some of your selections. My favorite Christmas song is The Bell that Couldn't Jingle by Burt Bacharach. This song was on an obscure limited edition album from the sixties that has never been released. It was called "Something Festive" and is my second favorite Christmas album. Unfortunately it is long out of print and never was released on CD.

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Wonderful! Thanks so much for the song!

[jalara.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! Thank you! :)

[semielliptical]

My husband *loves* Christmas & winter music, and I was going to point him to your column. But instead I think I will use it to help me select a gift or two for him!

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Oh, that makes my day! :) Thanks! Love your icon, BTW.

[agentxpndble.livejournal.com]

cover of the new Lands' End catalog

:::Grumbles jealously in a pathetic 3-year old manner::: I had it torn out for you - I *was* going to mail it with your DVDs... :-P

I don't know why but my *favorite* Christmas music (other than Christmas music itself) has been the soundtrack to Chess (original cast.) I think I must have gotten it around that time and listened to it constantly so that every year after, it just became the soundtrack to my Christmas'.

[wildviolet4.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry I spoiled your surprise!! : (

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

I'm just so tickled that both of you thought to share it! Thank you SO much!

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Great. Now I'll have "One Night in Bangkok" playing in my head for the rest of the day. LOL! :-P Fun album, though, and a lot more interesting than many more mainstream seasonal album choices!

By the way, if I did have a hard copy of that Land's End cover, I could always put it on my office door at school. ::looks innocently around, whistles::

You're so thoughtful and considerate! *hugs*

[wildviolet4.livejournal.com]

I know I can't vote more than once as that would skew the poll results!! But the other Christmas album that gets dragged out every year is the Phil Spector Christmas collection featuring The Ronettes, The Crystals, Darlene Love and Bobby Soxx and the Bluejeans ... yes, it's old. I think it came out in 1963 when I was a small lass, but it's such a happy, upbeat and fun collection (despite Phil Spector's weird rendition of Silent Night, which I usually skip anyway!) I can't resist having a listen at least once a week! I would also recommend "Yule" by Linn Barnes and Allison Hampton.

On another note, thank you for turning my attention to Nox Arcana ... they are fabulous! Just ordered the Winter Knight CD ::happy dance::

[agentxpndble.livejournal.com]

Nox Arcana

They are looking mighty interesting to me too...

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

I love love love Nox Arcana! :)

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, wonderful suggestions! Thanks so much for the heads up on these albums.

As for Nox Arcana, I hope you enjoy it. I just got it recently and it hasn't left the CD player since. I really do adore it.

Hello

[faramirgirl.livejournal.com]

I got the Christmas card today and it had very much brighten up my day. Thank you so much for the kind thought of sending me one. I do pray that your holiday will be filled with love and laughter.

Re: Hello

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

((((FG)))) Thank you so much! I wish the very same for you. And thanks for the kind words about the card. We had a lot of fun taking her picture and having a Boston terrier "photo shoot" experience. LOL!

[randomalia.livejournal.com]

I'm generally a bit 'bah humbug' at Christmas, so I don't have any favourite seasonal music! :) I very much enjoyed your column, though.

Thanks also for the link to the Star Wars map, how interesting!

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

You know, I'm really making an effort, but I have a huge "bah humbug" in me, too - I think that's probably why the music I like mostly is historical, because I love medieval music anyway. The thought of "Jingle Bells" makes me want to scream. But the shopping's done, the cards are done, I won't have to deal with shoppers or the like, and the only gifts left are the fun ones to make. So I'll survive. :) Thanks for the kind words, though!

I need to spend some time with that Star Wars map. Thus far I've only had time for a cursory glance, and I was fascinated!

[fungus-files.livejournal.com]

seeing as all I can think about is Wham's "Last Christmas" I feel totally unworthy to nominate a fave xmas album. :P

and that magazine cover?

LOL. gorgeous.

[primsong.livejournal.com]

I think the cover is adorable - it matches so well with the very first official Christmas Card we've gotten for this season. :-)
((((((((((Amy)))))))))))

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

LOL! :) ((((((Prim))))))

[valancourtbooks.livejournal.com]

I'm with you -- Lion in Winter is one of my favs too! Just watched again it the other night, in fact. I even got Ryan to sit through the whole thing, and he's taken to saying "Pay no attention to the dragon in the doorway" whenever I talk.

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Lion in Winter is one of my favs too!

What is it they say about great minds thinking alike? ;)

I even got Ryan to sit through the whole thing, and he's taken to saying "Pay no attention to the dragon in the doorway" whenever I talk.

LOL! Glad to hear you could share it. Now that you mention it, I think we're due for another viewing ourselves. I think it has to be one of the very best casts ever assembled. It seems every time I rewatch it, I see something new.

[terrylj.livejournal.com]

Also the Michael English version of "Mary, Did You Know", and NOT any of the pale imitations which came after him (I think Kenny Rogers does a version, OMG, and maybe Clay Aiken too. Ignore those.)

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Oooh! Good choice! ::applause::

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

::tries not to contemplate the other versions::
::shudders::
;-)

[theladyrose.livejournal.com]

Yay, you included the The Lion in Winter soundtrack! I'm glad that you have the original release on there conducted by Barry himself instead of the Nic Raine and City of Prague Philharmonic rerelease compilation with excerpts from Barry's Mary Queen of Scots. Fun trivia fact: James Goldman originally started out as a musicologist before writing TLIW; he found the lyrics for "The Christmas Wine" in an old manuscript and helped arrange the film version of the song with Barry.

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Nic Raine and City of Prague Philharmonic rerelease compilation with excerpts from Barry's Mary Queen of Scots

I've heard that's a rather anemic version. It sounds like you agree?

Your trivia fact is fascinating! I had no idea. "The Christmas Wine" is definitely a high point of the soundtrack. I really should learn more about Goldman, since LiW has had such a huge impact on me, and I thoroughly enjoyed Myself as Witness.

Hee! I love your icon :-)

[theladyrose.livejournal.com]

The choral bits of the Nic Raine and City of Prague Philharmonic compilations are especially weak if you ask me; the Crouch End Chorus (I have no idea who this group is, to be honest) are no match for the Academia di Monterdiana of the original. And I'm not especially fond of Nic Raine as a conductor; he tends to do his best work on really lush neo-Romantic compositions. But perhaps I'm being very picky.

I do know that Goldman wrote the scripts for Nicholas and Alexandra and They Might Be Giants, a wonderfully quixotic cross of Don Quixote and Sherlock and Holmes. He's also a novelist, but I haven't been able to find his other books anywhere.