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Jethro Tull Christmas Album I’ve never been much of a Deadhead, but as youthful musical obsessions go, I would say I was definitely more of a Tull Skull. As such, this is one of my favorite winter holiday albums. Please don’t ask me what the lyrics mean; I usually don’t have a clue. But the album is delightful nonetheless — very solstitial.  |
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Music for a Soulful Christmas This is a little-known compilation of wonderful Christmas songs by some of my favorite vocal artists of the mid-twentieth century: Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Nancy Wilson, Lou Rawls, Lena Horne and Charles Brown. Ella Fitzgerald’s rendition of "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" is alone worth the price of the entire album, but I should mention that I swoon to Nat King Cole’s "O Holy Night" as well.  |
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Acoustic Christmas This compilation features more artists that are current than those mentioned above. I love Harry Connick, Jr.’s jazzy, rhythmically exuberant piano version of "Winter Wonderland," the fun Hawaiian Christmas song "Meme Kalikimaka" by Poi Dog Pondering, and two very different versions of "O Come All Ye Faithful," one by Wynton Marsalis, the other by Art Garfunkel, both bittersweet and lovely.  |
It’s not too late to order any of these in time for the weekend.