Seventy-five of the Best Holiday Tunes Known to Man!

Only one entry for the month of December, but you get three fabulous compilations! Just a quick heads up, be on the lookout for my January entry as I plan to make a best of 2008 compilation (or two).

The story behind this month's compilations is pretty simple. A few years ago Gabrielle and I put together a compilation of holiday music that we both enjoyed. We liked it so much that we ended up making copies of it and giving them away to our friends and family. We got mostly favorable reviews for that disc, and we decided to try to do it on a semi-regular basis. We are now up to volume three in the Christmas Redux series, and the third will be the first distributed via this blog. Of course since not all of you got the first or second volumes, I am posting the first two volumes up as well. Please take note, if you are one of the original recipients of the Christmas Redux Volume One, we did make some changes last year. We think we greatly improved it with songs by Low, the Figgs and Roger Miller (and that Bob & Doug McKenzie song was just too damn long)-- so you may want to download the new, improved version available here. Without further adux, here are seventy-five (76 if you count the "Dick in a Box" SNL video!) of the best holiday tunes known to man . . .

[Which reminds me, if you have a suggestion for future editions in the Christmas Redux series, please feel free to leave a comment-- thanks!]

Christmas Redux One:

01. “The Christmas Song” by the Raveonettes
02. “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” by Darlene Love
03. “Just Like Christmas” by Low
04. “Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy” by Buck Owens
05. “All the Right Reasons” by Dressy Bessy
06. “Santa’s Got a Brand New Bag” by Gary Walker
07. “Christmas Eve” by the Galaxies
08. “Run Run Rudolph by Dave Edmunds
09. “Christmas Spirit??” by the Wailers
10. “Santa Claws” by Vermont
11. “Santa Claus” by The Sonics
12. “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band Aid
13. “O, Little Town of Bethlehem” by the Young Fresh Fellows
14. “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” by Pedro the Lion
15. “Little Drummer Boy (Up the Kyber)” by the Hoodoo Gurus
16. “Who Took the Merry Out of Christmas?” by the Staple Singers
17. “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight)” by the Ramones
18. “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” by Bruce Springsteen
19. “2000 Miles” by the Pretenders
20. “I Want an Alien for Christmas” by Fountains of Wayne
21. “Merry Christmas Girl” by The Figgs
22. “Sleigh Ride” by the Ronettes
23. “Old Toy Trains” by Roger Miller
24. “Happy Christmas (Was is Over) by John & Yoko with the Harlem Community Choir
25. “Auld Lang Syne (Alternate Mix) by the Beach Boys

Time: 1:14:41
Download it here:

Christmas Redux One

Christmas Redux Two:

01. “Frosty the Snowman” by the Ronettes
02. “Christmas All Over Again” by Tom Petty
03. “Someday at Christmas” by Stevie Wonder
04. “Winter Wonderland” by the Cocteau Twins
05. “Joseph, Who Understood” by the New Pornographers
06. “Spotlight on Christmas” by Rufus Wainwright
07. “Christmas Wrapping” by the Waitresses
08. “Christmas Celebration” by B.B. King
09. “Jingle, Jangle” by The Rockfield Chorale
10. “Father Christmas” by the Kinks
11. “Jingle Bell Rock” by the Ventures
12. “Thanks for Christmas” by the Three Wisemen (XTC)
13. “Christmas Ain’t Christmas Without the One You Love” by the O’Jays
14. “Peace on Earth-Little Drummer Boy” by Bing Crosby & David Bowie
15. “Everyday is Christmas” by Swag
16. “Holiday Spirit” by the dB’s
17. “The Christmas Song” by Weezer
18. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” by the Cadillacs
19. “Purple Snowflakes” by Marvin Gaye
20. “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues
21. “Jingle Bells (Buala Bas)” by the Clancy Brothers
22. “So Much Wine” by the Handsome Family
23. “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” by John Prine
24. “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” by Death Cab for Cutie
25. “New Year’s Revolution” by Graham Parker

Time: 1:16:20
Download it here:

Christmas Redux Two

Christmas Redux Three:

