Is anything more heartwarming than Maxmas music? Well, i suppose listening to Maxmas music while sipping soynog as your Honey rubs your feet with frankincense oil wearing nothing but a Santa hat...with a puppy asleep on your chest.
There was Maxmas music in there somewhere, right?
So here be your guide the very best Maxmas music i know! Aware of my own adorable biases, the first thing i've long screened for in a Maxmas album is the absence of religious falderal. Excellence, however, can trump bias.
I'll get the nog and the hat. You sit back.
A CHRISTMAS TOGETHER, John Denver & The Muppets
Who can explain the ineffable magic of transcendant chemistry? No one, otherwise it would be effable! Why was it that everything John and the Muppets did together went beyond normal Muppet greatness? We don't know, and we don't need to. This album is almost too good to use as holiday party music, as it's more entrancing than the average partygoer.
RUDOLF THE RED-NOSED REINDEER, Burl Ives
(music and lyrics by Johnny Marks)
Lifted straight from the soundtrack of the Rankin/Bass classic, with original versions plus full playouts of incidental versions. As magical as the film.
HOME FOR CHRISTMAS, Daryl Hall & John Oates
Released in limited quantities, years after the hits stopped coming. It's absolutely sublime. Arrangements that sparkle, vocals that entrance...the first note Daryl hits is perhaps the most singular first note of any album i know.
THE CHRISTMAS ALBUM, Neil Diamond
I can't imagine any album ever topping this one for dumbfounding brilliance in a staggering range of arrangements. Neil feels absolutely at home in each style, from blues to rock to choral to barbershop(!). It seems criminal to single out one track, but the original song "You Make It Feel Like Christmas" flies as high as the ones you already love.
HOLIDAY HARMONY, America
Another album released decades after the band's pop peak, this quiet delight lacks the flash of most great albums, but that's exactly what gives it strength. As Peter Griffin might say, it doesn't insist on itself. It's just richly layered harmonies sung by beautiful voices. Beckley and Bunnell mix new songs with classics, and nothing feels out of place. It will put you under its spell, rarely making you stop to say "Hey, this is really good".
IF EVERY DAY WAS LIKE CHRISTMAS, Elvis Presley
All hail the King. No, really.
SNOWED IN, Hanson
Yes.
I WANNA BE SANTA CLAUS, Ringo Starr
Know what you'd do if you could do anything, with no burden of expectation? You'd have fun, and your name would be Ringo. And the funny thing? He's occasionally brilliant. He lets rock n' joy fly on this one, so jump on the sleigh. It features the only song ever credited to Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starkey.
CHRISTMAS TIDINGS, Jim Prosser
THE CHRISTMAS ALBUM, V.2, Neil Diamond
I feared the "crappy sequel" syndrome, and wasn't entirely disappointed. Only about half the songs rise to the level of the first album. But do you have any idea how rare it is to have an album in which every other song is inspired? Neil adds jazz, swing, and reggae to his holiday bag.
JOY TO THE WORLD, Chuck Negron
Chuck, formerly of 70s uber-band Three Dog Night, released this in 1996. I approached it with trepidation, not sure how well Chuck could fly on his own, and noticing that the album had its share of god tunes. It also seemed like an invitation to cheesy badness to marry Three Dog Night's biggest hit, "Joy to the World", in a medley with the carol "Joy to the World". The first time i heard the album, it was as bad as i could have imagined. But the second time, it started falling into place. Chuck's voice has never sounded sweeter, and the production/arrangement is simply beautiful. The title track is a joy, and there's also a lovely medley of "When You Wish Upon a Star"/"A Place For Us".
Merry Maxmas, one and all.
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