Desert Island Discs

[JayIsh]

When I was a kid, WNEW radio in NYC had a thing they did called "Desert Island Discs" where you had to choose what would be the three discs you'd bring if you were to be trapped on a desert Island... If you could only bring Christmas Albums, What would yours be???

Mine would be:
Kenny Loggins "December"
Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton "Once Upon a Christmas"
Ray Charles "The Sprit of Christmas"

And if I were to be tortured on said island, they would play non-stop loops of "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" and "Domenick, the Italian Christmas Donkey."

Sorry to any fans of those songs but they drive me NUTS...And I don't need the help!!!

jay

I've edited this post in homage to Domenick...Since I respect him so much, I'm going back to listen to the song again and will reserve my judgement until after that time...

[Jeff Westover]

Domenick the Donkey? Hmm. Neverheardofit.

Only three? Sheesh. That's cruel.

My three must haves:

1. Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass Christmas Album (1968 )
2. Sing, Choirs of Angels -- Mormon Tabernacle Choir (2004)
3. White Christmas -- Bing Crosby (1992 release of work from 40s & 50s)

Three torture devices of cruel and unusual punishment:

1. Anything from Barbra Streisand
2. "Santa Baby" sung by any guy
3. Smash Mouth & Rosie O'Donnell singing "Jingle Bells"

This is a really good topic, Jay. We should have a poll for the worst of Christmas songs out there. There's a lot of really bad stuff out there.

[dominick]

It's Dominick, The Italian Christmas Donkey by Lou Monte. I like the song, my user ID is an homage to it. I'm in total agreement about Grandma, though.

As per the three albums, I couldn't pick them if I wanted. Way too hard.

[JayIsh]

Hmm...Herb Alpert...The last time I checked into that album, it was out of print...But there were plans to re-release it...I LOVE his "Whipped Cream and Other Delights" album...In fact, for years my favorite band was Chicago...And I think I really loved them because of all of the Herb Alpert and Al Hirt my parents played when I was a kid!!! I just love those horns!!! I played Clarinet for about twenty minutes in Junior High and High School...I guess I was fair back then but I haven't done it in years...I'm taking Piano lessons now...And struggling through them...Gotta practice...practice...practice...

Hey Jeff...Is your "love" of Barbra due to her singing or choice of songs? Or because she can't keep her mouth shut about politics etc.??? I believe that if any of the entertainers want to use there status to voice opinions than each member of the audience should have the opportunity to voice theirs as well...What comes to mind where Barbra is concerned is..."SHUT UP AND SING!!!"

jay

[RadioJonD]

This one's tough, Jay. Of my own collection of commercially available Christmas CDs, if I was stuck on a deserted island with four out of five dentists, we would be jammin' to these:

1- Where Will You Be Christmas Day? - 24 Recordings from 1917 to 1959
http://dust-digital.com/christmas.htm - with links to audio samples!

01. Vera Hall Ward "The Last Month of the Year"
02. Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers "Christ Was Born on Christmas Morn"
03. Lead Belly "Christmas Is A-Coming"
04. Lord Executor "Christmas Is a Joyful Day"
05. Pawlo Humeniuk "Dance under the Willows (Tanec Pid Werbamy)"
06. Los Jibaros "Décimas de Nacimiento"
07. Pasquale Feis "Tu Scende Dalle Stelle (Pastorale di Natale)"
08. Buell Kazee "Lady Gay"
09. Alabama Sacred Harp Singers "Sherburne"
10. Kelly Pace, Aaron Brown, Joe Green, Matthew Johnson and Paul Hayes "Holy Babe"
11. Rev. J. M. Gates "He Was Born in a Manger"
12. Rev. Edward W. Clayborn (The Guitar Evangelist) "The Wrong Way to Celebrate Christmas"
13. Walter Davis "Santa Claus"
14. McKinney's Cotton Pickers "Gee, Ain't I Good to You"
15. Bessie Smith "At the Christmas Ball"
16. Butterbeans and Susie "Papa Ain't No Santa Claus (Mama Ain't No Christmas Tree)"
17. Kansas City Kitty "Christmas Morning Blues"
18. Leroy Carr "Christmas in Jail—Ain't That a Pain?"
19. Lord Beginner "Christmas Morning the Rum Had Me Yawning"
20. Fiddlin' John Carson and His Virginia Reelers "Christmas Time Will Soon Be Over"
21. Norman Edmonds "Breaking Up Christmas"
22. Mary Harris "Happy New Year Blues"
23. Lightnin' Hopkins "Happy New Year"
24. Maddox Brothers and Rose "Jingle Bells"


