Erik's musical Advent calendar - December 4

Kenny Chesney - Christmas In Blue Chair Bay

Christmases in the US Virgin Islands are a bit unlike Christmases in, say, Knoxville, Tennessee, where country singer Kenny Chesney hails from. He's apparently relocated to the Caribbean, and recently launched a rum called Blue Chair Bay, bottling up his experiences and all the good times he's had through the years. This year he's recorded a special Christmas song saying hi from his beloved Blue Chair Bay (not an actual place), raising a glass "to all of those up in the snow from all of us down south". Chesney released a great Christmas album in 2003 called All I Want For Christmas Is A Real Good Tan, so maybe this marks the beginning of a new one for a possible 2015 release? Let's hope so, as this new song is absolutely great. It's also very good to use it here today, for the fourth window in my ever so excellent musical Advent calendar.

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Jim Croce - I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song

The American singer/songwriter Jim Croce died at 30 in a plane crash, and should be mentioned far more often than he is when the young dead are counted. He wrote timeless classics such as "Time In A Bottle", "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown", "It Doesn't Have To Be That Way" and this beautiful song, "I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song". It's the kind of ballad every aspiring songwriter would give an arm, or at least a leg, to come up with. It was released posthumously in December 1973 on his fifth and final album I Got A Name, a little more than two months after his death. Stunning!

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Erik's musical Advent calendar - December 3

Vince Guaraldi Trio - Linus And Lucy

A show of hands from everyone who loves A Charlie Brown Christmas, please! Yup, that's a lot of people right there. "Linus And Lucy", written by Vince Guaraldi and first released on Vince Guaraldi Trio's 1964 album Jazz Impressions Of A Boy Named Charlie Brown, was turned into a Christmas classic the following year when it appeared in the television special A Charlie Brown Christmas, along with the rest of Guaraldi's lovely music for the show. It has appeared in several more Peanuts shows too, and is inextricably linked to the characters of Charles M. Schulz. A lesser known fact about the "Linus And Lucy" tune is that it was used as wake-up music for the crew of Space Shuttle Endeavor on day 2 of the STS-123 mission on March 11, 2008. And now, even more astounding, it's used for day 3 of Erik's musical Advent calendar on this day, December 3, 2014.

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The Waterboys - November Tale

"November Tale" is the second song to be released from the upcoming Waterboys album Modern Blues. It differs a lot from the electric "Destinies Entwined", the album's excellent opening track, and sounds a bit safer and more familiar. Still, it's a very good song, and another reason to look forward to January 19 which is the release date for Modern Blues.

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Erik's musical Advent calendar - December 2

Alabama - Christmas In Dixie

For day 2 of Erik's musical Advent calendar we turn to American country band Alabama and their 1982 classic "Christmas In Dixie", a tribute to the Christmas celebrations in the southern United States. It's sappy, sentimental and very sweet, just like any good Christmas song should be. It first appeared as a double A-side single coupled with "Christmas Is Just A Song For Us This Year"
by Louise Mandrell and R.C. Bannon, then was finally released on Alabama's 1985 album Alabama Christmas.

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Erik's musical Advent calendar - December 1

Andy Williams - It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Hooray and seasons greetings! It's that time of the year again, you know, the most wonderful, just as it is described by Andy Williams in this most celebratory of Christmas songs. "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year" was written by Edward Pola and George Wyle in 1963 and recorded by Williams the same year for his first Christmas album, The Andy Williams Christmas Album. It's the perfect song to kick off my musical Advent calendar this year with my sincerest hopes for everyone to have a nice build-up to Christmas. Lots of cheers going your way today, then!

 

Prefab Sprout - Steal Your Thunder

Andromeda Heights, Prefab Sprout's excellent 1997 album, may not be their best, but I'm pretty sure it's the most accessible. It's simply a great collection of easy-to-like tunes, with enchanting melodies and "nice" lyrics. "Steal Your Thunder" has a melody to die for, and just goes to show what an extraordinary songwriter Paddy McAloon is. Brilliant!

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Stan Ridgway - Walkin' Home Alone

Q: What's the loneliest-sounding song in the entire history of the universe?
A: Stan Ridgway's "Walkin' Home Alone"

Stan Ridgway, formerly of Wall Of Voodoo, went solo in 1986 with the album The Big Heat, which is just as much a short story collection as it is an actual singer/songwriter record. There' a dynamic, not to say a dimension, to Ridgway's lyrics rarely found in popular music, with themes ranging from femme fatale getaway drivers wielding guns and lipstick to Marine ghosts saving the day during the Vietnam war - and there's "Walkin' Home Alone", quite possibly the saddest song ever about a guy trying to go it alone after his girlfriend or wife has left him. And Ridgway saves the saddest part until the end of the song singing, "So put another quarter in the jukebox, Pete, but don't play that one with the sad trombone, 'cause tonight, I'll be walkin' home alone". Heartbreaking, yet hauntingly beautiful.

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David Bowie - Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)

After David Bowie's surprising comeback to the record business with last year's The Next Day album, he's come across as possibly even more adventurous and exciting as ever. For his new compilation Nothing Has Changed (where the three disc deluxe edition is organized in reverse chronological order), he's recorded one new song, a seven minute free-form jazz piece, that's slightly atonal and quite demanding, a collaboration with New York composer Maria Schneider. In a way he seems to be taking the route of Scott Walker, whose voice bears a certain resemblance to Bowie's own - or vice versa. "Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)" sports a four minute video edit that you can watch by following the link below, with a lyric video made to look like a 1940's or '50's noir film. Be sure to check out the full seven minute version as well, it's worth an effort.

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Daryl Hall feat. Rumer - I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)

Daryl Hall of famous Philly Soul/pop duo Hall & Oates has got his own TV show called Live from Daryl's House where he hosts famous and/or semi-famous guests that he plays and prepares food with, obviously creating a nice atmosphere along the way. I have never seen the show myself but I stumbled upon this awesome clip where he and Rumer perform the 1981 Hall & Oates classic "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)". It may not be better than the original but it's really, REALLY good. Please enjoy these close to six minutes of soul magic.

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