Perfect Candidates Week 4

Here we are at week four and we're close to hitting the 100 track mark. Only 75 or 80 more than the final compilation will allow and I haven't hit my actual CD collection yet. Next week I'll make a few tough decisions and knock a few contenders off the list.

Until then here's this week's additions...

1. A Merry Christmas At Grandmother's - The Andrew Sisters with Danny Kaye
2. Christmas Chopsticks - Andre Kostelanetz And His Orchestra
3. Do You Hear What I Hear - The Gamble Folk
4. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen - Ray Conniff
5. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - George Shearing Quintet
6. Holiday For Bells - Bert Kaempfert
7. I'll Be Home For Christmas - Doris Day
8. It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas - Bing Crosby
9. Jingle Bells - Frank Sinatra
10. Last Christmas - Pas/Cal
11. Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer - Dean Martin
12. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town - The Partridge Family
13. Snowfall - Enoch Light
14. The Christmas Waltz - Frank Sinatra
15. The Twelve Days Of Christmas - Andrews Sisters w/ Bing Crosby
16. What Child Is This - Julie Andrews
17. Winter Wonderland - The Peter Wood Singers

Surprises :

Last Christmas - one of my least favorite modern pop Christmas tunes and yet there's something about this version...

Do You Hear What I Hear - The Gamble Folk - the more I hear it the more I like it. It will certainly make one of my personal mixes in 2008 - the Perfect Mix may be a long shot though.

Here are some of the albums I went through to find this week's selection (in no particular order, besides alphabetical)...

Countryside Unitarian Fellowship - Hey Jesus Christ Welcome to This World
Elvis Presley - Elvis' Christmas Album / The Wonderful World of Christmas
Frankie Ford - Christmas
Joe Wise - He Has Come
Lawrence Welk's Little Band - Merry Christmas
Neil Sedaka- The Miracle Of Christmas
Reflection - Nativity
The Andrews Sisters- Christmas
The Gamble Folk - Christmas Boy
The Joyful Noise - Nativity
Various Artists - Carols and Candlelight - Great Songs of Christmas - Goodyear 14
Various Artists - Christmas Pizza
Various Artists - Santa Claus Comes

Many of this week's albums (including The Gamble Folk and The Joyful Noise) came from the wonderful and highly recommended sharity site Heavenly Grooves

Moonlight in Vermont

Time for another poll...

With only three brief lines alluding to winter, and none mentioning Christmas specifically, should the John Blackburn & Karl Suessdorf penned standard "Moonlight in Vermont" be considered a Christmas song?

While not turning up nearly as often as "My Favorite Things" (don't forget to vote on MFT in the poll in the sidebar) "Moonlight in Vermont" does pop up now and then and there are some lovely performances out there.

Vote now in the poll over there on the sidebar and let us know what you think!

• Wikipedia: Moonlight in Vermont
• Moonlight in Vermont Lyrics

Perfect Candidates Week 3

It's been a quiet week here at TPCM. I've added a few more candidates for the final compilation plus I've been fleshing out some of the other themed comps I'm putting together as well.

With so many nearly perfect songs having no chance at making the ultimate disc it just makes sense to branch out and start working in The Perfect Santa Mix, The Perfect Christmas Romance and The Perfect Post-Modern Christmas ( and so on... names and themes subject to change blah blah blah).So, if your favorite doesn't land on the main comp. it'll more than likely show up somewhere.

Here are the new additions to The Perfect Christmas Mix candidate pool...

1. Christmas Time in Louisiana - Johnnie Allan
2. Christmas in Killarney - Bing Crosby
3. Close Your Mouth (It's Christmas) - The Free Design
4. Frosty The Snowman - Jimmy Durante
5. It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Johnny Mathis
6. Jingo Jango - Bert Kaempfert And His Orchestra
7. Little Saint Nick - The Beach Boys
8. Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming - Feist
9. Merry X-Mas Everybody - Slade
10. One Little Christmas Tree - Stevie Wonder
11. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town - The Ralph Hunter Choir
12. Skating - Vince Guaraldi Trio
13. The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole
14. Ring Christmas Bells/The First Noel/Jolly Old St. Nicholas - Frank DeVol & The Rainbow Strings

Surprises - Feist maybe, Slade perhaps.

