Favorite Christmas Album

[Teresa]

Blue Christmas - anything elvis. The Little Drummer Boy song. classic Christmas music (rudolph, silent night, jingle bells...). The Grinch movie and old classic shows.

Gotta try Cil's recommendation though - it sounds like a good addition - The Bells of Dublin.

 

[Ocean Lover]

I just went looking for all my cd's to load on itunes. I have Elvis', Tony Bennetts, and another one I forgot about that I love too. It's David Foster's The Christmas Album. My favorite carol of all time and my favorite version is on this cd. Oh Holy Night by Michael Crawford.

 

[potatovixen]

Last year Victoria's Secret released a 2-disc Christmas compilation. Lots of cool stuff on that one. It's got lots of really diverse stuff:

Eartha Kitt - "Santa Baby"
Cyndi Lauper - "Feels Like Christmas"
The Darkness - "Christmas Time (don't let the bells end)"
John Lennon - "Happy Xmas (war is over)"
Tyler Hilton - "Merry Little Christmas"


That's not all, obviously.... but those are some of my favorites. I don't know if they'll put out the same CD this Christmas, but it's worth checking out if they do.

 

[Paula]

DD and Sueshore. I love The Chipmunk Song. My two sisters and I sing it every Thanksgiving at the Thanksgiving table when we break out the Christmas carols. It's a classic in our family and I get to be Alvin. I also get to be the drum in the drummer boy (another favorite).

But my all time favorite (that I noted on SoWal.com last year) that we also try to sing at Thanksgiving but don't do a very good job at it is "Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle" ("You Come Down From the Stars" attributed to St. Alphonsus -- it is considered to be THE Christmas song of Italy. The opera composer Giuseppe Verdi said "Christmas would not be Christmas without Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle". My grandmother sang it as a duet with my father when I was little. We only have one honest-to-goodness Italian immigrant still alive today in our family who joins us for Thanksgiving (Pina who was married to Tony but Tony died earlier this year, so it will be up to her to get us to sing it along with her this year). It's a VERY sentimental song in our family and we'll start teaching it to the kids this year. I have it on a CD sung by pop rock stars (I can't find it by rock stars on iTunes though), the three tenors (it's on iTunes), choirs, and Italian "bagpipes". I love it.

Tu scendi dalle stelle, (You come down from the stars)
o Re del cielo, (O God of the heavens)
e vieni in una grotta al freddo, al gelo. (You were born in a grotta, in the cold)

Oh Bambino mio divino, (Oh, Divine BAby)
io ti vedo qui a tremar (I see you shivering)
o Dio beato; (Oh, blessed God)
ah quanto ti cost? l? avermi amato! (How much it cost you to love us!)

A Te che sei del mondo (And you who are of this world)
il Creatore, mancan panni e fuoco, (The Creator...)
o mio Signore (Oh my God)

(I can't understand this last part,but the online translation says it says:
Great God, Thou lovest me! What suff'ring Thou didst bear,That I near Thee might be!)
Caro eletto pargoletto
quanto questa povert?
pi? m'innamora,
giacch? ti fece amor
povero ancora!

This is what the tune without the words sounds like: http://digilander.libero.it/carromano/tuscendi.mid

 

[RiverOtter]

Manhiem Steamroller

 

[Mermaid]

Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols is beautiful. I could listen to it all year long and never get tired of it but it's especially perfect for the holidays--it's quintessential Christmas to me.

 

[Mango]

I just went looking for all my cd's to load on itunes. I have Elvis', Tony Bennetts, and another one I forgot about that I love too. It's David Foster's The Christmas Album. My favorite carol of all time and my favorite version is on this cd. Oh Holy Night by Michael Crawford.

OC, is that the same Micheal Crawford that was the original Phantom on Broadway? I saw him 2X- what a haunting voice. I am not sure that I heard him sing Oh Holy Night. Probably, but I will have to look it up on Itunes and listen to it.

The Charlie Brown Christmas is a classic in our house. That always is played while decorating the tree. We listen to everything, and have a huge Christmas song collection.
Haven't seen anyone note Sinatra's Christmas album.

 

[Rudyjohn]

Transiberian Orchestra
There's some more....gotta go vacuum...more later.

They are awesome!!!

 

[Rudyjohn]

This might be a bit obscure unless you like Celtic music.
My favorite Christmas album is the one that the Irish band The Chieftains did called The Bells of Dublin. They've got Jackson Browne, Marianne Faithful, Elvis Costello, and others singing with them. The album begins and ends with the bells ringing, and I gotta tell ya, I wait until after Thanksgiving until taking it out, play it throughout the holidays, and I just never get tired of it.
As a matter of fact, I just ordered another copy from Amazon because it, like everything else of mine, is still in storage and I did not get to listen to it last year.

She's one of my favorites!! I'm guessing she leaves out the profane lyrics! I just can't imagine her on a Christmas album. I love E. Costello too.

 

[Ocean Lover]

OC, is that the same Micheal Crawford that was the original Phantom on Broadway? I saw him 2X- what a haunting voice. I am not sure that I heard him sing Oh Holy Night. Probably, but I will have to look it up on Itunes and listen to it.

The Charlie Brown Christmas is a classic in our house. That always is played while decorating the tree. We listen to everything, and have a huge Christmas song collection.
Haven't seen anyone note Sinatra's Christmas album.

Yep, one and the same.