Hip Christmas
Welcome To Hip Christmas! I think you'll enjoy my
dysfunctionally vast web archive dedicated to holiday music that rocks, rolls, swings, and twangs. If you do, please support
me by shopping at Amazon, Apple Music,
and Sheet Music Plus! Regardless, the best of
the season to you - no matter what month it is! [about me]
What Was New In 2024? Last year's new Christmas albums included lots of vinyl reissues, big names like Jennifer Hudson and Little Big Town, indie darlings like Dean & Britta and Phantom Planet, a full-length Tower Of Power album, a new collection from the Carpenters, and yet another Bear Family compilation. I've completed my annual obsessive, quixotic attempt to keep up with it all, including my Top 10 Albums and Top 25 Singles. [gimme gimme]
The Christmas Jukebox. My online Christmas music player is bulging with over 900 hip tunes - and counting! You can listen to the music I write about - the coolest, weirdest, and loudest holiday songs ever, all while enjoying my inimitable prose - or not! [press play]
My Face, Your Book. There's a lot of holiday hilarity going on over at Facebook, in case you can't get enough on my website - or vice versa. Check out the Hip Christmas page, and follow me for maximum holiday fun all year long. No Russian trolls, please. I also post cool cover art on Instagram and Pinterest. [follow me]
Instant Record Collection. Rhino Records' Christmas Classics was as close to an instant record collection as you could find when it was released in 1988. It was one of the first of Rhino's historic series of Christmas compilations, and all 18 tracks are, indeed, classic - even if the album lacks the focus that would make the series so great. [read more]
Feliz Navidad, Baby! Never a household name, Juan Esquivel was thrust into the hipster limelight when his music was reissued during the lounge revival of the 1990's. Part of that bounty was Merry Xmas From The Space-Age Bachelor Pad, compiling his holiday recordings for RCA and Reprise between 1959 and 1962. [read more]
A Special Product. In many ways, Sony's Reindeer
Rock is a cheap piece of crap. But, nearly all of its measly 10 tracks are insanely rare, most never reissued before or since, mastered from pristine sources. Thrill to rare rock classics by a blonde bombshell, a forgotten girl group, a juvenile Elvis, and, unlikely as it seems, Little Jimmy Boyd. [read more]
Blue Again. I've revisited Rhino Records' 1991 CD Blue
Yule: Christmas Blues And R&B Classics, and I love it even more than I did back then. It's full of the sort of weird, wonderful moments that made all those Rhino compilations such collector's delights. It's not perfect, but it was good enough for my Top 20 Albums, and it's not on Spotify. [read more]
Shoplifting You Something For Christmas. Portland-based Tim/Kerr Records released It's Finally Christmas back when a whole album of alternative holiday rock was a rare thing and a reason to celebrate. There are, indeed, some great songs here. But, too often they are obscured by pointless dissonance and hipper-than-thou diffidence. [read more]
No Present, No Cry. To western ears, reggae music can be a challenge. Perhaps that's why reggae covers of popular Christmas songs works so well - and why Rhino Records' Natty And Nice: A Reggae Christmas (1998) sounded so familiar and friendly to my ears - even though I'd never heard most of the recordings before. [read more]
Christmas Time's A-Coming. Long ago, country music was called "hillbilly" music, and nobody took offense. Rhino
Records' Hillbilly
Holiday tells the story of Christmas music during the golden age of Nashville, and by embracing the old appellation, it makes a statement: The best country music never denies its roots. [read more]
What A Wonderful Christmas. Surprisingly, jazz icon Louis Armstrong never released a Christmas album during his long, long career. But, he did cut a number of holiday singles and album tracks - enough to nearly fill up a long player. Nobody's ever compiled them all, though a couple of otherwise fine albums have come very close. [learn more]
Santa Is Real. The Louvin Brothers are the most important brother act in the history of country music, and they were the direct antecedents of the Everly Brothers, the most important brother act in the history of rock 'n' roll. Not a bad pedigree, but their Christmas album is, sad to say, less impressive. [read more]
Everything Is Cool. Wry songwriter John Prine came up with folks like James Taylor and Joni Mitchell, but he never earned such notoriety. Rather, he earned the respect of his peers and a devoted cult following. By the time of his death, however, he was universally acclaimed, and his Christmas music had become a big part of his legacy. [read more]
Horny Holidays. Some people love to bask in
the warm glow of friends and family during the holiday season. Others feel like starting a
family (or something to that effect) at Christmas time. Read about the 20 naughtiest songs in the
history of the holiday. You'll never look at a candy cane quite the same. [read more]
Yo, Santa, whuzzup? When I first heard Snoop Dogg's hilarious "'Twas
The Night Before Christmas," I assumed Christmas
On Death Row would be more of the same. I was wrong. The compilation from the infamous West Coast rap label has some good stuff (including another joint from Snoop), but it's mostly soft-headed slow jams. Sigh... [read more]
Boogie On, Santa Claus. I'm a huge proponent of Motown's Christmas music, but even I will admit they made better singles than albums. Stevie Wonder's 1967 LP Someday At Christmas is okay at best, but it yielded two excellent singles: the poignant title track and "What Christmas Means To Me," a classic uptempo Motown bopper. [read more]
Actually Very Special. After years of increasingly awful sequels, it's easy to forget what a big deal A Very Special Christmas was back in 1987. It spawned more than a few hip holiday classics, but its biggest impact was the slew of Christmas music that followed in its wake - and continues unabated to this day. [read more]
Big Guitar From Texas. A legendary wild man and notorious drunk, Evan Johns played guitar with an unhinged fervor. His 1990 Christmas album, Please Mr. Santa Claus, never earned the kudos it deserves, perhaps because it's a brief, mostly instrumental, mostly original album. But, it's bursting with personality - a lot like Evan himself. [read more]
A Christmas Gift For You. Every year, I offer free MP3's from my voluminous collection - all unavailable easily or legitimately in the music marketplace. In 2024, I revisited the legendary, exceedingly rare Flagpole Christmas albums, filling in some gaping holes and sprucing up the sound quality. [listen or download]
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