Yule Shoot Your Eye Out!

Help!!

2005-12-23T10:25:00.000-05:00

I have 5 songs that I lost the information for. They were most likely released in 2002 (I'm pretty sure that's when I aquired them). The first three are by the same artist (2 different versions of the same song, and one other); the singer sounds similar to Cerys Matthews from Catatonia but it's not her. The other two songs are by two different artists. If anyone has any ideas about who they are, please leave a comment here. I'm going to put the file on rapidshare so more people can hear them; hopefully someone will be able to ID them.

mystery songs

The Yule Ball

2005-12-21T20:56:00.000-05:00

My friend Paul is about as obsessed with xmas music as I am (he DJ'd an annual xmas marathon, had bands that performed xmas songs, even released a really good comp of indie xmas music, This Is Christmas (buy it for cheap)). Then he and his brother started up a Harry Potter fixated band, Harry and the Potters. On their self-titled debut album from 2003, there's a song about the Yule Ball called, appropriately, The Yule Ball. As I was readying this post, I discovered that this year he's put together a Harry Potter-themed Christmas comp called A Magical Christmas of Magic (buy it).

The Yule Ball

Home for the Holidays (Mix 2)

2005-12-20T09:15:00.000-05:00

This year it's gonna be Christmas with the in-laws (and the brother-in-law's in-laws) for me, so I once again have taken it upon myself to make a mix to share with them &mdash this year I'm also sharing it with you fine folks. Except for a couple of songs, these are all readily available elsewhere; there's nothing particularly remarkable about this (continuous) mix but I think it sounds pretty good. Throw it on a CD and give it to your mom, the mailman, whomever; play it Christmas morning whilst opening your presents; pass the link around, or skip along to the next posting.
Merry Christmas to all!

1 | 2 (2 part rar file because it's just a hair over 100 mb.)

track listing:
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (Andy Williams)
Here Comes Santa Claus (Doris Day)
Too Fat for the Chimney (Gisele MacKenzie)
If Every Day Was Like Christmas (Elvis Presley)
Step into Christmas (Elton John)
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (The Smithereens)
Jingle Bell Rock (Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass)
Winter Wonderland (Darlene Love)
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! (Les Brown)
Cool Yule (Louis Armstrong and the Commanders)
Sleigh Ride (The Ventures)
Silver Bells (Wayne Newton)
Happy Holiday (Peggy Lee)
Frosty the Snowman (The Beach Boys)
I've Had a Very Merry Christmas (Jerry Lewis)
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (Brenda Lee)
The Real Meaning of Christmas (Ray Conniff)
White Christmas (Rosemary Clooney)
Five Pound Box of Money (Pearl Bailey)
This Christmas (Don Ho)
Christmas Island (Bob Atcher and the Dinning Sisters)
Mele Kalikimaka (Bing Crosby With the Andrews Sisters)
Baby's First Christmas (Connie Francis)
Ole Santa (Dinah Washington)
Dig That Crazy Santa Claus (Oscar McLollie and His Honey Jumpers)
Run Rudolph Run (Chuck Berry)
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Ella Fitzgerald)
Christmas Time Is Here (Vince Guaraldi Trio)
The Christmas Song (Frank Sinatra)

PS I'll post the cover when our art department (aka my wife) has finished it.

Christmas at War

2005-12-17T09:55:00.000-05:00

Today's double post came about inadvertantly. I had this Melissa Etheridge track that I wanted to share but since I'm not really into her music, it's just been kinda languishing here on my hard drive. Then today I was going through the stacks to pick a song and I came across a Dogbowl tune from 2001 and thought, yeah, that's the one. Then I realized that thematically it goes perfectly with the Melissa Etheridge tune, so here they are: two anti-war xmas songs. The Dogbowl track is from an album called Fantastic Carburetor Man and the Etheridge track is from her new best of (buy it).

