Yules of the Game - North Pole Standards Time

As any one whose glanced over the track lists I've been posting has probably noticed - I have an affinity for the classic pop of yesteryear, these days commonly referred to as standards, and my Perfect Mix is absolutely going to reflect that. Because of this a number of my favorite Christmas albums are going to be entirely unrepresented in the candidates lists merely because they fall into the wrong genre.

There won't be much in the way of choral, classical, pure jazz, new age, celtic, traditional folk, album oriented rock, indie or altrock, blues or country & western. Many of my favorite tracks in these genres will end up on the themed compilations that I'm preparing concurrently with TPM but, despite my love, they won't make the final cut.

Besides my own personal passion for standards I feel they belong at the heart of any purportedly "Perfect" holiday mix because they truly are a vital part of the quintessential Christmas experience. The Perfect Mix is the one you put on when your closest family and friends come over to help trim the tree, it's an eighty minute audio distillation of everything that makes the holiday joyful. It should resonate with the young and the old, the hip and the square. These holiday standards, I believe, accomplish this like no other music can.

Naturally The Perfect Mix isn't always going to be "The" Perfect Mix. For a quiet dinner among friends you might want a nice selection of jazz or contemporary instrumental fare. Old friends from high school stopping by might lead you to break out the Rock and Roll. If the kids have their pals over it's time for Santa, Rudolph, Frosty and the Grinch.

While I was debating the shaky wisdom of starting this whole mix blog thingy I realized that I already had plenty of excellent, essentially "perfect", options for those times when a jazzy mix felt right, or a contemplative selection of New Age was called for. New Wave, Cajun, Blues,Country, Folk, Novelty. I have lots of terrific options on commercial releases that satisfy any jones I may have for different styles of festive tunage.What I hadn't found, despite spending far too much on pre-fab compilations and collecting dozens of mixes made by friends and family over the years, was my Perfect mix of songs.

Okay, that was just way too many words to use to simple explain why even though I love a lot of different styles of Christmas music I'll be concentrating on those songs that either are holiday "standards" or can play nicely with them. Sorry.