SOUNDTRACK: CHRISTMAS REMIXED: Holiday Classics Re-Grooved (2003).
This has been one of my favorite Christmas albums for many years now. Most of the songs remain faithful to the original with just an upbeat drum track underneath the vocals. I’m sure some parts are sped up and some parts are looped over and over. But it’s all in good fun and really gets these songs moving, tastefully.
Andy Williams – “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” (A Shrift Remix)
We liked this song so much we used it for a home video one year. The horns are terrific and Andy Williams is pretty awesome in general.
Bing Crosby – ” Happy Holiday” (Beef Wellington Remix).
This song adds a big old fun dancey drum beat and loops the orchestration.
Dean Martin – “Jingle Bells” (Dan the Automator Remix)
There’s some fun scratching on this and Dan manipulates Dean’s voice here and there.
Kay Starr – “I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm” (Stuhr Remix)
A big fun bass line is looped and a horn melody is tacked on. I think her voice is sped up a tad, but it’s not too noticeable.
The Cathedral Brass – “Joy to the World” (Mocean Worker Remix)
This track adds some drums and some synths to a jolly instrumental.
Johnny Mercer – “Winter Wonderland” (Rise Ashen’s Brazilian Beach Mix)
Lots of drums and percussion added to this.
Charles Brown – “Merry Christmas Baby” (MNO Remix)
They have stripped out a lot of the music in this and made it kind of slow. The original is my least favorite Christmas song and the is my least favorite track here.
Berlin Symphony Orchestra – “Nutcracker Suite” (Baz Kuts Breaks Mix)
But this is one of my favorites. I love the Nutcracker and this is just a an awesome way to add some other kinds of dance to it.
Louis Armstrong & Velma Middleton – “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” (Mulato Beat Remix)
Both performers had a blast with this original song. And Mulato Beat don’t do all that much to it–mostly playing around with Louis’ performance–leaving in all of the laughs that were in the original and just making it a bit more dancey.
Duke Ellington – “Jingle Bells” (Robbie Hardkiss Remix)
I love the way this one loops a small part of the horn melody as a hook and then uses all of the tubular bells to push the song along.
Bing Crosby – “The First Noel” (Attaboy House Party Mix)
This opens with Bing talking over a thumping beat and then the whole choir sings along and it really works.
Mel Tormé – “The Christmas Song” (Michael Kessler Open Fire Mix)
This is slow version by the Velvet Fog. They echo Tormé’s vocal on sounds seven more foggy. A mellow ending to a righteous disc.
[READ: December 1, 2017] “The Journal”
Once again, I have ordered The Short Story Advent Calendar. This year, there are brief interviews with each author posted on the date of their story.
Hello. Welcome. It’s finally here: Short Story Advent Calendar time.
If you’re reading along at home, now’s the time to start cracking those seals, one by one, and discover some truly brilliant writing inside. Then check back here each morning for an exclusive interview with the author of that day’s story.
(Want to join in? It’s not too late. Order your copy here.)
This year I’m pairing each story with a holiday disc from our personal collection
This story was pretty trippy.
On her 12th wedding anniversary, Laurie found her husband’s journal in the nightstand. She flipped through it without actually reading it. She saw words like dinner, rest, etc, as well as some pictures. Nothing useful, but she felt bad for snooping.
It had been a long time since she felt close to him. That night, they went out to dinner and had a polite meal.
The next morning she woke up and every time she looked at words, they seemed to wiggle off the page until the page was blank. (more…)
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It seems like Goose and Geese both came out last year. But in fact Goose has been around since 2014 and Geese since 2016–so it’s taken both of them about ten years to get serious attention.
I’ve been aware of Bill Frisell for decades. He has played with just about everyone that I like, and I’m sure I have his guitar on about a dozen albums. And yet I don’t really know all that much about him. I certainly didn’t know what he looked like and, honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this Tiny Desk Concert. I feel like most of the places I know him from are noisy avant-garde music. So I was pretty surprised to hear that this would be a concert of delicate reworkings of John Lennon songs.
I Just Read About That... 