Thursday Flash Forward Music No Shuffle – Can’t We all Get Along

I’ve been unexpectedly called away, so I am jumping ahead from my present (your past) to my future (your present) to offer up a Holiday offering from Dar Williams. Those uncomfortable holiday meals when a child asks an innocent question which opens up a whole conversation that some would have hoped to avoid, and how maybe that is not such a bad thing after all…. Remember, we’re all in this crazy life together….. Clicky the album cover to purchase and download Christians and Pagans. See you on the other side….

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Wednesday Morning Music Shuffle – All is Quiet Mix

Today is the first day of Hanukkah, tomorrow is the Winter Solstice and Sunday is Christmas.  Shout out to everyone no matter which you celebrate or which you do not. Peace on Earth and Goodwill to men seems like a pretty good thing, so does celebrate miraculous lights and the beginning of days getting longer.

My Winter Holiday playlist contains Christmas songs, songs that mention winter-time themes (or seem to) and even a couple of songs that have been associated with the holiday season (albeit incorrectly):

1. The Wilderness of Manitoba released an three song of EP of Christmas Carols non-ironically called Three Carols.  O Come, O Come Emmanuel  is on the album which you can purchase and download by clicking the picture below.

 
2.  Angels We Have Heard on High is another traditional Christmas Carol by The Walla Recovery.  Get a whole set of Christmas music from the band by using the widget below.

3. I’m posting a link to a compilation called Alternative Rock X-mas which includes songs from everyone from The Decemberists to The Smithereens. It also includes the Alarm’s version of the John Lennon classic, Happy  XMas (War is Over).

4. Finally, today we look ahead to the turning of the western Calendar from 2011 to 2012. New Years Day is from U2’s War Album. If you don’t have War in your collection rectify that right now by purchasing and downloading the album for $4.99 from Amazon – click the album cover below.

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20th Century Masters – The Christmas Collection: The Best of Motown Christmas Compiled from Motown Christmas collections and individual artists’ Christmas albums, 20th Century Masters – The Christmas Collection: The Best of Motown Christmas gathers a dozen of the label’s holiday performances, including the Jackson 5’s “Santa Claus

Monday Music Shuffle – Not Morning, Not at All Mix

Quick and easy – taking  a day off so no morning walk and therefore no morning shuffle, but I offer up a Wintry  Mix of Music for your comfort and joy….




Bruce Cockburn is legend wait for it…. ary.   Cry of a Tiny Babe came from his Nothing But a Burning Light Album.  

(click on picture to download a 1995 release from the Columbia Records Radio Hour featuring Bruce along with Lou Reed, Rosanne Cash and Rob Wasserman)




The Who perform Christmas from the rock opera, Tommy. “And Tommy doesn’t know what day it is…”




(Click on album cover to buy the Deluxe Edition of Tommy by the Who)

And finally, more from The Walla Recovery’s A Star, A Star Vol. 3 – it’s the Christmas staple Angels We Have Heard on High.



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Friday Morning Music Shuffle – Wrong Antidote Mix

Anticipation is building – look for the big unveiling of the Band of the Year around noon CST.

Meanwhile, it’s a cold and wet December day, and I’m jumping right into my Winter/Holiday Playlist. I actually took a bunch of songs off from last year because I had anticipated migrating to a new MP3 player with great capacity by this time, but now it appears that isn’t going to happen any time soon.  In the meantime, we have a great playlist with more songs waiting to be added.

1.  Nashville Rock icons Jason & the Scorchers tear it up on the Christmas classic, Oh Holy Night.  The song can be found on the 2005 benefit album To: Kate – A Benefit for Kate’s Sake.

(click on album cover to get To: Kate – A Benefit for Kate’sSake)

2.  A repeat from Tuesday, Carol of the Bells/The Holly and the Ivy by The Walla Recovery
 (click on the Band name to go get the download which includes Carol of the Bells/The Holly and the Ivy)

(click on album cover to get “with trembling…” by The Walla Recovery)

3.  The late Alex Chilton and his band mates in Big Star do Jesus Christ from the classic record Third/Sister Lovers. 
  (click on the album cover to get Third/Sister Lovers by Big Star)

 4. A warm, winter song from Mumford & Sons – Winter Winds.
(click on album cover to get Sign No More by Mumford & Sons) 




5.  Hopefully no matter what Holiday you celebrate or don’t celebrate you can get behind the sentiment of this song.  It’s Peace on Earth by U2 from All That You Can’t Leave Behind.
(click on album cover to get All That I Can’t Leave Behind by U2) 


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Jason & The Scorchers We believe it is important to preserve what makes music special, and make it easy to craft listening experiences. At MOG, browse millions songs and play them instantly. Or just turn on radio where you can stop and replay songs. You can also create playlists for any occasion, and even download songs to your mobile. We are dedicated to employing the cleanest but most powerful technology so you can enjoy music as much as ever.

