The song “Carol of the Bells,” with its elaborate musical progression, opens up a lot of options for arrangement. As such, while I love The Bird and the Bee’s version a lot, this year Pentatonix has released a version I also very much enjoy. Continue reading
In my introduction to the Christmas Present series, I panned Christina Perri’s attempt at covering Karen Carpenter’s “Merry Christmas Darling” for playing it too close to the original, but without having the vocal warmth of Carpenter. Fortunately, Perri’s “A Very Merry Perri Christmas” (ugh, the rhyme), released this year, has a gem of its own. Continue reading
One of the latest Christmas albums, released this year, comes from Cee Lo Green, who’s been a pretty creative force in music the past few years. A few of his tracks have been added to the “Christmas Present” playlist this year. Continue reading
OK, so here’s something completely crass, but it fits the “fun” element of the playlist: a song found on a number of Bob & Tom Show collections, where the song originated. Continue reading
Today I introduce some of my favorite tracks from what has proven to be my favorite Christmas album since I began my “Christmas Present” experiement: Relient K’s “Let it Snow… Let it Reindeer.” (Nice pun.) The Christian band makes Christmas music awfully fun. Continue reading
Myself, left, with Cupcakes, center, and Hank.
I realized pretty early on that I’m a big fan of live music. I got to attend some concerts as a middle and high schooler that was a big thrill for me. Not every one was a winner – at one show I saw in college, Vanessa Carlton started talking about armpit hair for an uncomfortable amount of time – but overall, live music was definitely a draw for me. Continue reading
If the rule of Christmas Present is most songs should be relatively current or by current artists, it’s only fair to allow a bit cheating by including artists that intentionally invoke a different era. Such is the case of The Puppini Sisters. Continue reading
In the introductory post, I mentioned that classics should lightly be sprinkled in. Of course, they don’t all have to be the obvious choices either, as today’s selection shows. Continue reading
Last year, Amazon had a 25 Days of Christmas program, where each day they posted a new song as free on the MP3 music service. They have revived the program, although it is structured a bit differently this year. Continue reading
For the inaugural Christmas Present pick, I turn to what I consider a quintessential example of the Christmas Present concept: The Bird and the Bee’s rendition of Carol of the Bells. Continue reading