The 1972 Christmas Bombing of North Vietnam - Dogbowl
Christmas in America - Melissa Etheridge
- - (both songs in a zip file)

Christmas

2005-12-16T10:00:00.000-05:00

I always loved the Posies song, Christmas, on the Just Say Noël comp from 1996 (buy it). It took a while before I found out that it was a cover (I had wondered why they would be singing about Boston). Turns out the original is by yet another band from Boston, Fuzzy, who were poised to be the Next Big Thing for about 6 or 7 minutes in the mid-'90s. The song is on their second album, Electric Juices (buy it dirt cheap), from 1996. It's a purty (but pretty depressing) song; I think I still prefer the Posies version.

Christmas (zip of both versions)

Oookaaay, while finishing up this post, I discovered that the Fuzzy version is not the original, either. It was written by Florence Dore, a singer/songwriter who did time here in Boston, too. Dunno what she released it on in the first place but she does have a CD, Perfect City (buy it), on her site with a version of it (the original? who knows?)

Nothing for Christmas

2005-12-14T21:25:00.000-05:00

Connecticut band The Reducers have been around for quite a while at this point—since 1978, holy crap!

Originally released as the a-side of a holiday single in 1988, you can pick up this mid-tempo "I been a baaaaaad boy" rocker on their 1991 anthology CD, Redux (buy it). The double negative in the chorus drives the grammar Nazi in me crazy: "I'm not getting nothing for Christmas" means that you ARE getting SOMEthing. Petty, I know but sheesh! Still, a good, solid song.

Nothing for Christmas

While researching this post, I discovered that the band is currently offering the b-side from this single—a festive, rockin' version of "Auld Lang Syne"—as a free download at their website. Pretty cool!

Million Miles

2005-12-14T10:26:00.000-05:00

The Shods are a Boston rock band whose major label debut (their second full-length) was recorded for a label that that went under before the album could be released (though the label's parent company hung onto it for FIVE YEARS before the band was allowed to release it). Their third album, Bamboozled, Jilted, Hornswoggled + Hoodwinked (buy it)—their second to see release—was my introduction to the band in 1998. I swear I could hear that album every day for the rest of my life and it would never get old. I remember vividly that my two favorite rock albums that year were Bamboozled... and Gaunt's Bricks and Blackouts (buy it dirt cheap!). Anyway, the Shods next album, Thanks for Nuthin' (buy it), did not blow me away as completely as Bamboozled... did, but it rocked me nonetheless. Also, it had a Christmas song on it.

Million Miles

The Goodies Times Two

2005-12-13T17:49:00.000-05:00

Earlier this year, my good friend Pip asked me if I had ever seen a British kids show called The Goodies. To his surprise and dismay, I hadn't. Apparently he had loved it as a child and recollected it was hilarious. After our chat he set about finding a video copy of the show and on amazon.co.uk, he struck paydirt—a DVD (buy it) and CD combo at a very reasonable price. The only drawback was that he didn't have an all-region DVD player (not that it stopped him from ordering). When the discs arrived, he was all too happy to loan them to me so I could watch the show and tell him how funny it is. Unfortunately, it's not. I don't claim to be a particularly mature 30-something but the humor was just way too juvenile. (I'm sure it would have cracked me up even in high school—I still thought Benny Hill was amusing at that point.) I didn't even get to enjoy the feelings of nostalgia I would've undoubtedly had if I'd watched the show in my youth.

Along with the DVD was a CD called "Funky Gibbon—The Best of the Goodies" (named after their Big Hit) (buy it). Goofy early-'70s pop/rock, not much to recommend. However, nestled together at the end of the CD were two Christmas songs. Neither particularly great BUT not anything that I'd come across before, either. Singles released in consecutive years, they both made the UK Top 20. (Not particularly proud moments for British music history.)

Father Christmas, Do Not Touch Me (1974)
Make a Daft Noise for Christmas (1975)
- - (both songs in a zip file)

P.S. I think Pip still hasn't watched his DVD yet.

The Man With All the Toys

2005-12-12T13:35:00.000-05:00

Black Helicopter is a Boston-area band comprised of former members of two classic '90s-era Boston-area bands, Kudgel and Green Magnet School. While perhaps not as heavy as either of those bands, Black Helicopter is still quite good. Most of their songs' lyrics are taken from some guy who used to come into the convenience store where one or more of the band members used to work. He would say all sortsa crazy shit and they turned that into lyrics. Check the mp3 link on their site to hear some goodies and then buy their CD.