2- Christmas Cocktails, part one (part of Capitols Records' Ultra Lounge Series)
http://www.randysrodeo.com/christmas/various/ultra-lounge.php
http://www.ultralounge.com/

01. Cha-Cha All The Way (Capitol Studio Orchestra, 1958)
02. Christmas Is (Lou Rawls, 1967)
03. Christmas Kisses (Ray Anthony, 1961)
04. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) (Nat King Cole, 1961)
05. (Everybody's Waitin' For) The Man With The Bag (Kay Starr, 1950)
06. Holiday On Skis (Caiola & Ortolani, 1967)
07. I'd Like You For Christmas (Julie London, 1957)
08. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm (Dean Martin, 1959)
09. The Nutcracker Suite (Les Brown & His Band Of Renown, 1957)
10. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo (Billy May, 1953)
11. What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? (Nancy Wilson, 1963)
12. Winter Wonderland (Peggy Lee, 1965)

3- Blues, Mistletoe, & Santa's Little Helper
http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,224445,00.html

01. Santa, Don't Let Me Down - Earl King
02. Grady and Santa Is Coming to Town - Grady Gaines & The Texas Upsetters
03. No More Pretty Presents - Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers
04. Good King Wenceslas - Marc Wilson & Mark "Kaz" Kazanoff
05. Sam's Christmas Blues - Anson Funderburg & The Rockets featuring Sam Myers
06. Sleigh Ride - Rick Holmstrom
07. Sandy Claw Stole My Woman - Bobby Parker
08. Christmas by the Bar-B-Que - Lynn August
09. Christmas in Paradise - Mike Morgan & The Crawl
10. Lonesome Christmas - Anson Funderburg & The Rockets featuring Sam Myers
11. Blue Christmas - Mark "Kaz" Kazanoff & The Well-Hung Ornaments
12. Joe's Christmas Salutations - Big Joe & The Dynaflows
13. Young Girls Drive Me Wild (At Christmas) - Anson Funderburg & The Rockets featuring Sam Myers
14. Wouldn't It Be a Merry Christmas? - Robert Ward
15. Santa! Don't Pass Me By - Bill Kirchen

[dvdguy]

[QUOTE=Jeff Westover;35824]Domenick the Donkey? Hmm. Neverheardofit.


Three torture devices of cruel and unusual punishment:

1. Anything from Barbra Streisand
2. "Santa Baby" sung by any guy
3. Smash Mouth & Rosie O'Donnell singing "Jingle Bells"



Smash mouth & Rosie? Oh my!

[JayIsh]

Nuttin' says Christmas like Smashmouth...You can take yer Bing Crosby, yer Dean Matin, Yer Perry Como and keep 'em...I'll take da friggin' Smashmouth anyday...

This message was brought to you by the New Jersey council for the Arts...

[Jeff Westover]

Hmm...Herb Alpert...The last time I checked into that album, it was out of print...But there were plans to re-release it...I LOVE his "Whipped Cream and Other Delights" album...

They re-released it a few years back. You can get it on ebay for about $15. The Whipped Cream album was a classic...but was it for the music or for the cover? Hmmm.

In fact, for years my favorite band was Chicago...And I think I really loved them because of all of the Herb Alpert and Al Hirt my parents played when I was a kid!!! I just love those horns!!! I played Clarinet for about twenty minutes in Junior High and High School...I guess I was fair back then but I haven't done it in years...I'm taking Piano lessons now...And struggling through them...Gotta practice...practice...practice...


I did clarinet for three years. Coronet for a couple. Drums for one. And piano for six long years. In fact, today my kids take lessons on the same piano I was tortured on as a kid. In high school, I sang. Even made all-state honor Choir in 1980, as one of the top 300 singers in the state. When all else fails, sing tenor. You'll get accolades you don't deserve simply because you strapped it on and sang like a girl.

Know what all this musical training taught me? I'm not a musician. I know it. My parents may have never accepted the fact but I came to grips with it a long time ago. I'm a much better participant from the audience than I am from the stage.

Hey Jeff...Is your "love" of Barbra due to her singing or choice of songs? Or because she can't keep her mouth shut about politics etc.???

Fair question and I can honestly tell you that I really only have a smidgen of respect for her as a comedic actress. I loved her in "What's Up, Doc?" But that's it.