No brainers - the Mathis, Beach Boys, and Guaraldi tracks, and of course the definitive "Christmas Song" performance from Nat King Cole.

And here's the (compilation heavy) pool these, and quite a few others that will end up the sub-comps, came from ...

The New England Christmastide Musicians - A Very Special Season
The Ralph Hunter Choir - Christmas Surprises From The Ralph Hunter Choir
Frank DeVol & The Rainbow Strings - The Old Sweet Songs Of Christmas
VA - Santology 06

OST - Santa Claus Conquers The Martians
The Lutheran Hour Choir - Christmas Carols
The Longines Symphonette Society - Shell's Wonderful World of Music - Special
Christmas Edition
Marc Haney - Let Us Go To Bethlehem
VA - The Leather Canary Christmas Mixes 1-7
VA - Deacon Blues Christmas Mixes 1-3
VA - Ginger Cookie Disco Christmas Mix 2007

The Joystrings - Well Seasoned

The Yules of the Game

Every now and again I'll post some of the basic criteria i use when selecting songs for TPCM - and my Christmas listening enjoyment in general.

Today's Yule of the Game:

This is a Christmas party. Let's keep the dying to a minimum please.

Holiday songs featuring dead or dying loved ones don't generally give me that special warm and fuzzy holiday feeling. The last thing I want to hear while the egg nog's being served is The Christmas Shoes or Another Lonely Christmas. Yes, I know death is a fact of life - even during the holidays - but so is a nasty case of the plops and i have no interest in listening to songs about that either*.

I'm not saying that all songs that bring death to the holidays are necessarily bad songs - just that I'm not putting them on the Hi-fi during the tree trimming party.

There are some exceptions no doubt and obviously some hymns and carols dealing with Christ's life will touch upon his death and resurrection. Are there any mortality related tunes that you feel deserve a chance to be part of TPCM?

* I do, however, reserve the right to include the occasional fart based Christmas song - as long as it's done with good taste.

Perfect Candidates - Week 2

Welcome to week two of my quest to create the Perfect Christmas Mix. The more music I listen to and the more songs I add to the list of contenders the clearer it becomes that this project won't be able to be confined to a single one disc compilation. Along with the songs I'm considering for the "Perfect" I'm also saving tunes for consideration for at least three other themed compilations. I'll have more details about these other mixes later on.

This week adds two version of Twas the Night Before Christmas and a decided underdog in the race to represent The Little Drummer boy. This is also the week that a few standards in their definitive versions made the list - Crosby, Sinatra, Elvis, Cuomo, Ives - it's pretty clear most of these are going to be favorites for the final track list.

More controversially I've added a version of My Favorite Things. It's Herb Alpert's take on the Sound of Music chestnut but the real question is - Is My Favorite Things even a Christmas Song. It certainly shows up on a lot of Christmas albums and that alone has worked to make it feel Chrismassy but if you were compiling a Perfect Mix would you feel it Christmassy enough?

I've added a poll over there in the side bar where you can vote for or against My Favorite Things as an "official" Christmas Song. For more debate see this 2006 thread at Falalalala and this more recent one. I have a few more borderline tunes that we'll put to the yuletide test as the months roll on.

Here's this week's list of contenders for The Perfect Christmas List...

1. A Holly Jolly Christmas - Burl Ives
2. A Very Merry Christmas - Cliff Edwards
3. Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley
4. Christmas Carols - Lawrence Welk & His Champagne Music
5. Christmas City - Merv Griffin
6. Christmas Is - Lou Rawls
7. Christmas Love - The Rotary Connection
8. Christmas Rush - Vincent Lopez
9. Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal) - Vince Guaraldi Trio
10. Deck The Halls With Boughs Of Holly/Wassail Song - Hugo Winterhalter
11. I'll Be Home for Christmas - Frank Sinatra
12. It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas - Perry Cuomo
13. Jingle Bells/Mele Kalikimaka - Alfred Apaka And The Hawaiian Village Serenaders
14. Mistletoe And Wine - Cliff Richard
15. My Favorite Things - Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass
16. Noite Santa, Silenciosa - Guimaraes e Seu Conjunto
17. Step Into Christmas - Elton John
18. Thanks For Christmas - XTC
19. The Little Drummer Boy - The Longines Symphonette Society
20. Twas The Night Before Christmas - Fred Waring
21. Twas The Night Before Christmas - Jo Stafford
22. White Christmas - Bing Crosby

Here's last week's selection.