Their Christmas song is from a self-released CD single from 2000. It showed up at the radio station my show was on; I don't know if it was ever commercially available or not.

The Man With All the Toys

It's a fairly straightforward—albeit heavier—cover of the Beach Boys classic.

Away in a Manger

2005-12-11T18:48:00.000-05:00

Green River is probably best known for spawning two other bands: Mudhoney and Mother Love Bone (Mother Love Bone is probably best known for spawning one other band: Pearl Jam.) Today's track comes from a comp on a now-defunct Seattle label, C/Z, called Another Pyrrhic Victory.

Away in a Manger

Silent Night

2005-12-09T10:42:00.000-05:00

Here's a hidden gem I've uncovered for you: at the end of one of the discs in The David Sedaris Box Set (buy it), there's an outtake of him doing his patented Billie Holiday impression.

Silent Night

If you're not familiar with him, David Sedaris writes hilarious essays and has appeared on This American Life on numerous occasions (buy all his books!). His sister Amy is also hilarious and starred in Strangers With Candy (soon to be a Major Motion Picture).

Xmas

2005-12-07T12:23:00.000-05:00

I realize that some of you may fear that I've lost the thread; fear not! Today's post has sleigh bells and a repeated refrain that includes the word "Christmas." Jesse Malin used to be in a great NYC punk rock band, D-Generation. When he released his debut solo album, The Fine Art of Self-Destruction (buy it), in 2003, I expected something equally rockin'. Imagine my surprise to find that it was actually a rootsy singer-songwriter affair—a really good one at that. AND it had a Christmas song on it (icing on the cake).

Xmas

Coke Dealer Is Coming to Town

2005-12-05T17:11:00.000-05:00

I've had many requests for this track but haven't shared it until now because it was never officially released and I knew it could be traced back to me if I passed it around without permission from the artist. But this past weekend (Saturday afternoon, to be precise) I stopped by my favorite liquor mart to stock up for the holidaze. When I got to the door, it flew open as two beefy security guards strong-armed some poor soul out onto the street (literally the street—the guy barely missed getting hit by a crosstown bus). When he clutched at my arm as I was once again attempting to enter the store, I realized that this was no ordinary troublemaking drunkard; this was my old nemesis Harlem Greenwood, frontman of Boston's infamous Coke Dealer. Once he got the bleeding stopped, he explained that his troubles with store security were simply the result of a misunderstanding—he had fully intended to pay and had merely placed the bottle in his pocket to ensure that he didn't drop it on the floor to break like the first one had. I saw my opportunity and seized it. In exchange for the purchase of one large carton of wine, I secured Greenwood's permission to post this track here. I would include a link exhorting you to buy something (anything) of Coke Dealer's but Harlem and his cohort, Stu Walker, can't seem to get it together enough to slap up a website, let alone any marketable product. (Walker, however, did manage—with considerable help from the visionaries at Odd Halo—to put out a remarkable CD of his solo recordings, which I now exhort you to buy—check his site or myspace page and hassle him to sell you a copy.)

If you want to know more about the man, the myth, the legend that is Harlem Greenwood, you can read two different interviews conducted by the legendary-in-his-own-right Sleazegrinder here and here.

Coke Dealer Is Coming to Town

The track was recorded in 2000 and remains unreleased to this day.

Edit:
I'll keep refreshing the download for this track only. If you try to get it and it has expired, please leave a comment and I'll re-up it ASAP.

All the Way...

2005-12-03T12:36:00.000-05:00

OK, this one is stretching the theme here a bit but the vibe of the song makes me think of being out on a quiet street at night while it's snowing; it has that dreamy quality to it. And there's that lyric about "the sound of the snow falling." The song's from the newest Ladytron album, Witching Hour (buy it).

All the Way...

It came out earlier this year on Rykodisc.

Danny Says

2005-08-06T12:27:00.000-04:00

What? I didn't say I'd be posting every morning, noon and night. So get offa my back already!

