My family room/listening room is a frickin'
wreck lately, so I'll post a photo in a few days.
Nor does it make it sound any better
I'm no Grinch, but some of this sappy-ass crap from "modern" pop singers is equally nauseating as the Hallmark channel "original movies" on cable from Thanksgiving through New Year's--you know--the ones that no one else would pay to make.
Read my mind there!
What's sad is that the two new Xmas releases I bought this year are largely overlooked by the so-called "experts" who program radio and satellite (that plays in retail environments), and many will not be able to hear them otherwise. On the other hand, that is a good thing.
I've called some of this newer dreck "A Crack Ho Christmas" or "A Sh!t-kicker Christmas," which bugs my better half.
(Or as my buddy once said to his wife about one of her favorite singers..."Oh, listen...it's Michael Bolton...
screaming 'Silent Night'!"
)
What is your least favorite Christmas song? Mine used to be "Little Drummer Boy" But now "Last Christmas" has me running for the station dial.
I agree. I really liked it when it was first released, but now it's been slaughtered by too many current artists, and the original is overplayed. Same with McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime." I first heard it several years ago (not much of a Macca fan, so I was unaware of it) and thought it was cool hearing something "new" (to me) that hadn't been played to death. Then radio and retail killed it, and it's a freakin' cliché.
I think what bothers me most is that the repertoire of Xmas "standards" is so narrow--there are maybe three or four dozen core songs, and
everyone has done them. Even the no-talent hacks I alluded to above. So I happen to gravitate towards the unusual, the underplayed and new recordings that contain mostly original tunes on them, and choose only the very best, or my favorites, among the standards.
My two new favorites this year were JD McPherson's
Socks, and
Hey! Merry Christmas by The Mavericks which is like a ten-track holiday party.
I also grabbed the Sharon Jones
It's A Holiday Soul Party and while I like her singing a lot, I found the Dap-Kings band didn't have much soul--kind of bland and lifeless IMHO. She deserved better.