Whew! Nearly 50 songs and it's not eve the middle of January!

Surprises? Christmas Love by the Rotary Connection and the second Little Drummer Boy. I can't imagine the Longines version beating out the classic Harry Simone but you never know...

Underdogs? The Longnes Drummer Boy I suppose. At Least one of the Twas's.

And here's a partial list (homemade compilations and a couple of dozen singles excluded) of the stuff I listened to in order to come up with the above ( in vaguely descending order of perfection) ...

Al Goodman & His Orchestra - A Christmas Symphony
MY(P)WHAE - Merry Mervmas
The Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra - The Music of Christmas
Vincent Lopez - Christmas Songs
Alfred Apaka - Christmas At The Hawaiian Village

Sinatra & Crosby Christmas Special
Lawrence Welk - Jingle Bells
Roger Williams - Christmas Time
Emmy Rossum - Carol Of The Bells
Harry Simeone Chorale - Best Loved Christmas Carols
Eric Rigler - Traditional Celtic Christmas
Hugo Winterhalter And His Orchestra And Chorus - Christmas Magic
Marie Osmond - Magic Of Christmas
Guimaraes e Seu Conjunto - Dancando com o Papai Noel
MY(P)WHAE - Merry Shellacmas
Sears Golden Strings - White Christmas
VA - A Celtic Christmas (Saydisc)
The Longines Symphonette Society - Shell's Wonderful World of Music - Special Christmas Edition

VA - Billboard's Top Christmas Hymns
VA - Natal no Brasil Vol.1, Vol.2
VA - Christmas Favorites (Current Hits 22)
Demis Roussos - Christmas
Music City Singers - Favorite Songs of Christmas
I Heart Lung - I Heart Christmas
The Osmond Brothers - We Sing You A Merry Christmas
A Band Called Quinn - Christmas E.P.

...and a random Christmas image to make things look a tad more festive around here...

Making the List - Week One

Here's the very first round of albums and songs up for inclusion in the mix. I've decided to start with the Christmas music that's on my computer right now. These are Rhapsody and iTunes purchases, CD Rips from my collection and sharity downloads I've amassed over the last couple of weeks of the holiday season. Once I've cleared my hard drive I'll move on to the myriad tapes and discs I've accumulated over the years.

I've made a conscious decision not to begin with a pre-selected core of obvious must be included standards. While I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see Bing Crosby's White Christmas or Nat King Cole's The Christmas Song on the final disc I will make this token attempt at keeping an open mind and giving other performances a fair chance.

Right out of the gate you'll get a good idea of my taste and inherent biases. I'm not a huge Country Music fan. I don't hate it, or even particularly dislike it - I simply don't seem to choose it to listen to very often. One of the albums I listened to this week was a compilation of perfectly good country tunes from the likes of Willie Nelson, Porter Waggoner, Roy Clarke, Loretta Lynn and Waylon Jennings. If I were doing a country themed mix half this comp. would have made the cut but none of them realistically had a chance for my ultimate selection. So, instead of throwing a few into the mix just to suck up to C&W fans, I'm just going to remind everyone that through this whole process Your Mileage May Vary, don't take any of my selections as a personal affront to your own taste in music.

This also leads to the reason it's taken more than 30 years for me to tackle a Single Perfect Mix. There is so much fine music out there that I always find myself breaking down and making themed mixes. I'm going to try to stay true to my vision of one perfect CD but we'll see if I can resist the urge to create the Perfect Set of Christmas Mixes.

Here's the first, of many, list of songs currently in the running for The Perfect Mix...

