Christmas Music

I love Christmas. I love music. Obviously I love Christmas Music. The three albums listed here are my absolute favorites, and I’d like to share them with you. They are all provided in MP3 format, zipped up for your convenience. Just click the album cover to download them. I know. I know. I know. I’m breaking the law by providing access to these albums, but I doubt highly that anyone will make a fuss. I do hope you enjoy them as much as I have for the past 30 years. Merry Christmas!

The Christmas Album (Paul Mauriat)

 The Christmas Album by Paul Mauriat has sustained the Average White Guy low these many years. Paul Mauriat is a French composer who only has one other notable release, a single called “Love is Blue”.

 This album is truly amazing or at least I believe it is. Of the three listed here, this is the “daytime” Christmas album. The music is very up beat and should get you into the yule tide mood. There are many favorites on this album from Jingle Bells to O’ Tannenbaum, but some of the true jems you will never hear anywhere else.Paul Mauriat’s orchestra is completely on from start to finish on this album. And you should know that this is completely instrumental; some people don’t care much for that, but I do!

 I don’t know if it was only one Christmas season, but I suspect it was more than one, but I distinctly remember the house full of this music and the smell of my mom’s Christmas cookies. Outside it was bright and white, so I was probably inside taking a break from the snow sledding. I’m smiling just thinking about it. 

This was a very difficult album to find when I found it. At the time I found it, only the LP was available, and being that it’s not all that popular of an album in the states, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find it at all. In a dumpy little vinyl shop in a dumpy little town close to my house I found this album on the shelf almost completely by itself. The only thing sitting near it was the next album… also a family heirloom.

Merry Christmas (Jackie Gleason)

If a picture speaks a thousand words, an album cover - this album cover speaks 10 million. The cover on this album is almost exactly what I could close my eyes and picture when I hear the music inside. See I never had the LP when I was growing up. My mom had a clear, purple cassette tape with the labels torn off. On side A was the album above (The Christmas Album), and on Side B, Jackie Gleason’s Merry Christmas. When the cassette turned up missing one Christmas, I was devestated. I can’t explain to you how hollow I felt after that, knowing that I had never heard ANY of the songs on either album on the radio. As soon as I was capable, I began my quest to return this music to my mom’s possession.

“One a these days, Alice…. Pow. Right in the kisser! To the Moon, Alice!” Most people know Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden, pudgy, dimwitted bus driver and main character of the very popular 1950’s TV show “The Honeymooners”. While this is of course his most notable accomplishment, it wasn’t his only one.

Gleason’s first love was classical music. Knowing he lacked the skill to become a classical musician and having the means to do so, he purchased a classical orchestra. Most people don’t know that about him, but it’s the honest to goodness truth. His orchestra has done plenty of wonderful work, but none so good as this collection of music.

Most people will be able to identify a lot of the songs on this album, but there are still some song titles I’ve never hear anywhere else by any other band or musician. Even the songs you do know, you might not immediately recognize here. Gleason’s orchestra adds a very somber, some might even say “spooky” mood to the music. For me, this was always the “night time” album. When I hear this album, I am taken back to my old house on Evaline St. I can see the snow crossing through the pool of light under the street light down the street. I can see the tire tracks on the road getting lighter and lighter as the snow fills them in. The lights from the Christmas tree blink and sparkle and cast shadows of the tree on the wall. I’m smiling.

Of the three albums I have listed here, this one brings back the most memories. Being a musician myself, all music is visual, but this one far more than any other music I’ve ever heard. I really think you’ll enjoy this album.

Christmas Time in Carol And Song (Various Artists)

Well ladies and gentleman. Here it is. One of the three greatest Christmas Albums of all time. I was born and raised listening to this album (among others, and typically only around Christmas). Last October, when the weather cooled, I got nostalgic and I wrote a post about this album. I outlined how it was special to me, and to my surprise, I wasn’t alone. Now that the weather is cooling for the season again, I’m looking forward to December again. I decided I had better publish this page before we get too late into the season. You’ve asked for it, and here it is…