01. “The Christmas Sound” by the Swimmers
02. “It’s Christmas Time” by Yo La Tengo
03. “Put the Lights on the Tree” by Sufjan Stevens
04. “Your Christmas Whiskey” by the Minus 5
05. “Silent Night” by the Primitives
06. “Your Christmas is Going to the Dogs” by the Eels
07. “All That I Want” by the Weepies
08. “December 25th” by Desmond Reed
09. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” by the Crystals
10. “Santa’s Beard” by They Might Be Giants
11. “The Mods of Christmas” by Zumpano
12. “Christmas” by the Buzz of Delight
13. “Egg Nog” by Luna
14. “X-mas Song” by the Fireflies
15. “Christmas in Baghdad” by the Black Lips
16. “Donna and Blitzen” by Badly Drawn Boy
17. “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” by Bright Eyes
18. “Merry X-mas Everybody” by Slade
19. “Christmas Celebration” by Weezer
20. “Last Christmas” by Erlend Oye
21. “Rock Around the Christmas Tree” by Daniel Johnston
22. “Baby, Please Don’t Get Stoned (It’s X-mas) by Je Suis France
23. “Christmastime” by Aimee Mann & Michael Penn
24. “She’s Coming Home” by the Wailers
25. “Space Christmas” by Shonen Knife

Time: 1:10:36
Download it here:

Christmas Redux Three


P.S. If you stumbled upon this blog entry first, please check out my entry for December 2009 here: Christmas Redux Volume Four.

Salute to the Blue States, Vol. 2

All right, this just in Missouri goes for McCain. So here is the second volume of my Blue States tribute. Also, the video above serves as an extra salute to Ohio, who found its way in this election year (along with several other formally red states!). It is the Breeders doing a cover of GBV's "Shocker in Gloomtown". Oh, and yes, that's GBV peeking in the garage.

Salute to the Blue States - The Rest of the Country

01. "Super Hawaii" by Kincaid
02. "Come On! Feel the Illinoise!" by Sufjan Stevens
03. "California Soul" by Marlena Shaw
04. "The Girl From Washington" by The Windbreakers
05. "Portland, Oregon" by Loretta Lynn & Jack White
06. "New Mexico" by Johnny Cash
07. "Michigan" by Red House Painters
08. "From Wisconsin" by Wolf Colonel
09. "Christmas in Nevada" by the Willard Grant Conspiracy
10. "Minnesota" by the Mountain Goats
11. "Goin' Back to Indiana" by the Jackson 5
12. "Colorado Song" by The Ozark Mountain Daredevils
13. "Florida's On Fire" by Superchunk
14. "Ohio" by CSN&Y
15. "Iowa" by the Phoids
16. "Oh My Sweet Carolina" by Ryan Adams with Emmylou Harris

Time: 59:02

Download it here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/166991936/BlueStates2.zip.html

Salute to the Blue States, Vol. 1

Wow. I mean wow! It really was a Super Tuesday yesterday. It's the first time I've ever gotten up on the Wednesday after election day with an extra spring in my step. In honor of the occasion, I've put together the first of two Blue State compilations. As I write this, the nation still awaits confirmation in North Carolina (leaning slightly to Obama) and Missouri (leaning slightly toward McCain). Today's compilation will only feature the staunchly progressive North East states. To be sure, not all of these songs show the states in the best light, but I can vouch for the superb-ness of each song. Also, I did not take the time to sequence the compilation, but rather I decided to put the states in order of their loyalty to Obama (ie: 67% of Vermonters voted for Barack so Vermont leads things off, while Virginia's 52% has them bringing up the rear). Enjoy!

Salute to the Blue States - The North East

01. "Long Vermont Roads" by the Magnetic Fields
02. "Holiday in Rhode Island" by the Softies
03. "New York" by the Sex Pistols
04. "Massachusetts" by the Bee Gees
05. "Maryland Bridge" by John K. Samson
06. "Delaware" by The Damnbuilders
07. "Connecticut Fun" by Punkestra
08. "Maine" by John Linnell
09. "Pennsylvania is . . ." by Everclear
10. "New Hampshire" by matt pond PA
11. "New Jersey" by Red House Painters
12. "Virginia Way/Shenandoah Breakdown" by the V-Roys

Download it here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/160951103/BlueStates1.zip.html

Candy Apples & Razor Blades: Music for All Hallow's Eve - BaS 001

Okay, I'm a lazy ass. I started this blog over a year ago and this is really my first post. I figured Halloween was as good a time as any to submit my first compilation. A great theme which I had never tackled. I know what you're thinking: "Does the world really need another music blog?" The answer to that is unequivocally, no. So here's the deal, I'm going to post about one of these a month. I'll probably send out an email to give some of you the heads up (or maybe you can subscribe to this thing, I'm not sure). Feel free to share it with your friends, but hopefully this will stay under the radar. Just in case, here is the legal disclaimer (which I'm borrowing from one of my favorite music blogs, PowerPop Overdose ):

"Any links to anything on this blog are here either because it's something I own, ripped myself and uploaded or I found the links on the web. I do not host anything here in any manner. If you would like any of the links removed, drop me a line and I'll take care of it, ASAP."