1. A Spaceman Came Traveling - Chris De Burgh
2. Bossa Nova Medley - Living Strings & Living Voices
3. Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses
4. Cool Yule - Louis Armstrong
5. Ding Dong! Merrily on High - The King's Singers
6. Early Christmas Morning - Cyndi Lauper
7. Happy New Year - The Glad Singers
8. Good King Wencelas - Morton Gould
9. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland
10. Jingle Bells - The Organ Orchestra
11. Merry Christmas Darling - Carpenters
12. Merry Merry Christmas Baby -Dodie Stevens
13. O Little Town Of Bethlehem - Domenico Savino And His Orchestra
14. Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer- The Organ Orchestra
15. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Bing Crosby
16. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Jimmy McGriff
17. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - The Jackson 5
18. See Amid the Winter Snow - Julie Andrews
19. Sleigh Ride - Arthur Fiedler
20. The First Noel - Domenico Savino And His Orchestra
21. The Little Drummer Boy - Harry Simeone Chorale
22. The Man with the Bag - Kay Starr
23. The Man with the Bag - Vonda Shepard
24. The Sleigh - Hugo & Luigi with Their Children's Chorus
25. We Need A Little Christmas - The New Christy Minstrels
26. What Will Santa Claus Say - Mark Shane Xmas All-Stars

As you can see this is going to be tricky. I already have nearly a full disc's worth and we've got a long way to go. Eventually the duplicates will be weeded out but there are still a lot of songs on this list that won't be here in December. I'm guessing there are no more than three or four that are near dead certs. And yes I can also tell which songs will be the first for the chop - but I did want to give them their brief time in the sun.

Surprises - Cyndi Lauper making the list - I didn't realize just how much I liked her entry - two tracks from The Organ Orchestra - two versions of The Man with the Bag.

The urge to make this a multi-disc set is strong and I've already started farming out some of the also rans to potential sub-compilations.

Here's a partial list of the more than fifty albums and compilations (plus assorted singles) I went through this week to get the above songs (grouped in descending order of likelihood to be played next Christmas at Casa SWO)...

Mark Shane - What Would Santa Say
Paul Mickelson - The Best Of Christmas
The Organ Orchestra - That Happy Christmas Feeling
The Ukulele Orchestra
Domenico Savino And His Orchestra

VA - A Good Old Country Christmas
David Rose - A Merry Christmas to You
VA - Christmastime In Carol And Song
Hugo Winterhalter-Blue/White Christmas
VA - Hear Something Country Christmas
Amahl and the Night Visitors 1963 NBC Production
The Sound Of Children At Christmas - Hugo & Luigi with Their Children's Chorus
VA - Seriously Westcoast Vol. 2
Pokemon - Christmas Bash (this is my son's pick of the week)
Rocki Lane & The Gross Group
VA - Happy Christmas 1,2,3
VA - The Folkphile Christmas Collection 1-15


Christmas Carols By The Lighthouse Singers
VA - Singing in this Christmas
Agnetha Falstkog & Linda Ulvaeus - Nu Tandas Tusen Juleljus
Music City Chorale And Orchestra
Songs Of Christmas By The General Motors Chorus
A Christmas Party For Children - Modern Sound
Luis Gomez Mexican Brass - Christmas Tijuana Style
Flash Cadillac - Ghost of Christmas Past
VA - I Love My Doo Wop Christmas Vol 1,2,3
Bill Doggett - Around The Christmas Tree

Big Love Hospital
VA - Santa Sings
VA - Elephant Hug Christmas

I'll let the list grow over the next few weeks and then the polls come out!

Christmas in January?

If you thought Christmas in July was extreme get ready for Christmas in January... and February and March and so on and so on...

I've been putting together holiday mixes since I was a kid holding a tape recorder up to a radio speaker and editing with the pause button. I've done mix tapes, mix CD's, Mix DVD's, podcasts, online compilations and a Christmas station on Live 365 but I've never put together my Ultimate Christmas Mix. Until now.

Over the next 12 months I'll be reviewing every album, tape, CD, DVD and download in my crimbo collection and picking out the very best songs and performances. By December I hope to have my perfect Christmas mix ready to go. Between now and then I'll be sharing the process through this blog. I'll let you know what I've listened to and what tracks have made the grade and moved on to the list of nominees from which I'll choose the eventual 80 or so minutes of music that will be my perfect mix-CD. Along the way I'll be asking for your help and input as well - there will be polls where you can vote when I'm undecided on what songs are worthy and I'll beg for your recommendations and personal lists of favorite Christmas tunes.

Though the blog is called The Perfect Christmas Mix it's really just My Perfect Christmas Mix. Over the next 12 months we'll see if it comes close to being Your Perfect Mix as well.