Last night's viewing of the great Ramones documentary, End of the Century (buy it/rent it), inspired today's post. Sure everyone knows "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight)" but on 1980's End of the Century album (buy it), there's a song buried in there about being on tour in the winter, away from loved ones; a real good, melancholy track.

Danny Says

I love that line about being in LA: "It ain't Christmas if there ain't no snow."

Joy to U.C. (Berkeley, That Is)

2005-08-03T21:30:00.000-04:00

Here's an interesting archival item. In December of 1964, the U.C. Berkeley Free Speech Movement released a 7" EP of traditional Christmas carols with the lyrics changed to relate to their situation. From what little I could discover on the web, it may or may not have been credited to "Joe LaPenta, Barry Jablon, Dustin Miller, Ken Sanderson and friends." According to this site (scroll to the Dec. 9th entry at the bottom), they sold 4500 copies in two days (no word as to the total number of records pressed). It had a picture sleeve and came with a lyric sheet; if anyone can hook me up with scans, that would be amazing.

Fortunately the library at U.C. Berkeley has streaming audio of the complete record. I've taken that, split the tracks up and converted them to mp3s--all for your listening pleasure.

Joy to U.C. [10MB zip file]

The track listing :

Oski Dolls [Jingle Bells] / We Three Deans [We Three Kings] / U.C. Administration [O, Little Town of Bethlehem] / Hail to IBM [Ode to Joy] / It Belongs to the University [The Twelve Days of Christmas] / Silent Night / Call Out the Deans [Carol of the Bells] / Masters of Sproul Hall [*] / God Rest Ye Free Speech Movementniks [God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen] / O Come All Ye Mindless [O Come All Ye Faithful] / Joy to U.C. [Joy to the World]

* - can't quite place this one, though it is not, as one site claims, a parody of "Masters of War." If you know it, please leave a comment. Thanks!

edit: The King of Jingaling has pegged it! It's "Masters in This Hall." Well done, King; I can't say I'm surprised, though ; )

Sleighride to Heck

2005-08-03T15:00:00.000-04:00

Today's noon post features another New Englander. James Kochalka may be better known for the comics that he produces (buy some) than the music he releases under the name James Kochalka Superstar; both are lots of fun. His newest album, Our Most Beloved (buy it), is a collection of tracks that have been previously released. There are old favorites like "Magic Finger" ("It's my dink, it's my dink / It's a magic finger / Pointing at all the pretty girls"), "Monkey vs. Robot" and "Put Down the Gun" ("Put down the gun Kurt Cobain / Don't blow out your brain"). I'm not sure where the song I'm posting is from originally, this is the first place I've seen it. I guess it was originally done in 1992 with his old band, Jazzin' Hell but it sounds like it probably was re-recorded.

Sleighride to Heck

Some of the best abuse of Auto-Tune since the "Trendy American remix" of the White Stripes' "Pretty Good Looking."

I Was Thinking I Could Clean Up for Christmas

2005-08-03T11:58:00.000-04:00

In order to make up for slacking 'round these parts, I'll be posting morning, noon and night in an effort to assuage my feelings of guilt. Here's a nice new track that may have slipped by some of you. It's from Aimee Mann's most recent album, The Forgotten Arm (buy it). It's a <sarcasm>happy little number</sarcasm> about a junkie who's talking (as most junkies are wont to do) about getting off the stuff.

I Was Thinking I Could Clean Up for Christmas

It's probably unneccessary for me to point this out but in case you're not familiar with Ms. Mann, she used to be in the '80s band 'Til Tuesday. Useless trivia: long ago she used to work for the company that I currently work for--FACT.

Angel in the Snow

2005-07-20T15:15:00.000-04:00

Today's song is not Christmas-specific--it's about walking around outside in the winter (and, duh, making snow angels). Nice to think about while I'm sweating away in this hotbox where the computer is. It's by Marine Research, the band formed from the remnants of Heavenly. This makes today's song the second track I've featured with vocals by the lovely Amelia Fletcher. [the other one]

Angel in the Snow

This song was released in 1999 on the band's Parallel Horizontal CD single (buy it) on K Records.

