Favorite/must have Christmas CDs!

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Another Cambridge Singers! Seeker Jan, are you a John Rutter fan?
 
Oh, I love manheim steamroller, Brenda…good pick. I also think Michael Buble (Boo-blay) has a nice soothing voice, and makes for nice dinner music if you’re having company over.

I noticed Celtic Christmas tonight at Target, but didn’t buy it. I might. I like celtic type music…and I bet it’s very pretty for the holidays.
 
John Berry
Trisha Yearwood - (It Wasn’t His Child - is the best song - we all cry for it each year…)
 
Just dug up my CDs:

Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton’s “Once Upon a Christmas”
The Time-Life Treasury of Christmas is a great compilation.
Quartette “It’s Christmas!”
The Best of Brenda Lee - The Christmas Collection (20th Century Masters)
Burl Ives “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas”
The Royal Guardsmen Snoopy’s Christmas
Conway Twitty “Merry Twismas” I think Lily would love some of the songs on this one
Raffi’s Christmas Album is another great one for kids.

An interesting little compilation that came out in '99 was a Canadian production that you might still be able to find called “An East Coast Christmas”
 
whatevergirl said:
Oh, I love manheim steamroller, Brenda…good pick. I also think Michael Buble (Boo-blay) has a nice soothing voice, and makes for nice dinner music if you’re having company over.

I noticed Celtic Christmas tonight at Target, but didn’t buy it. I might. I like celtic type music…and I bet it’s very pretty for the holidays.
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I don’t have any Mannheim Steamroller for some odd reason but get to listen to them on the radio on the station that starts playing Christmas music at the beginning of November or when I listen to Rush Limbaugh - I heard them the first time on his show. Maybe I will break down this year and get an album.

I do have Celtic Christmas and can’t remember if I liked it or not but will listen to it soon so I can tell you what I think of it.

Oh, I have some real flops too, some of those $3.00 a CD ones you see near the checkout - one is exclusively player piano Christmas music!

KCtheMommy is right - I also suggested Elvis, his voice and Christmas music seem to just be made to go together!

Michael Buble is also a great new artist, he is the new crooner ala Bing Crosby & Dean Martin (among others). Those of us 50 and older will definitely remember these artists as they were very popular with our moms.

As for fun albums for children: just about anything by Spike Jones. “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus…”, “Grandma got run over by a reindeer” among others. Some are more appropriate for a 2 yo, others for a slightly older child whose sense of the odd humor is starting to develop.

Brenda V.
 
Yeah, forgot to mention that ELVIS is a given… he is well loved in our home:D

I think what I’ll do is listen to a variety on YouTube this year and really get a feel for what I like…THEN buy the CD, lol. I have listened to a few Mannheim Steamroller so far and I can see myself really liking them…but in the right mood. If you are in a more mellow mood it is kind of jarring. Sometimes I just like instrumentals and that is where I have bought some real flops! lol. Same with celitic, I love good celtic music, but the bad stuff is enough to make me want to beat my head against a wall (yeah, bought some celtic flps too, lol).
 
Brenda_V said:
I don’t have any Mannheim Steamroller for some odd reason but get to listen to them on the radio on the station that starts playing Christmas music at the beginning of November or when I listen to Rush Limbaugh - I heard them the first time on his show. Maybe I will break down this year and get an album.

Brenda V.
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Whoa… this has to be some kind of “New Mexico” thing! I first heard Mannheim Steamroller on the Rush Limbaugh show, too! That was a a long time ago… I remembered him describing the “weeping strings” on “O Holy Night” (a very accurate description!) and I was intrigued.

Start your collection with “A Fresh Aire Christmas” (the “blue” album)… I also have “Christmas Extraordinaire” (the “red” album) and I just bought “Christmas Celebration” (the “green” album).

I saw them back in April in El Paso for a concert that was NOT Christmas music, but still lovely… the place was sold-out and you should have heard the roar when they started playing “Deck the Halls” for their encore! They HAVE to bring a Christmas concert to our area some day!
 
Off-topic, but a little trivia about Mannheim Steamroller. They’ve been around for years, just didn’t have a wide commercial audience. A great old lady in a used record shop introduced me to them in 1985; the albums came in “regular” and “audiophile” editions. The audiophile were more expensive and made to be played on higher-quality stereo equipment. Sound equipment dealers used their albums to demo stereo equipment. They did the soundtrack album for a (I think) PBS documentary on wildlife; some of the music is a hoot. They had a whole series of albums called Fresh Aire. If you haven’t heard any of their non-Christmas stuff, it’s wonderful. They’ve also produced really good stuff for other artists.
 
