52% intelligent. 9% modest. More monkey than bear.

Monday, December 10, 2007

pa rum pum pum pum.....

I love Christmas songs.

Well, I love some Christmas songs - like everyone else I'm pretty bored of that album of songs that has remained unchanged for about the last twenty years, at least. You know...... Slade, Wizzard, Lennon, Shakin' Stevens, Jonah Lewie, Paul McCartney.... that one. That same album is currently playing in nine out of ten shops on the British high street. When I worked at HMV, we waited until Christmas Eve before we put that album on, and we were all so sick of it that we had it off again by lunchtime and were back on the godawful dance compilations. They're not all bad songs, but they are terribly, terribly overexposed - so much so that the magic has worn off.

There are other Christmas songs that you don't hear quite so often; songs that make you feel all warm and fuzzy and ready for the festive period. Some of them even make me crave an eggnog, and I don't even really know what eggnog is. They're that good.

With this in mind, I"ve got an early Christmas present for you: it's an xmas album for you to download. I'm pretty new at these things, and I'm not 100% sure it will work, but hopefully, if you click here, you'll be able to download a zip file containing 22 songs.

I like them anyway. For reasons of me not being arrested by random record company googling, you can find the full tracklist here. (I nearly put Band Aid 20 on it, but I resisted the urge... you'll have to put up with the Darkness though).

For many of these songs, I'm heavily indebted to a collection made available a couple of years ago on Sweeping the Nation, so thanks to them for that. The rest are probably either on an old XFM compilation from a while back, or things I've picked up here and there along the way. It's good for the next 7 days or 100 downloads, whichever comes first, so get it whilst it's fresh and let me know what you think.

I just hope it works.

My favourite ever Christmas song is either track one or track five here. What's your favourite?

(oh, and all music is made available here for non-commercial use only, right? If you like something, promise me you'll go out and buy it, okay? Good).

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8 Comments:

  • At 10:01 am, Blogger Cat said…

    I hate Christmas songs, but even I have to admit that this little lot might hit the spot. I suspect my work's server will flash up a big ACCESS DENIED if I try to access it, but I'll have a bash at home.

     
  • At 10:31 am, Blogger Gordon said…

    If I can find the "Bingle Jells" playlist we compiled at my last place of work I'll do the same.

    We too were fed up of the usual radio fare.

    Top stuff this, I'll rush out and purchase each and everyone in just a moment..

     
  • At 1:13 pm, Blogger Cody Bones said…

    The download worked great, and I'm listening right now to Alan Parsons. I just have one small complaint, WHAT, no Neil Diamond?? He Owns Xmas songs. Especially Silent night, my favorite. More Neil, More Neil. Thanks for doing this ST, I appreciate it.

     
  • At 4:33 am, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Thank you. Thank you.

     
  • At 9:44 am, Blogger The Great Grape Ape said…

    I am afraid I have a real soft spot for Oasis' version of "Merry Christmas Everybody". It turns a Double Diamond fuelled flared jean and woolly jumper rave up into a world weary "Oh god, is it Christmas again" thing of beauty and I love it. And for some bizarre reason I never get sick of the Slade/Wizzard/Elton John/Greg Lake/Paul Mccartney/John and Yoko brigade. I think it's nostalgia for the Christmas parties of the mid nineteen seventies. All party sevens, anaemic sausage rolls and cheese and onion sandwiches and a few slightly tattered decorations. And the coolest party games ever. Because everybody didn't already have everything in those days the festivities at Christmas really did seem like something special. And does anyone make paper chains these days ? That used to be an integral part of Christmas.

     
  • At 10:08 am, Blogger Sarah said…

    Boo - as I guessed. I'm too late...

     
  • At 3:17 am, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Oooh! I've been wanting a decend christmas CD for a while, so thanks for that. My only (small) complaint is that a couple of the songs were in iPod format and I can only play MP3s. You don't happen to know a of good (and free) conversion program do you?

     
  • At 3:18 am, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    "decent" - not "decend" *sigh*

     

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