Christmas Music

The public's view on seasonal music tends to always be split right down the middle. Some eagerly await Black Friday's initiation of the holiday season, while others bury their radios until December 26th. I can't help but fall into this first camp. Maybe it's because I never worked in a chain store retailer, but I love Christmas music. Sure there have been a few cornballs in the past few decades, but the hokiness is part of the fun. Not to mention the fact that a lot of traditional Christmas songs are really good. A testament to the quality of traditional Christmas music can be found on Sufjan Stevens' Songs For Christmas (2006) boxset, which compiles five EP's Stevens had recorded each year for his friends and family since 2001. Of course hearing Stevens' gentle croon over jangly banjos and pianos doesn't hurt, but if you listen to the songs you will discover that he isn't straying very much from the formula. Songs like "What Child Is This?", "O Holy Night",  and "O Come O Come Emanuel" don't need modernization to make them interesting. Bright Eyes really breaks down some X-mas favorites to their essences on A Christmas Album (2002); some songs performed by just a single voice ("Away In A Manger" never sounded so tragic as it does on this record). One thing that Conor Oberst tackles that Sufjan doesn't, are songs written in the 20th century ("White Christmas", "Have Yourself A Merry Christmas") which again show off how these songs stand the test of time for simply being well written. A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector (the greatest Christmas album of all time), matches all the holiday pomp with timeless melodies as performed by an onslaught of some of the best pop vocalists the early 60's had to offer...and Bob B. Sox & The Blue Jeans.

It's these records that keep me coming back to Christmas every year with open arms. They butter me up for the season so well that I wouldn't care if I heard "Same Old Lang Syne" fifty more times before January.