Nearly Perfect? : Christmas Hits (2007)

Here's a new series of posts to try and rekindle my enthusiasm for (Dinsdale) Kringle's Folly. I'll grab tracklists from various commercially available Christmas compilations and give them a quick once over to see if there's really been any point at all in trying to make a Perfect Mix. Has my Perfect Compilation been out there all along? We'll see...

We start with Christmas Hits (2007) A 4 disc set, though since the fourth CD is made up of traditional carols I'll skip it.

Titles in bold indicate songs I'd consider for Heavy rotation during the holidays. Normal text indicates a perfectly good tune but not a particular favorite of mine and grayed out means I'd rather give it a miss - though it may not be because the song is rotten but because it's not what I consider a "real" Christmas song or has mere novelty value. Spelling mistakes courtesy of source. (I'm just a cuttin' and a pastin' here)

CD1

01 Andy Williams - Its The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
02 The Pouges Feat. Kristy Mccol - Fairytale Of New York
03 Pretenders - 2000 Miles
04 Shakin Stevens - Merry Christmas Everyone
05 Chris Rea - Driving Home For Christmas
06 Jona Lewie - Stop The Cavalry
07 Robson And Jerome - I Believe
08 Cyndi Lauper - Early Christmas Morning
09 Gloria Estefan - Love On Layaway
10 Charlotte Church - Dream A Dream
11 Steps - Merry X-Mas Everybody
12 Bo Selecta - Proper Crimbo
13 The Darkness - Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End)
14 Eva Cassidy - Over The Rainbow
15 Sarah Mclachlan - Wintersong
16 Johnny Cash - The Little Drummer Boy
17 Frank Sinatra - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
18 T - Rex-Christmas Bop
19 Boney M - Marys Boy Child Oh My Lord

12/19 songs that I could see having on one of my comps with only one all time real classic plus a few modern ones. Take out the non-truly-Christmas songs and the novelty track and it's a pretty good selection.

CD2

01 Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You
02 Christina Aguilera - The Christmas Song
03 Luther Vandross - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
04 Cliff Richard - The Millennium Prayer
05 Michael Bolton - White Christmas
06 Dido - Christmas Day
07 Nsync - I Don't Wanna Spend One More Christmas Without You
08 Britney Spears - My Only Wish (This Year)
09 Toni Braxton - Holiday Celebrate
10 Backstreet Boys - Christmas Time
11 Air Supply - Sleigh Ride
12 Spike Jones And His City Slickers - All I Want For Christmas
13 Jackie Wilson - Deck The Halls
14 G4 - Silent 0
15 Natalie Cole - Jingle Bells
16 Linda Ronstadt - When You Wish Upon A Star
17 Brenda Lee - Rockin Around The Christmas Tree
18 Shakin Stevens - Blue Christmas
19 The Wombles - Wombling Merry Christmas
20 East 17 - Stay Another Day

6/20 and that's being kind


CD3

01 Wham! - Last Christmas
02 Westlife - I Have A Dream
03 Il Divo - O Holy Night
04 Angelis - Pie Jesu
05 Elvis Presley - Merry Christmas Baby
06 Frank Sinatra - Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow
07 Eartha Kitt - Santa Baby
08 Aretha Franklin - Joy To The World
09 Gladys Knight And The Pips - Do You Hear What I Hear
10 Tony Bennett - Winter Wonderland
11 Doris Day - Ill Be Home For Christmas
12 The Edwin Hawkins Singers - Oh Happy Day
13 Mario Lanza - O Christmas Tree
14 Gay Gordon - Auld Lang Syne
15 Harry Belafonte - Marys Boy Child
16 Al Green - What Christmas Means To Me
17 Peter Auty - Walking In The Air
18 Johnny Mathis - When A Child Is Born
19 Frankie Goes To Hollywood - The Power Of Love

14/19 a nice recovery with very little chaff though, once again, light on actual classic tunes.

So, not the worst selection I've ever seen but also not one that I'd want to be trapped on a deserted island with either.Especially that second disc.