Various Artistsįor all the talk about how the holidays are about family, togetherness, and quiet reflection, there are some for whom the allure of all those presents remains a major driving force. “It’s a Holiday Soul Party” is a seasonal record that you’ll look forward to playing over and over, year after year. “World of Love” is uplifting, hopeful, and celebratory. The traditional “Silent Night” is given new life as a slow-burning blues number.
“Ain’t No Chimneys in the Projects” is an all-time classic Christmas song that looks at childhood through the eyes of an adult who finally realizes and appreciates the Christmas memories that her family worked so hard to create. Some artists may treat a holiday record as a novelty, a seasonal cash-in, or an obligation but Jones and her band The Dap-Kings instead present an album of excellent soul, blues, and R&B that just happens to be about the holiday season. That voice is no less phenomenal on It’s a Holiday Soul Party, from 2015. The amount of expression, soul, and power present in her performances (both on record and in the live setting) is astonishing. There will never be another voice like Sharon Jones’s. On Owens’ holiday records you’ll find whimsical favorites like the all-time great “Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy (or Daddy Looked a Lot Like Him),” tear-jerkers like “Blue Christmas Tree” and “All I Want for Christmas is My Daddy,” traditional favorites like “Jingle Bells,” and a re-working of the Owens hit “Cryin’ Time,” which puts on a red suit and white beard to appear here as “It’s Christmas Time for Everyone But Me.” These albums are essential listening for the holidays.
#Best holiday albums series#
Even if you haven’t listened to all of them (and I doubt there are very many people who have), it’s difficult to imagine that any of them capture the feeling of “the most wonderful time of the year” better than the two holiday records released by Buck Owens and his Buckaroos (both of which were re-released as a double-LP collection in 1970, and re-titled to tie in with the then-new syndicated series Hee-Haw, on which Owens was a featured player).
There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of country music holiday records, and more get added to the list every year. Buck OwensĬhristmas With Buck Owens And His Buckaroos & Christmas Shopping Рабор even manages to wrap Mortiis’s “Battles on Ice” in a holiday ribbon on an album-ending cover version. Cheerful melodies combine with the occasional well-used sleigh bell to provide a “holiday” feeling without being overly “Christmas-y.” Both artists provide peaceful, calming music that fits right into any holiday playlist. While that image may not speak to your specific holiday experience (hello, tropical and subtropical climate zones), the mood here will be familiar. Winternight Fairytales is a collection of light, crystalline compositions that use folk elements and instrumentation to evoke the calm of moonlight on a snow-covered field.
Here, RævJäger and Рабор (or “Rabor” if you want to get non-Cyrillic about it), two “dungeon synth” artists, present a holiday-themed work that is worlds away from goblin-infested caverns or the crumbling stone walls of an ancient fortress. It’s a catch-all that encompasses a wide variety of fantasy-inspired electronic music, but it often falls short of being an apt descriptor for some of the artists it claims. “ Dungeon synth” as a descriptor is a double-edged sword. Pre-order buy pre-order buy you own this wishlist in wishlist go to album go to track go to album go to track
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