(no subject)
So, you know the Christmas season has officially started when you can no longer leave the house without being bombarded with Christmas music. We're already a few weeks in, and I really just want to take a bazooka to every store speaker that I might possibly walk into. I want it all to be over. Now.
What makes me sad is that I love Christmas music. Love it. But I can't stand what I hear on the radio. I'm really a traditionalist at heart. You want to compose a new Christmas-themed song and sing it? Good for you. I'll be happy to listen to it, though I may or may not ever think of it again. But traditional carols? Man, I love traditional carols. "We Three Kings," "What Child is This," "The Holly and the Ivy," "Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella," "O Holy Night"... I could go on all night. But, see, I want to hear these songs sung traditionally. No frills, no trills, no reinterpretations. Just the song, sung to the traditional tune to the traditional beat. I don't want to hear your country version of "Come All Ye Faithful," I don't want to hear your pop/rock version of "Good King Wenceslas." Just sing the damned song the way it's been sung for god only knows how long.
I know that every big-name singer worth being referred to as big-name has to release at least one Christmas/winter themed album some time in their career, and it's going to include at least a couple of carols. And I know that these singers are obliged to put their own spin on the songs, or why bother doing it. They have to make their version distinctive, so if you hear it, you know who's singing it. Thing is, I don't want to know who's singing. I just want to hear the song.
Anyway, this year, I've decided to go on a scavenger hunt for really simple, bare-bones carols. Unsurprisingly, most of the versions I like best are by artists I've never heard of, and I (so far) don't have two songs by the same artist.
In years past, I've been in mourning for the my lost Mormon Tabernacle Choir album. It was actually an album -- y'know, a set of long-playing records. It was a collection that was offered for sale from Readers Digest or someone decades ago, and those particular recordings are no longer available anywhere, in any format. It was really my dad's, but he hadn't listened to any of his records in years when I claimed them. Anyway, that Tabernacle album was absolutely the best collection of Christmas carols I've ever encountered. I loved it. But, when I moved out, I didn't take it with me -- it's not like I had a record player, and I didn't have room to take my dad's. When I started looking for it a couple of years later... it was gone. All the records were gone. That was about three years ago, and I'm still bitter.
I'm hoping that this new mix I'm putting together will be almost as good, and I can just listen to it to cure me of my store-radio-induced headaches.
What makes me sad is that I love Christmas music. Love it. But I can't stand what I hear on the radio. I'm really a traditionalist at heart. You want to compose a new Christmas-themed song and sing it? Good for you. I'll be happy to listen to it, though I may or may not ever think of it again. But traditional carols? Man, I love traditional carols. "We Three Kings," "What Child is This," "The Holly and the Ivy," "Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella," "O Holy Night"... I could go on all night. But, see, I want to hear these songs sung traditionally. No frills, no trills, no reinterpretations. Just the song, sung to the traditional tune to the traditional beat. I don't want to hear your country version of "Come All Ye Faithful," I don't want to hear your pop/rock version of "Good King Wenceslas." Just sing the damned song the way it's been sung for god only knows how long.
I know that every big-name singer worth being referred to as big-name has to release at least one Christmas/winter themed album some time in their career, and it's going to include at least a couple of carols. And I know that these singers are obliged to put their own spin on the songs, or why bother doing it. They have to make their version distinctive, so if you hear it, you know who's singing it. Thing is, I don't want to know who's singing. I just want to hear the song.
Anyway, this year, I've decided to go on a scavenger hunt for really simple, bare-bones carols. Unsurprisingly, most of the versions I like best are by artists I've never heard of, and I (so far) don't have two songs by the same artist.
In years past, I've been in mourning for the my lost Mormon Tabernacle Choir album. It was actually an album -- y'know, a set of long-playing records. It was a collection that was offered for sale from Readers Digest or someone decades ago, and those particular recordings are no longer available anywhere, in any format. It was really my dad's, but he hadn't listened to any of his records in years when I claimed them. Anyway, that Tabernacle album was absolutely the best collection of Christmas carols I've ever encountered. I loved it. But, when I moved out, I didn't take it with me -- it's not like I had a record player, and I didn't have room to take my dad's. When I started looking for it a couple of years later... it was gone. All the records were gone. That was about three years ago, and I'm still bitter.
I'm hoping that this new mix I'm putting together will be almost as good, and I can just listen to it to cure me of my store-radio-induced headaches.