Mediaeval Baebes (that is really how they spell their name! LOL!) has a lovely medieval Christmas album called “Mistletoe and Wine.” If you only check out only one song of theirs, listen to their version of “The Holly and the Ivy.” Amazing stuff!

*Stella
 
Stella, I love early music. Thanks for the tip; maybe last.fm or a similar link has it for free listening.
 
Trans-Siberian Orchestra, hands down.

Same goes for “A Charlie Brown Christmas” – can’t get much better than Vince Guaraldi’s soulful, introspective version of “O Tannnenbaum” or the kids belting out “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”.

Just got Enya’s new Christmas album and her version of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” is to die for.
 
bluerose said:
Whoa… this has to be some kind of “New Mexico” thing! I first heard Mannheim Steamroller on the Rush Limbaugh show, too! That was a a long time ago… I remembered him describing the “weeping strings” on “O Holy Night” (a very accurate description!) and I was intrigued.

Start your collection with “A Fresh Aire Christmas” (the “blue” album)… I also have “Christmas Extraordinaire” (the “red” album) and I just bought “Christmas Celebration” (the “green” album).

I saw them back in April in El Paso for a concert that was NOT Christmas music, but still lovely… the place was sold-out and you should have heard the roar when they started playing “Deck the Halls” for their encore! They HAVE to bring a Christmas concert to our area some day!
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If they do and it’s in 'Burque you can stay with me and we can go together!
FickleFreckled said:
Off-topic, but a little trivia about Mannheim Steamroller. They’ve been around for years, just didn’t have a wide commercial audience. A great old lady in a used record shop introduced me to them in 1985; the albums came in “regular” and “audiophile” editions. The audiophile were more expensive and made to be played on higher-quality stereo equipment. Sound equipment dealers used their albums to demo stereo equipment. They did the soundtrack album for a (I think) PBS documentary on wildlife; some of the music is a hoot. They had a whole series of albums called Fresh Aire. If you haven’t heard any of their non-Christmas stuff, it’s wonderful. They’ve also produced really good stuff for other artists.
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Interesting, velly interesting! Somehow that does not surprise me.
 
KCtheMommy said:
Elvis, no really.

Dean Martin’s Christmas Album And Perry Como, too, with Perry’s version of the Confteor.

Oh and of course: The Ray Coniff Singers. Yay! Somebody else knows Ray Coniff!!!

OhOh and Chris Issak’s Christmas Album is great. Well that goes without sayin’ (and he is a CA boy, too, and went to UoP during DH’s last year.)

Bing Crosby (especially with Bowie on Little Drummer Boy) Yes, yes!!! OK, now you have to get orders to Great Lakes.
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And oh yes- Cherish The Ladies.
 
Lori – I would love Great Lakes – I was just thinking about that – but DH has a sea rotation prior to eligibility for DI. So maybe in 5 years or so?

Regarding Ray Coniff – everybody KNOWS Ray Coniff singers and their Christmas Music, they’ve heard it hundreds of times in stores, on the radio – they just haven’t put a name to it!

Check it Malia, Coniff is awesome for even the smallest of children!👍
 
KCtheMommy said:
Lori – I would love Great Lakes – I was just thinking about that – but DH has a sea rotation prior to eligibility for DI. So maybe in 5 years or so?

Regarding Ray Coniff – everybody KNOWS Ray Coniff singers and their Christmas Music, they’ve heard it hundreds of times in stores, on the radio – they just haven’t put a name to it!

Check it Malia, Coniff is awesome for even the smallest of children!👍
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All that soft “jing-a-ling, jing-a-ling, jing!” and harmonies.

Here, help yourself:

youtube.com/watch?v=HEXoROKrbTc&feature=related

youtube.com/watch?v=-6cLUK7dj-U&feature=related

youtube.com/watch?v=QE4_lQuwMhU
 
I like A Ceremony of Carols written by Benjamin Britten.

Maybe it’s because I spent way too many years working in a mall where the Christmas music started very early, but I find I can’t stand most of it. Celine Dion is a screamer, and Mariah Carey is worse. I do like Nat King Cole though. Our choir at church sings only the gender correct version of Chrismas carols - bah humbug!

So I mostly listen to Latin and very early Christmas music, like A Ceremony of Carols.
 
biblioassistant,
I love that. Have you heard Christmas with the Tallis Scholars?
 
Catholic90 said:
Anything by Transiberian Orchestra! Love it, love it, love it!😃

If you ever have a chance to see them in concert, GO. It is amazing!👍
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They are here next month. Hoping we can fit the $$$ into the budget.
 
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