Deck The Hall Ball: Mumford and Sons Death Cab For Cutie Foster the People Deck The Hall Ball: Mumford and Sons Death Cab For Cutie Foster the People at Key Arena Seattle on 12/07/2011

A Very Special Christmas The ‘Very Special Christmas’ albums began appearing in the late 1980s. A series of yuletide-themed compilations that featured contemporary rock stars performing beloved Christmas songs (some secular, some not) the albums were recorded and issued to raise money for the Special Olympics. Volume One emerged in 1989, and by the holiday season of 2001-2, four sequels had been produced and issued. Now, the home video release A Very Special Christmas compiles some of the most memorable music videos and live performances of songs from those initial albums, with additional renditions of holiday tunes culled from the 1998 and 2000 Christmas at the White House specials. Performers include Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow, Wyclef Jean, Tracy Chapman, Jon Bon Jovi and many others. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Wednesday Morning Music Shuffle – Keep off the Moors Mix

Good Morning… okay it’s afternoon, but this is still your morning music shuffle cause I listened to it this morning.  Votes are pouring in for the Band of the Year Readers Poll. Get info on how to vote here and mainly check out all 27 of these outstanding bands and artists.

First:  Indie-Classical Sextet ymusic class up our playlist with a St. Vincent composition called Proven Badlands from their debut (Kickstarter funded) album Beautiful Mechanical.

(click on album cover to buy Beautiful Mechanical by ymusic)

Second:  Manchester Pop/Rock band The Hollies CCR-inspired classic, Long Cool Woman (in a Black Dress) with Graham Nash’s replacement Allan Clarke on vocals (released by EMI to compete against a Polydor release with yet another lead singer).

  (click on album cover to buy Greatest Hits: The Hollies)

Third and Fourth:  A couple of Christmas tracks from Band of the Year nominees – The Walla Recovery.

The Carol of the Bells/The Holly & the Ivy combines an early 20th Century Ukrainian Christmas carol with a Traditional English carol. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen is another traditional English Christmas Carol. 

   http://noisetrade.com/service/sharewidget/?id=b4637ce1-1973-4922-b17f-b9184da86a67  
(use the widget above to get your free download of A Star, A Star Vol. 3 by TheWalla Recovery)

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Best of the Hollies [Collectables] This 1993 (reissued in 2003) collection from Collectables is almost identical to The Best of the Hollies, Vol. 1, a 1988 EMI-Manhattan release. Like its predecessor, it sticks to a lean ten-song selection, including “Bus Stop,” “On a Carousel,” “Carrie An

Strange Mercy As clever and insightful as Annie Clark’s first two St. Vincent albums were, she sometimes seemed slightly removed, and perhaps somewhat above, her songs’ subjects. However, she’s down and dirty with them on Strange Mercy, a collection of cracked veneers, eye-level confessions, and portraits of breaking points. It’s tempting to call this her most genuine album, but it’s probably more accurate to say it’s Clark’s least academic-feeling set of songs. Contrast has always been a major part of her music, and Strange Mercy’s juxtapositions of harshness, softness, truth, lies, cruelty, and kindness feel especially pointed and potent. Most apparent is her use of opposing sounds; working with producer John Congleton, she focuses on luxurious strings and woodwinds that float above wobbly keyboards and ugly, distorted guitars that emphasize that these songs are under pressure. Clark finds plenty of range within this palette, though, busting out the talkbox on “Neutered Fruit”’s confrontational jazz-rock and a dance-pop beat on the subtly frantic “Hysterical Strength.” Less obvious are the emotional shifts many of these songs undergo, and how they blur the album’s contrasts. On the title track, Clark goes from vulnerable to protective to violent as she sings “I’ll tell you good news that I don’t believe/If it will help you sleep,” and on “Champagne Year,” she confesses and deceives at the same time. “Cruel” is Strange Mercy’s definitive track, putting inspired lyrics like “They could take or leave you/So they took you then they left you” atop strings and woodwinds straight from a vintage musical and a messed-up, fuzzed-out guitar solo. The song gets increasingly anxious as it closes, a pattern Clark repeats throughout the album; indeed, while these songs are some of her most fragmented, each song on Strange Mercy is tied to another. “Surgeon” shares a stuttering beat with opening track “Chloe in the Afternoon” and a similar melody to the declaration of independence that is “Cheerleader.” There’s so much going on musically on Strange Mercy that it could be easy to overlook Clark’s growth as a songwriter, but “Year of the Tiger” boasts fully realized storytelling as well as a melody that would do Joni Mitchell or Carole King proud. Full of great lyrics and great playing, Strange Mercy is St. Vincent’s most reflective and most audacious album to date, and Clark remains as delicately uncompromising an artist as ever. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi