Christmas Singles 2017 - The rundown
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My Son The Bum – Goodbye Psychotic Christmas
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| My Son The Bum - Goodbye Psychotic Christmas |
New Yorker My Son the Bum (aka
Brian Kroll) oft pops up in my inbox and it’s generally a delight. Kroll’s
festive offering, ‘Goodbye Psychotic Christmas’, isn’t anti-Christmas, per se,
but more against the commercialism and inherent one-upmanship of gift giving.
The lyric “I’ve been drowned by toys given to me by others to buy my love but I
knew it was all out of guilt” set to a classically 50’s sounding rock’n’roll
melody is just peachy and you can almost hear the New York snow piling up on
the window outside. Which is nice. Oh, there’s some lovely Brian Setzer-esque
guitar going on in there as well if that floats your boat.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/mysonthebum/
Paul Mosley & The Red Meat Orchestra - Wintertide
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| Paul Mosley - Wintertide |
Well, this is a bit of an epic
affair. At over five minutes long and accompanied by a video that is part Blue
Planet and part Live Aid, ‘Wintertide’ takes the ‘I saw three ships go sailing
by’ carol and then turns it in to an expansive piece with instrumentation
including everything from baritone sax and cello to a toy piano and ‘junk’
percussion (which frankly sounds painful from a male perspective). Needless to
say, the component parts come together beautifully to create a cinematically
gorgeous wintry tale that it’s hard not to get lost in. I’d encourage you to
let the ‘Wintertide’ wash over you but that sounds hugely irresponsible.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/paulmosleysongs/
Watch the Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXJ1_-GSyAk
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Wartoad – Merry Xmas Everybody
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| Wartoad - Merry Xmas Everybody |
Nothing says ‘British Christmas’
more than a two minute punk version of Slade’s festive classic ‘Merry Christmas
Everybody’ with an anti-government video. Ironically, most of Wartoad are from
the US but as a self-professed punk super group with a serious message about
the seemingly unstoppable automisation of the world I think their appeal is
global so I’m not going to get hung up on the details. Put this one up on your
wide screen TV and see if you can get the kids to stop live streaming their
lives on Instagram long enough to get the message.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/WartoadPunkBand/
Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmdKx08zaOQ
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Cherryade – Sleigh Me
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| Cherryade - Sleigh Me |
Londoners Cherryade have been
pumping out cheeky singles all year but this is the cherry on the icing on the
cake. ‘Sleigh Me’ is a full-frontal come-on to Santa to “fill my stocking
tonight”, “mince my pie” and “lick my Christmas tree”. Essentially, this is the
pissed up colleague at the Christmas office party walking around with mistletoe
attached to their body in various strategic locations. Not one to sing with
your Nan on Christmas Eve but if you can’t be a bit outrageous at Christmas
then what’s the point? It’ll all be forgotten in January anyway, right?
More information: https://www.facebook.com/cherryademusic/
Listen here: https://soundcloud.com/cherryademusic/sleigh-me
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Ghost Station – Christmas Telly
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| Ghost Station - Christmas Telly |
Ghost Station is actually
Chelmsford chap Matt Phillips and his effort ‘Christmas Telly’ is a solid
effort in the vein of the Beautiful South or Macca when he was trying to
convince us all that Linda was just as good at singing as she is at making fake
sausages. There’s brass, a bouncing melody, singalong lyrics and even some
sleigh bells so if you gave this to Peter Kay you might just have a Christmas
smash on your hands. It’s almost as if he was taking this seriously.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/officialGHSTN/
Watch the Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-NOhs6rokw&feature=youtu.be
Ralph McTell, Annie Lennox & the Crisis Choir – Streets of London
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| Ralph McTell & Co. - Streets of London |
Now, a warning. Whether you know
this song or not (and if you don’t, who are you and what planet did you come
from), get a box of tissues handy before you watch this. Ralph McTell is
rereleasing his finest musical moment in support of the fine work of Crisis and
their continued support of the homeless. Annie Lennox has added her
indisputable talents as well but it’s the power of the Crisis Choir and the
simple black and white miming of honest faces to camera that gets the tears
flowing. A beautiful song, a perfect video and a great charity that I wish with
all my heart didn’t exist. Not remotely Christmassy but then neither is being
homeless in December so get your hand in your pocket and get this song
downloaded. Now.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/crisis.homeless/
Download for 99p: https://ada.lnk.to/hgkbRAW
Watch the Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4OV54nb_Kw&feature=youtu.be
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Jeff Michaels & Chris Teffner – It’s Been a Long Time, Christmas
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| Jeff Michaels - It's Been a Long Time, Christmas |
If you’re looking for a dyed in
the wool, classic American Christmas song that feels both cold and warm then
this might be the one for you. Bostonite Jeff Michaels has a tradition of
bringing out Christmas songs apparently and this one, ‘It’s Been a Long Time,
Christmas’, is perfectly pitched for 2017. There’s sadness in the song but also
a recognition that, despite another year of mind-blowing disasters, cock-ups at
the highest level and Armageddon being a tweet away, if we can stop for a
minute and focus on the good things we might just survive. Definitely one to
wrap around your weary shoulders at the end of a long year because 2018 might
just be worse but we can’t give up now, change is just around the corner.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/jmichaelsrocks
Watch the Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeG5ziBrNto
Matt LeGrand – What Christmas Means to Me
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| Matt LeGrand - What Christmas Means to Me |
There are many things in this
world that I can put my hand on my heart and say I love. Three of them are
Christmas, Stevie Wonder and women (I’m not being weird, I just think women are
incredible in every sense). So, Matt LeGrand, you’ve gone to the top of the
naughty list for ruining all three. Firstly, Christmas should not feature an
ear-ringed tool with no tie fannying about at a grand piano. Secondly, I’m all
up for a cover-version at Christmas but if you’re going to take on Stevie’s classic
‘What Christmas Means to Me’ then do go all Michael Buble-lite on our asses.
Weak. Finally, if you must do a video with that
piano in it then why, for the love of Santa, do you have to get a girl to
writhe around inexplicably in her underwear? You couldn’t be bothered to shave,
put on a tie or wear socks so why on earth did you expect her to prance around
like that for you? A lump of coal and a UKIP fridge magnet for you, sir.
Nothing more.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/MattLeGrandMusic
Watch the Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5Ww0VSHjPs&feature=youtu.be
Devil Say Dance – Holy Trilogy of Christmas Songs
If Devil Say Dance was a 10 year
old kid, he’d be the one showing off throughout the nativity but with just
enough talent to make it enjoyable. You see, DSD has not recorded one Christmas
song but three – like the wise man, see? ‘The Nativity Song (Part 1)’ is
somewhere between the Divine Comedy and Badly Drawn Boy doing the nativity
story on the musical equipment found at your average British junior school.
‘The Nativity Song (Part 2)’ is a lo-fi indie-rap track that sounds like a lost
Bentley Rhythm Ace track that tries to capture the party spirit of a barn
conversion on the night Jesus was born as though it was a warehouse party in
East London in 1999. Finally, ‘Merry F**kin’ Christmas’ just goes for summing
up the average British Christmas with disappointment where wonder should be,
rain where snow should be and swearing where a children’s choir should be. Had
Flight of the Conchords produced this it would be going viral by now but, as it
is, you’ll probably be able to pick this up for 49p in B&M in January. And
February for that matter.
More
information: https://www.devilsaydance.com/
Listen here: https://soundcloud.com/williamskidz/