What's New In 2008?

the best and brightest new Christmas releases

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This year has been no different from the previous few - I've spent so much time buying (and listening to) music that I haven't had much time to write about it. Plus, I launched a whole new website - www.hipchristmas.com - to host the Christmas reviews that were straining the bounds of my other website. Not much has changed, there's just more room to breathe. I still have a big Artists & Albums index, an ever-expanding Songs & Singles index, fun-to-read Christmas Lists, and a Christmas Jukebox bulging with over 350 songs (and counting).

But consequently, I still have thousands of Christmas CD's cluttering up my office - far more, certainly, than the few hundred or so reviewed herein. They gather dust, waiting to be catalogued and reviewed in my usual obsessive-compulsive manner. Rather than throw this year's crop of holiday goodies atop that languishing pile, I'm giving you, faithful reader, a list the best and brightest rockin' Christmas CD's for 2008 (below).

A Boring Christmas

At first glance, my reaction to this year's schedule of holiday releases was that this was going to be one boring Christmas. The big names included Enya (yawn), Loreena McKennett (snooze), and Melissa Etheridge (zzzzzz), while the biggest news was generated by the third (count 'em) Christmas albums by Tony Bennett (gotta love him) and Harry Connick (enough already). Brian Setzer - the latter day savior of cool Christmas music - could only muster a "best of" collection, while RCA practiced the most vile form of necrophilia by allowing a bevy of tarted-up country girls to paw over Elvis Presley's revered Christmas catalog (Christmas Duets, and I use the term loosely). (Target, by the way, did much the same for poor old Nat King Cole.)

On closer inspection, there is some cool stuff this year - you just have to look hard to find it. My top picks include Christmas A Go Go, a rockin' collection from Little Steven's Underground Garage, and Stocking Stuffer, a holiday rave-up from über Noo Yawk garage rockers the Fleshtones. Joan Jett and Kenny Laguna have unleashed a hard rockin' compilation called A Blackheart Christmas (an iTunes exclusive) that includes Laguna's "Home For Christmas" (1980) and Jett's "Little Drummer Boy" (1981) as well as a new version of "Silent Night" featuring Barack Obama (no, really). And, my homeboys Los Lonely Boys have contracted a bad case of the Christmas Spirit.

Though I suspect none will generate much heat, I also gotta render props to the first-ever formal Christmas albums from Tommy James, Aretha Franklin, Neil Sedaka, and Bachman-Turner Overdrive (sans Turner... and Overdrive). Finally, speaking of over-the-hill action, a bunch of geezers from Badfinger, Nazz, the Shadows of Knight, and other proto-punk bands cobbled together no less than two volumes of Garage Band Christmas. Great concept, at least.

To CD or Not CD?

The big news last year was the tentative emergence of the MP3 as a channel for lost treasures. The CD is, by all accounts, on its last legs, and the major labels seemed about to embrace the new MP3 format as a way to reissue music that never warranted (commercially speaking) full-fledged CD release. Capitol, for instance, gave us Ferlin Husky's Christmas All Year Long (1967), and Keith Richards' 1978 single, "Run Rudolph Run," finally saw the non-bootleg light of day.

There are, however, an increasing number of new holiday releases exclusively available as MP3 downloads. Foremost among them is the Pretenders Holiday EP, a modest little effort that includes a new version of their classic "2000 Miles," the Raveonette's Wishing You A Rave Christmas, which does not include their terrific "Christmas Song" (see Christmas With The Kranks), and Weezer's late-breaking Christmas With Weezer, which does not include either of their previous Christmas songs - and suffers for their absence. And, imporobable as it may seem, Snoop Dogg presents Christmas In Tha Hood, a ribald holiday party from deep in the ghetto - which, again, does not include his fabulously filthy 1997 take on "The Night Before Christmas" (read more in Horny Holidays).Sad to say, the trend hasn't grown considerably. My favorite is Abkco's Cameo Parkway Holiday Hits featuring several goodies previously released on their boxed set, plus some really cool, truly obscure platters. Capitol has graced us with Wayne Newton's Songs For A Merry Christmas (yippee!), and a little label with the catchy name of Essential Media Group has reissued some super kitschy Hi-Fi LP's by the Surfers, Town Pipers, and Wurlitzer wizard George Wright. But, that's about it.

