Bob Dylan Follows a Great Tradition--10 Christmas Albums That Don’t Violate the Spirit
It's almost as if Bob Dylan lives to confuse his fans and critics. Christmas In The Heart comes out in the Fall of 2009 and suddenly like Mariah Carey, Sheryl Crow, Chris Isaak and Jewel, Bob Dylan has his own album of holiday cheer to share with us. Makes you wonder when Kiss will cash in as well.
While surely King Diamond's 1985 No Presents For Christmas should be mentioned, it's only a single and not a full length album.
10) Merle Haggard--A Christmas Present (1973): With such Merle-penned tunes as "Grandma's Homemade Christmas Card," "Bobby Wants A Puppy Dog For Christmas" and "Daddy Won't Be Home Again For Christmas," A Christmas Present allows Haggard to redefine the Xmas spirit, throwing a little recession into the soul--and making himself a little cash with the publishing. Sure, he throws in "White Christmas" and "Silent Night" so people would still know this was an X-mas album. He also re-released some of these tunes five years later as Goin' Home For Christmas.
9) Ray Charles--The Spirit of Christmas (1985): Ray Charles could sing anything and make it sound like his own. He turned country-western into soul music, so surely he does the same with "What Child is This?," "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" and "Winter Wonderland."
8) Frank Sinatra--A Jolly Christmas From Frank Sinatra (1957): Frank Sinatra has one of those omnipresent voices that everyone imagines as part of their Christmas experience, even if he isn't.
7) Barbra Streisand--A Christmas Album (1967): As Randy Newman noted, it took the Jewish songwriter Irving Berlin to take a holiday about Jesus and turn it into a holiday about snow ("White Christmas"). Well, it takes a Jewish wunderkind like Barbra Streisand to sing them with the sort of Xmas stylings that make them worth hearing over and over. She rushes through "Jingle Bells" to get to "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "The Christmas Song" and, of course, "White Christmas." She made a second Xmas album, Christmas Memories, in 2001.
6) Mel Torme--Christmas Songs (1992): I sure was surprised to learn that Mel Torme, the co-writer of "The Christmas Song" (you may think of it as "Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire"), didn't get around to recording an actual Christmas album until 1992. Considering the fact that he began recording in the 1940s and released enough albums over the years to have made at least one other Xmas album by accident, well, some things take time.
5) Elvis Presley--Elvis' Christmas Album (1957): Elvis Presley's management didn't waste much time in making sure their rock n' roll outlaw could be accepted by middle America. In only his second year of mainstream success, Elvis was pouring his heart into "Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)." If Elvis could do it, why can't U2 and Radiohead? And why shouldn't Bob Dylan?
4) Bing Crosby--Merry Christmas (1949): Bing Crosby should be a lesson for kids everywhere who think their heroes will live forever in the hearts and minds of the American populace. While Bing Crosby was one of the most successful performers of his day, crossing over into so many markets as to make Jay-Z and Gene Simmons jealous, Crosby has over the past 30 years or so seen a serious decline in interest. Could the same fate be awaiting Elvis? The Beatles? Bob Dylan? 50 Cent?
3) The Beach Boys--The Beach Boys' Christmas Album (1964): Brian Wilson gets a lot of credit (rightfully) for his musical imagination, but the ability to imagine snow may be this southern California kid's most underrated accomplishment.
2) Burl Ives--Christmas Day In The Morning, Christmas Eve With Burl Ives, Have A Holly, Jolly Christmas, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Christmas At The White House: These are only some of his Christmas albums. An early punk influence, Burl Ives released albums back in the day when artists released a dozen or so a year just in case you forgot who they were. Now, Ives had the part of the "talking snowman" in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and his jovial, pre-Clarence Clemmons "Big Man" image made him a natural hero for kids of all ages. He could wear a red suit and be a dead-ringer for Santa Claus. Or was he secretly a commie?
1) Phil Spector--A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector (1963): The Ronettes, the Crystals, Darlene Love...all produced by Phil "Wall of Sound" Spector when he was just a little crazy and still a genius to boot. Spector didn't just want to make a holiday album, he wanted to make a holiday statement--an album that could stand on its own as a pop album and not just win points for seasonal mush. To my knowledge, no one was killed in the making of this record.
He converted to Christianity years ago.
You are as full of sh_t as a Xmas turkey. Burl Ives was not a Communist. He was cleared by the House UnAmerican Activities Committee. Plus, he died 4/14/95. Kinda hard to get yourself put on top of a list from the grave. I sincerely hope your post was an attempt at humor. If not, you've got some serious issues dude!