Christmas Records

Joe writes: Obviously the best Christmas record ever is Fairytale of New York and the best Christmas album ever is the Phil Spector one.

Here are three less obvious choices

3) Christmas Song - Dave Matthews Band. From the Platinum Christmas album which also contains two other really good Christmas originals by Dido and R Kelly. Maybe I'll post those next year.



2) O Tannenbaum - The Vince Guaraldi Trio. An essential purchase at this time of year is the A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack. This is the opening track - a jazz piano trio version of the tune also known as The Red Flag isn't obviously Christmas-y, but the whole album really is.


1) A Kind Of Christmas Card - Morten Harket. Great uplifting track from former A-Ha frontman that should have been a massive hit. Shades of All The Young Dudes.


(update of post originally from 3/12/2007)

The Vince Guaraldi Trio - O Tannenbaum (AKA The Red Flag) as featured in the Playstation TV advert

Joe writes: I once flew to San Francisco on Christmas Day with a friend so he could meet up with a girl for only the second time. On arrival she presented him with A Charlie Brown Christmas Album by The Vince Guaraldi Trio - an American institution that is little known in the UK. Skip forward some years: they are married with a kid and O Tannenbaum from the album is featured on a TV advert for Playstation.

The album features jazz-lite versions of well known Christmas songs. It doesn't sound that promising on paper, but somehow it perfectly captures the spirit of the season with its nostalgia, playfulness, and just a hint of melancholia. It's the second best Christmas album of all-time.