Back to the blog. This was harder than I thought it would be. I tried to strike a balance between songs that sounded like Halloween but still had some sort of lyrical connection. It's interesting how most of the really creepy Halloween songs are really long. I shied away from those, adhering to my nearly die-hard, compilation rule of "no songs over five minutes". Anyway, I think I'm finally happy with my first Halloween comp:

Candy Apples & Razor Blades: Music for All Hallow’s Eve

01. “I Walked With a Zombie” by REM (3:10) - No Halloween comp would be complete without a Roky Erickson song. This one has two!
02. “Hey, Hey We’re the Gories” by the Gories (2:08) - These guys should have been bigger.
03. “Bad Things” by Jace Everett (2:44) - I confess, I LOVE the new HBO series True Blood, and I had never heard this song until I saw the opening credits the first time-- sue me.
04. “Ghost Rider” by Suicide (2:33) - This might be the creepiest song on the comp.
05. “Evil Eye” by Ash (3:30) - This one doesn't sound creepy at all, but it's a nice slice of Power Pop with some good Halloween imagery.
06. “Wicked Annabella” by the Kinks (2:42) - Perhaps the darkest song in the Ray Davies canon.
07. “I’ve Been Riding with the Ghost” by Songs: Ohia (3:21) - From the first album I ever bought by Jason Molina-- he's actually got several titles that would fit future Halloween comps.
08. “Halloween” by Siouxsie & the Banshees (3:42) - I considered several "Halloween" songs for this comp, and Siouxsie's is by far the best (apologies to the Misfits, Dead Kennedys, Sonic Youth and Mudhoney).
09. “If You Have Ghosts” by Roky Erickson (3:08) - Here's the second Roky track.
10. “Demons Are Real” by Guided by Voices (0:49) - Robert Pollard was born on October 31st, so it would be criminal not to include GBV-- oh and, Happy B-day, Bob!
11. “Skeleton” by Elf Power (2:09) - Top five song for me of the current decade.
12. “Halloween Girl” by Blue Ash (2:49) - A Halloween love song? As the current GOP VP candidate would say: "You Betcha!"
13. “Walking on My Grave” by Dead Moon (3:03) - Plenty of songs to choose from these Pacific Northwest garage rockers.
14. “Hayride to Hell” by the Hoodoo Gurus (3:17) - One of my favorite Aussie bands.
15. “Ghost Town” by the Specials (3:41) - Horns never sounded so ominous in pop music.
16. “Where Evil Grows” by Gore Gore Girls (2:49) - A cover, written by the same guy that wrote "Seasons in the Sun" (Terry Jacks). I've never heard the original, but I love this version.
17. “Vampires & Failures” by Grandpaboy (3:32) - I personally think the current decade has been much kinder to Paul Westerberg than the nineties.
18. “She’s My Witch” by Kip Tyler (2:19) - This song smokes and it's from the 1958!
19. “Attack of the Ghost Rider” by the Raveonettes (2:33) - From their very Jesus & Mary Chain-ish debut.
20. “Skeleton Man” by Frank Black & the Catholics (3:11) - Another 80s icon that has had a very good run this decade.
21. “You Must Be a Witch” by the Lollipop Shoppe (2:50) - The band name suggests bubblegum pop, but it's straight up American Garage Rawk.
22. “Skulls” by the Misfits (2:01) - I could only pick one.
23. “Do the Vampire” by Superdrag (3:40) - Home state heroes, from their underappreciated sophmore effort.
24. “Where the Wolf Bane Blooms” by the Nomads (2:16) - Very spooky little tune from an eighties garage rock revival band.
25. “Graveyard” by Chad VanGaalen (3:52) - I've been sort of obsessed with Chad VanGaalen over the last few weeks since I got a copy of his new record-- this one is from Skelliconnection.
26. “Demons” by Yo La Tengo (2:19) - YLT have put together quite a body of work, and much of it has an eerie feel to it. This is an early example.
27. “Dance with the Ghoulman” by the Fleshtones (2:24) - Long live the Fleshtones! They kind of ripoff the Chocolate Watchband's "Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love In)."

Here's a link if you'd like to download it:

Candy Apples & Razor Blades: Music for All Hallow's Eve

Oh, and as will always be the case, this thing will fit nicely on an 80 minute CDR, and my format of choice is usually m4a. I welcome any comments and would certainly love to hear what your favorite Halloween songs are.

Cheers.