Monday, December 15, 2014

New Christmas Classics (2)

A week or so back, I asked why there isn't a new Christmas pop classic canonized. It seems like after Wham's Last Christmas (1984) and Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas (1994), there isn't a new(er) track being covered and therefore canonized into a real pop classic. I made some suggestions for newer tracks, like Ron Sexsmiths Maybe This Christmas and Low's Just Like Christmas.
Our friends over @ Lie in the Sound picked up on this (see HERE). It got me thinking, maybe it's not just one track off of Low's Christmas album (1999), it's the WHOLE album. That album is a certified classic, or at least getting there. Read a nice story on the background of that album HERE.
Taking Down the Tree, mentioned by Lie in the Sound and covered by Small Signals:

was covered some more. By Tracy Thorn, for instance (nice video), Chad Zigweid (here, thanks Brigitte)

Just Like Christmas was covered by (among others) Snow Patrol (here), Ingo Star Cruiser (here, ) David Bazan (here), Dan Croll (cool Brazilian brass version), Glenn Richards & Holiday Sidewinder (here), Sunturns (here), The Sugarpills (here), Zipliss Ellipsis (here), Cutaways (here), Vigilantes of Folk (here), That Melancholy Dream (here), this version by Blood Orphans starts very laidback, but it sure picks up. Antonin Koutny (here), Star Matters (here, they changed 'Stockholm' for 'Portland'), Woozy (here, nice version), Kill it Kid (here, jolly fiddle version), The Murder Barn (here), DIY Scarves (here,) NJ Gebhard (here) and lots of other artists. Like Hotel Glockenspiel (here) (thanks Stubby). And this one by The Wentletraps.
And this one:


Long Way Around the Sea was covered by Pedro the Lion (here), Beau Jennings & Andy Smith (here), Zach Malm (here), Joy (here) and Paal Flaata (it's on Spotify).

If You Were Born Today was covered by JP Haynie (here), The Beautiful After (here), Nancy Wallace & Jason Steel (here), Jimmy Eat World (here), Christmas Friends (here).

One Special Gift was covered by Rough Shop (here) and Insomniac (here).
The other three songs on Low's Christmas album are covers (Silent Night, Blue Christmas, Little Drummer Boy).

Did I miss other covers? Lemme know. Low, the new Mariah.

2 comments:

Lie In The Sound said...

Here's another cover of "Taking Down The Tree" by Chad Zigweid:

https://soundcloud.com/chad-zigweid/07-taking-down-the-tree

Brigitte

Stubby said...

"Just Like Christmas"

Hotel Glockenspiel
https://soundcloud.com/hotel-glockenspiel/just-like-christmas

One of my favorites--The Social Interaction Foundation (aka Help Stamp Out Loneliness)
http://wiaiwya.bandcamp.com/track/just-like-xmas-in-cottonopolis

The Wentletraps
http://popscenemanila.bandcamp.com/album/holly-ivy-and-mistletunes

The Crookes cut the song in 2009 as part of their 12 days of Crookesmas, but none of that stuff is available anymore.