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!