I'm also intrigued by the concept employed by a satisfyingly noisy indie band called Oh, Hush! They send you a "digital ornament" (available only through their MySpace shopping cart) - an actual, tree-worthy decoration that enables you to go online and download their EP Hush! The Herald Angels Sing. Neat idea, but it flies in the face of the buy-it-now, get-it-now trend overwhelming the traditional marketplace. Good luck with that....

Meet Hot Singles Online!

After a slow start, the singles scene really heated up in December - an side effect, I suppose, of the speed with which MP3 "product" can be released into marketplace. Most notably, the Hives and Cyndi Lauper (now there's a match made in heaven) have an MP3 single out called "A Christmas Duel," and it's the best yuletide throwdown since the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl duked it out in "A Fairy Tale Of New York." Hives singer Pelle and Ms. Lauper recount in sordid detail how they did each other dirty all year. "I slept with your sister," he admits. "That's OK," she retorts, "I slept with your brother." Ultimately, the pair makes up for Christmas - sort of. "Whatever you say, it's all fine by me," they conclude. "Who the fuck, anyway, wants a Christmas tree?" Who, indeed?

Indie darlings The Wombats have a promising CD single ("Is This Christmas?") due out December 16, also available for download the same day as part of a special edition of their acclaimed debut, A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation; the single is a benefit for MENCAP. And The Killers make it three years in a row with "Joseph, Better You Than Me," with Elton John and the Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant (limited CD single benefiting RED available from Newbury Comics). On the flipside of the demographic coin, veteran English band Status Quo has released their first-ever Christmas song, "It's Christmas Time." It's the group's 75th single, and it's also available on their 2008 compilation Pictures: 40 Years of Hits.

And, there's a bunch more to download: singles from power poppers Stratocruiser ("Thank You Xmas"), rap rockers Hollywood Undead ("Christmas In Hollywood"), R&B sweetheart Keisha Cole ("Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"), and country hunk Luke Bryan ("Run Rudolph Run"), plus something nauseatingly adorable by eternal wuss Barry Manilow from the animated TV special "A Cranberry Christmas" ("Christmas Is Just Around The Corner").

She's a true punk goddess, but former Avenger Penelope Houston's first holiday effort (an iTunes exclusive) is the way-too-gentle "Gentle Voices" (written by and sung with alt-folkie Pat Johnson). More to my liking, indie hunk Butch Walker and indie hottie Taryn Manning have covered Tom Petty's "Christmas All Over The Again" (now almost a classic - how time does fly...). And, Teddy Thompson has recorded a lighthearted, reggae-flavored original composition, "Christmas," featuring his semi-famous family - father Richard, mother Linda, and sister Kamila. Sales of the single (an iTunes exclusive) benefit Amnesty International.

On the weird side of the holiday (my favorite side...) we have "retrosexual" dance diva Lady GaGa doing a "Milkshake" sort-of-thing with her highly sexualized "Christmas Tree." And, you simply must hear the Austrian Death Machine's oh-so-delicate rendering of "Jingle Bells." Is this a joke? Maybe, maybe not - either way, it sure is funny!

Former Monkee Davy Jones does a pretty good job with his rollicking "It's Christmas," a rather English-sounding track in the tradition of Roy Wood's "I Wish Could Be Christmas Every Day." Not to be outdone, venerable party rocker Gary U.S. Bonds is giving away an MP3 download through his website (www.garyusbonds.com). It's called "We Wish You A Merry Christmas," but it bears only a passing resemblance to that hoary old carol. It's a great arrangement in the vein of "Quarter To Three," but the audio quality is rather disheartening. At least the price is right!

Speaking of free stuff, Amazon, the world's largest online, well, everything has deigned to bestow upon us a free holiday MP3 every day during December until Christmas (go get 'em). As I post this, they're on Day 4 - and it's not looking half bad. Amazon also offers a free 5-track holiday sampler.

Stay Tuned

Potentially, the biggest release of the year for those of us who treasure holiday music that rocks, rolls, and/or swings was Blues, Blues Christmas Vol. 2, the sequel to Document Records' amazing out-of-print 2005 release, now available as an MP3 download. The second installment was scheduled for September, but was never released. A glance at the label's website indicates that the current credit crisis is impinging on their ability to do business. Ouch.

Gary from Document explains, "As a result of the turbulent first half of the year we have postponed the release of Blues, Blues Christmas Vol. 2 until next year. I promise that it will be worth the wait." Good thing, Gary, because I'll be waiting.

So, boring or not, I found plenty to get excited about this Christmas. I always do.... What have I missed? Drop me a line...

Randy Anthony

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