Christmas Music

Dean Martin "making spirits bright"

I like the Mercury Living Presence LP "The Nutcracker" by Antal Dorati and the Minneapolis Symphony.

Christmas Time with the Judd's, superb on tubed amps.

"Meowy Christmas" by the Jingle Cats.

Charlie; don't know if it's still available, but we've used Anne Murray's "Christmas Wishes" CD on Christmas Eve for about 10 years or so. It's become our traditional Christmas music favorite. Cheers. Craig

"Acoustic Carols for Christmas" by St. Agnes Fountain (David Hughes, Chris Leslie, Julie Matthews, Chris While). Superb performances and exceptional sound quality- true audiophile nirvana. Available thru The Folk Corporation.

The Rat Pack Christmas CD is very enjoyable. If you like bluegrass music, Patty Loveless "Bluegrass & White Snow" is also nice.

Charlie:

We play R&B/Disco for X-Mas. The only real exception is a version of the "Nutcracker Suite" performed on mandolins.

Nothing like listening to "The Hustle" on X-Day (@ least in a Methodist/Jewish household:-).

I listen to the real X-Mas music whenever the mood hits, but usually not during the holiday itself.

Any day can be a holiday if you don't force it.

PS: I recently picked an R&B compilation by Rhino Records that sounds great (better than the same cuts on LP's).

Don't know how they got the old recordings to sound so good, but could go for more of these if they were produced in the same manner.

Oh, and the "Nutcracker Suite" is performed by The Modern Mandolin Quartet and is not as wierd as it would seem to be (it's a very nice version).

Handel's "Messiah"
Sir Malcolm Sargent
Royal Phil. Orch.
Chesky Records
CD106

Bob Rivers Twisted Radio
"I Am Santa Claus"
Atlantic
82548-2

A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector
Phil Spector Records
D2-4005

Santamental Journey
Pop Vocal Christmas Classics
(Various Artists)
Rhino
R2-72175

Jewel has a pretty nice Christmas cd. Vince Gil as well does a good rendition.

I love "Star of Wonder" by San Francisco Choral Artists (Reference Recordings)

I like: HANDEL: MESSIAH---THE ENGLISH CONCERT/PINNOCK
A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS---VINCE GUARLDI TRIO
CRESCENT CITY CHRISTMAS CARD--WYNTON MARSALIS
(this might not be exactly Christmas but it Holiday music)
Holidays & Epiphanies---DALLAS WIND SYMPHONY

My favorite is Jill Sobule's "Merry Christmas From The Family". Need to get it off KaZaa as it's not on her albums. And get a can of fake snow from the Stop N' Go while you're out.

I have to say I am quite impressed with Jim Brickman's CD "The Gift". As it is a HDCD, it sounds great (on my HDCD CDP).

Mattybumpkin

A couple of great recordings that are wonderful to hear and really bring out everything in your system are 1) Holly Cole, "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (2001 Alert Music 6152810382) and 2) David Benoit, "Christmastime" (1983 AVI Record Productions R279161). Honest to goodness, these are good enough to be reference recordings to use while analyzing components. Plus, and more importantly, they are a great listen.

Many of the Narada Christmas Collection cds are also quite good (e.g., 1988 Narada Productions "Narada Christmas Collection" ND-63902 and the 1992 "Volume 2" ND-63909).

Kenny Rankin's "A Christmas Album" is wonderful. Great performance and a warm, rich recording.