I have found through my musical training that I cannot listen to her because she has got one of the most egotistical styles around. In some technical terms, she's trained. But unlike, say, Bruce Springsteen, who is not classically trained and theoretically sings all "wrong", he's listenable in ways she isn't because for all her training she cannot get over showboating in absurd ways.

Remember that song she sang with Neil Diamond -- You Don't Bring Me Flowers? Could you ever listen to that and wonder why he wouldn't bring her flowers? It was a wonder he didn't put a bullet in her head (or his own) every time she opened her whiny mouth.

Only Celine Dion comes close to her musical obnoxiousness.

The woman just loves to hear herself squeal and she tends to draw things out and create drama were mere subtlety will do the job better. Ever hear her sing Cats? Good lord, what a painful dentist-drill-like experience that is. We talk about torturing terrorists...you know DARN well they're using Streisand and that is what makes her politics so goofy.

She could take some serious stlying lessons from any number of other likewise politically moronic artists -- Bette Midler comes to mind. I could listen to Bette sing ballads about slathering Rush Limbaugh with BBQ sauce and burning him at the stake because she's got the sublety of Sinatra. She's got rhythm. She can sing jazz and rock and pop and anything from the 40s and do it in such a gracious and endearing way you'd want to take her home to mother or rename the cat after her. Streisand would turn the same song into an modern day aria akin to "Somewhere" and make the audience feel like sticking sharp objects into their eyes.

Remember that movie she did in the 70s...the one where she's in the boxing ring with Kris Kristofferson...what was that called, The Main Event? There's a fantasy...just FIVE seconds in a boxing ring with her....

Other than that though, no, I have no opinion of her one way or the other.

Hmmph.

Jeff

[MrsH]

Here's my list of "must haves":

1. Any Mannheim Steamroller Christmas Album
2. Bing Crosby - White Christmas
3. Elvis Presley - It's Christmas Time

Torture Albums:
1. Jessica Simpson - Re-Joyce: The Christmas Album
2. Clay Aiken - Merry Christmas with Love
3. Any Christmas album recorded by a Boy Band

And if we're picking annoying/depressing SONGS: If I never hear "The Christmas Shoes" again, I'll be happy

[dominick]

Speaking of depressing, have you ever heard the Jethro Tull Christmas Song? What's worse is that as a pretty big Jethro Tull fan, I kind of like it.

[MrsH]

Hmmmmm.....Jethro Tull and Christmas....odd combination

[dominick]

It is. If I'm not mistaken, there are two of them, but I've only heard one. Not exactly a jolly kind of song.

[dvdguy]

how odd

[Billy Battles]

Here's my list of "must haves":

1. Any Mannheim Steamroller Christmas Album
2. Bing Crosby - White Christmas
3. Elvis Presley - It's Christmas Time

Torture Albums:
1. Jessica Simpson - Re-Joyce: The Christmas Album
2. Clay Aiken - Merry Christmas with Love
3. Any Christmas album recorded by a Boy Band

And if we're picking annoying/depressing SONGS: If I never hear "The Christmas Shoes" again, I'll be happy


My sister cries every time she hears Christmas Shoes. Seriously she could her it cry the here it 5 minutes later start crying again.

it is a horribly written song. I get the message and everything. but it's horribly written.

[Merry Sage]

I can't think of entire albums, but here's three songs if it was desert island or bust time;

1. Bing Crosby - White Christmas
2. Burl Ives - Have a Holly Jolly Christmas
3. Nat King Cole - The Christmas Song

I don't like any of the modern versions of Christmas songs. But I put that down to my age.

[JayIsh]

Hey Jeff!!!

Have you ever heard Babs' version of Jingle Bells??? I'd take those few seconds in the ring with her as well!!!

I don't hate all of her stuff but I REALLY see what you mean!!! That ego is beyond measure!!!

Just like her duet with Donna Summer...Enough is enough!!!

For me, the best female singer of all time is Ella Fitzgerald...Now that was a talent!!! Well, Ella and Rosie O'Donnell...

jay

[little miss icequeen]

Desert island cd´s:

Old time christmas - Brothers Figaro Orchestra

White christmas - Elvis Presley

Once upon a christmas - Kenny & Dolly

....I think :wink:

How could I forget about Ella ?? What have I done??!!
Oh, this is to difficult.

[JanaBanana]

Likes
Christmas Shoes~Alabama
Where are you Christmas~Faith Hill
Silent Night~Dean Martin

Not sure if I have any dislikes... I will have to answer this one later after the radio station starts playing my 24/7 holiday music because I know darn well there are one or two i dont like. Um I think one of them is the Red Baron song I think about snoopy or something?