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Christmas Albums That You Spin? The Festive Season Ear Treats

The Reverend Horton Heat - We Three Kings - great album... hmm 'great' might be overegging the Christmas pudding a bit. Seasonal fun, say
 
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I've posted this previously at Christmas but this is a bolt-on classic - Decca – 444 824-2 2 x CD, 1995.

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@vince rocker

Not the cheapest c.d. I have ever bought o_O but I managed to find a copy on Discogs.

Thanks very much for that, I think it will become a regular Christmas spin.
 
This album is great. I bought it on vinyl some 30 years ago. No idea if it is still available though it is on Spotify

 
I'm fond of Lindstrøm's "Little Drummer Boy". I've had it for a very long time, but oddly it only got a proper release recently.

 
Wow, that is on its own.

Powerful stuff, but not something I can sing around our house with a Snowball on the go.
More like crying into a brandy in the wee small hours.

Emotional.



some detail

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus'_Blood_Never_Failed_Me_Yet


yes it certainly is, been playing it for around 30 years now, kids expect it.

a few years ago i met a french horn player and he played on version 2 which is 5mins plus longer than my original vinyl
 
Wow, that is on its own.

Powerful stuff, but not something I can sing around our house with a Snowball on the go.
More like crying into a brandy in the wee small hours.

Emotional.



some detail

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus'_Blood_Never_Failed_Me_Yet

Just avoid the one with Tom Waits singing a 'duet' with the old boy. It was well intentioned but it's like someone drawing specs on the Mona Lisa. Stick with the 1975 Obscure release.

The story of Gavin discovering the tape loop and the effect it had on the people who heard it is interesting too.

"In 1971, when I lived in London, I was working with a friend, Alan Power, on a film about people living rough in the area around Elephant and Castle and Waterloo Station. In the course of being filmed, some people broke into drunken song – sometimes bits of opera, sometimes sentimental ballads – and one, who in fact did not drink, sang a religious song "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet". This was not ultimately used in the film and I was given all the unused sections of tape, including this one. When I played it at home, I found that his singing was in tune with my piano, and I improvised a simple accompaniment. I noticed, too, that the first section of the song – 13 bars in length – formed an effective loop which repeated in a slightly unpredictable way (in the notes for the 1993 recording on Point, Bryars wrote that while the singer's pitch was quite accurate, his sense of tempo was irregular). I took the tape loop to Leicester, where I was working in the Fine Art Department, and copied the loop onto a continuous reel of tape, thinking about perhaps adding an orchestrated accompaniment to this. The door of the recording room opened on to one of the large painting studios and I left the tape copying, with the door open, while I went to have a cup of coffee. When I came back I found the normally lively room unnaturally subdued. People were moving about much more slowly than usual and a few were sitting alone, quietly weeping. I was puzzled until I realised that the tape was still playing and that they had been overcome by the old man's singing. This convinced me of the emotional power of the music and of the possibilities offered by adding a simple, though gradually evolving, orchestral accompaniment that respected the homeless man's nobility and simple faith. Although he died before he could hear what I had done with his singing, the piece remains as an eloquent, but understated testimony to his spirit and optimism."
 
@vince rocker

Not the cheapest c.d. I have ever bought o_O but I managed to find a copy on Discogs.

Thanks very much for that, I think it will become a regular Christmas spin.

I don't remember how much I paid for the vinyl in about 1980, but it was in a sale. Proper Jamaican copy with a sleeve made from cardboard rejected by a cornflake factory :) I was surprised when I saw the selling prices on Discogs!
 
I don't remember how much I paid for the vinyl in about 1980, but it was in a sale. Proper Jamaican copy with a sleeve made from cardboard rejected by a cornflake factory :) I was surprised when I saw the selling prices on Discogs!

Yes, it surprised me as well :eek:

At least if I get bored with it, I shouldn’t lose much if I sell it. I went for a c.d. 1994 release, of which there are none now for sale on Discogs.
 


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