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]
I Want You Back. The Jackson 5's Christmas Album (1970) is a good example why people thought the group would be the salvation of Motown Records. They turned out to be the label's last hurrah, but it's the single best holiday record Motown ever produced - and that's saying something. [read more]
Christmas Time In The Valley. Freddy Fender's career had a lot of ups and downs, from deep in the Rio Grande Valley to the top of the pop charts. Through it all, he stayed mostly true to his Tejano roots. Sadly, his 1977 album "Merry Christmas - Feliz Navidad" isn't one of those times, but there's still a lot to like. [read more]
Gonna Be A Black Christmas, Baby. Shreveport's Jewel Records was responsible for a lot of blues, soul, funk, and swamp pop in the 60's and 70's, including a lot of Christmas music. Merry Christmas Baby collects most of it, including gems by Lowell Fulson, Charles Brown, Jimmy Reed, and the mysterious Hot Rock Mays. [read more]
A Christmas Miracle. Only a handful of Christmas albums came out of Motown Records during their "Golden Decade," and two of them belonged to Smokey Robinson & The Miracles. The first contained one of Motown's finest holiday songs, "Christmas Everyday" (1963), but the second is the better LP. [learn more]
Christmas Is For Mugs. I'm a huge Graham Parker fan, and his 1979 album Squeezing Out Sparks is a touchstone. His 1994 EP Christmas Cracker is a different subject altogether - just three songs, recorded well past his prime. Which doesn't mean I don't like it. Any Christmas record that mentions sex toys is okay by me.... [read more]
Devoted Sisters. I've been a fan of quirky, East Coast folksters the Roches since I was an impressionable college student. Nerds of a feather, you might say. Their lone Christmas album is less quirky than I'd prefer - mostly a cappella and/or traditional - but it stands out thanks to the three sisters' amazing empathy for each other's voices. [read more]
An Offer You Can't Refuse. Mob-connected New York indie Roulette Records waxed a treasure trove of doo wop, girl groups, rhythm & blues, and jazz in the 1950's and 1960's. All of that is on display on Westside's 1998 CD compilation, Christmas Past, alongside novelty songs of unspeakable weirdness. Let's spin the wheel! [read more]
A Super Sunny Christmas. Rodney Bingenheimer, aka Rodney On The ROQ, was a Los Angeles disc jockey who figured prominently in the rise of American punk, new wave, and power pop. He also compiled several influential albums including two rockin' volumes of Santa's Got A GTO. His story turns ugly, I'm afraid, but the music remains. [read more]
When You Say Lou... I loves me some Lou Rawls. Boy, can he sing, and he enjoyed Christmas music enough to cut three albums of the stuff. His 20-track Merry Christmas Baby surveys all three and is a better value than any particular one - though his first album, Merry Christmas Ho! Ho! Ho! (1967), is easily the best of the lot. [read more]
The Man In Red. Who doesn't like Johnny Cash? He recorded four Christmas albums during his long career but, sadly, none compare to his best, toughest music. His legend is monstrous, but he was also a simple country boy longing for the comforts of home. And that's the Johnny Cash we hear on his Christmas albums. [read more]
Songs for Naughty Children. First Warning Records started out as an indie label, but they were on board with corporate behemoth BMG by 1991. So, they got to include bands like the Primitives and Hoodoo Gurus on A Lump Of Coal - a pithy snapshot of early 90's alternative rock, with both barrels aimed squarely at the holidays. [read more]
Intimate Christmas Music For Young Lovers. The
legacy of Hollywood Records is both glorious and shameful, encompassing
some of the greatest holiday rhythm & blues ever waxed - including the 1956 album Merry Christmas Baby - and some of the
shabbiest reissues in the history of record collecting. [read more]
My Little Brain Isn't Very Bright. Like a lot of their catalog, the holiday music of NRBQ consists of some real gems surrounded by frequently discordant, consistently amusing noise. In this case, we have one true classic ("Christmas Wish"), a handful of keepers, and a lot of stuff that sounds like Chuck Berry crossed with Ornette Coleman. [read more]
A Marshmallow World. One of just a few artists whose names are synonymous with Christmas music, Johnny Mathis has produced more of the stuff than almost anybody. Personally, I've always been put off by Mathis' almost willful lack of soul, but he can sing like crazy, and he's got great taste in arrangers, producers, and material. [read more]
The King of Cool. My favorite thing about Dean Martin's 1959 concept album, A Winter Romance, has always been the cover. Get a load of Dino's trademark, two-timing leer... It's a good album - not a great one - but Martin sounds like he's having fun, more full of horny vigor (or spiked punch) than pious reflection on the season. [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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