Silent Night

2005-07-13T09:57:00.000-04:00

I chose today's song because I finally saw the Klaus Nomi documentary The Nomi Song (buy it/rent it) last night. Highly recommended.

Recorded in 1979 and given away on cassette as a present to friends, it wasn't officially released until 1998 when the Heliocentric label put out a CD single pairing it with another unreleased track from 1979, "Za Bak Daz."

Silent Night

It has a weird, island kind of vibe to it and the sound quality isn't the best but it's a nice little oddity.

Christmas Day

2005-07-01T09:57:00.000-04:00

What About George was a band from 'round these parts (Boston). A friend of mine even used to work with George at the ice cream place aound the corner from my place of employment. Anyway, I don't remember ever hearing about them when they were around (mid to late-'90s). I don't even remember how I came across this song. Probably at the radio station, but maybe at the store. I guess that's not even important.

Christmas Day

Rollicking, up-tempo power-poppy goodness with a solid beat and gratuitous sleighbells tagged on the end of the song. It's from an EP released in 1996 called Just a Touch (buy it) and was co-produced by Dave Minehan of the Neighborhoods.

Den Trawler

2005-06-30T10:16:00.000-04:00

Here's a really nice track that seems to be designed to slip under the xmas music radar (fortunately, my xmas music radar is pretty powerful!). It's from the Spinanes and appears on their 1998 Sub Pop album Arches and Aisles (buy it).

Den Trawler

The song's title doesn't exactly scream "Yuletide!" but it's a great downtempo number with mostly low key lyrical references to our favorite seasonal subject matter PLUS sleighbells (down in the mix, but there nonetheless). It builds up really nicely and I think you're gonna like it.

That's What I Want for Christmas

2005-06-29T12:55:00.000-04:00

Today's song originally appeared in the 1936 Shirley Temple vehicle, Stowaway (buy it). It's cutesy but not saccharine (as I'd originally feared it would be); a fine addition to any collection of seasonal tunes.

That's What I Want for Christmas

I don't know how it was released originally (or if it even was released back then) but it shows up on any number of compilations of Temple's songs (buy one).

The Saddest Time of the Year

2005-06-28T16:27:00.000-04:00

Well, that one-week break really stretched out a bit longer than I'd planned (ahem). But now someone has emailed me asking about a specific song and the mighty FaLaLaLaLa.com is back online--I'll take those two occurrences as a sign that I should get back to posting (at least for the time being).

Betty writes:

Ever hear of a song called Christmas is the Saddest Time of the Year? I heard it played on the community radio station in madison wi, years ago, it sounded like maybe 80s alt-pop and I don't even know who the band or artist was.

Well, Betty, it would make sense that you heard it in Madison, since that's where the band is from. Spooner was around from the mid-'70s to mid-'80s, then reformed after a few years' break and continued along until right about the time that members Butch Vig and Doug Erikson started the band Garbage.

The song in question, "The Saddest Time of the Year," was released in 1991 on a STELLAR comp called Yuletunes (buy it) on the Shoes' Black Vinyl label. At the time, Vig's star was rising as THE preeminent alt-rock producer (see: Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, etc).

The Saddest Time of the Year

It's not even my favorite song on the CD (I think they should have faded the track out quite a bit earlier than they did) but I'll save some of those for later posting.

Rock N Roll Santa

2005-01-13T21:22:00.000-05:00

I can't really tell you too much about Chicago's Jan Terri (her website seems to have vanished); I did manage to find a short film (scroll down) about her. A good analogue is (if you're from the Boston area like I am) our very own BJ Snowden. Except that Jan is a chauffeur, not a music teacher. I stumbled upon today's song on a compilation (buy it) of performances from the Chic-a-Go-Go TV show (a cable-access kids' dance show hosted by the effervescent Mia Park that has amazing musical guests).

Rock N Roll Santa

The CD came out in 2000 but Jan's track seems to have originally aired in December 1996. This is one of those songs that, after a few listens, latches onto your brain and refuses to let go. Oh, and to connect this to my most recent post, Yo La Tengo released a cover version on their limited edition Merry Christmas from Yo La Tengo EP in 2002 that, while good, doesn't quite measure up to the original.