Best christmas music according to redditors
We found 343 Reddit comments discussing the best christmas music. We ranked the 208 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 343 Reddit comments discussing the best christmas music. We ranked the 208 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Vince Guaraldi Trio's album A Charlie Brown Christmas
...and can I just say that the soundtrack is by far the best Chrsitmas album I own.
Any song off of Bob Dylan's new album, Christmas In the Heart.
Oh god, it is torture. I have included the link, so you can torture yourself too!
http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Heart-Bob-Dylan/dp/B002MW50KO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1260382154&sr=8-1
In my more-than-humble opinion, the only Christmas album worth listening to--in any genre--is the timeless original Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack.
...sigh... $25 for this pre-order, or $12 on green vinyl from a variety of places.
Pre-order for $25 from Newbury Comics, or you know, just buy the fucking thing from the very same Newbury Comics for $18 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002Y1OAJU).
Or even better, buy it from somebody else like one of the 3rd party sellers selling it for $11. Insound marked theirs down to $5 before selling out.
Newbury can fuck right off with all of these unnecessary and overpriced reissues. I don't know why anyone buys them. 50-60% markups on titles that are readily available elsewhere, yet people eat that shit up. It makes zero sense.
Bing Crosby - Merry Christmas
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MP2JIVI/
The one complaint I have about this is that many of these pieces deserve to be listened to in their entirety. I don't generally like Germanic operas - and listening to the entire Ring Series from Wagner would take something like 9 hours - and even then there are relatively few songs that stand out to me. With that in mind, I'd like to first thank you for putting this up and add just a bit to what you've already listed. I've tried to find some of the best recordings I can, which are often very cheap from Amazon if you buy them used.
Carmen is one of the very best operas, but that's for another discussion. You really can't go wrong with anything from Bizet.
Also Sprach Zarathustria is an entire work. The piece most commonly known from 2001: A Space Odyssey is merely the first piece.
Carmina Burana most certainly belongs in this list, as its signature piece (O Fortuna) is frequently used for a cheap dramatic effect.
I am fairly certain the band name "Modest Mouse" is a direct reference to a classical composer, Modest Moussorgsky.
Numbers listed refer to the track number in the listed album.
Album/Work|Composer|Notable examples
:----|:----|:----
Peer Gynt Suite | Edvard Grieg | 1 - Morning Mood, 4 - In the Hall of the Mountain King
The Nutcracker | Tchaikovsky | 3 - March, 19 - Waltz of the Flowers, 22 - Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
Carmen / L'Arlésienne Suites | Georges Bizet | 1 - Les Toréadors, 2-3 - Prelude / Aragonaise, Habanera
Also Sprach Zarathustria, bonus: The Planets | Richard Stauss, bonus: Holst | 1 - Einleitung or Sonnenaufgang (prelude or sunrise), 10 - Mars, the Bringer of War, 12 - Mercury, the Winged Messenger
Carmina Burana | Carl Orff | 1 & 25 - O Fortuna, 6 - Tanz, 15 - Amor Volat Undique
Pictures at an Exhibition / Night on Bald Mountain | Modest Moussorgsky | 12 - The Great Gate of Kiev, 16 - Night on Bald Mountain (Fantasia version)
Rimsky-Korsakov: Greatest Hits | Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov | 1 - Flight of the Bumblebee, 10 - Procession of the Nobles, 6 - Fandago Asturiano
I have been saying for years that Christmas With The Rat Pack is best holiday CD that has ever been made, or ever will be.
https://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Brown-Christmas-Green-Vinyl/dp/B002Y1OAJU
Ella at Christmas is amazing. My go-to. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ella-Wishes-You-Swinging-Christmas/dp/B00006WL1Q
Well you've already got my favourite one :P but for the sake of variety, try some of these (not all of them are ALL jazz, but I would say they're all 'jazzy'):
Baby it's Cold Outside
Boogie Woogie Christmas
Christmas with the Rat Pack
Have Yourself a Jazzy Little Christmas
A Jazz Christmas
Jazz for Joy: A Verve Christmas Album
Jazz to the World: A Christmas Collection
Merry Mixmas (one of my other favorites - most of them are originally jazzy, but were remixed)
EDIT: Formatting.
Ok... here's a link to the Christmas Album he released:
http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-In-Heart-Bob-Dylan/dp/B002MW50KO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406143693&sr=8-1&keywords=dylan+christmas+cd
I love Dylan as a folk singer, but when I hear these clips, my ears bleed.
By definition, songs he records are within his repertoire, right? If you can call these "good", then there's nothing more I can say.
Yeah, I would also recommend Sufjan Stevens' Christmas collection.
The whole "Jazz For Joy" Verve Christmas album is terrific. Shirley Horn's take on "The Christmas Song" alone is worth the cost of the whole album. When I looked up the link, I noticed it's only five bucks on Amazon in the U.S.
In the spirit of the game's "Holiday" ambiance, I intend to listen to "Hung for the Holidays"
EDIT - On a more serious note, I'll probably listen to the S.V.E.R. Soundtrack, particularly this song.
This reminds me that it is about time to break out Songs For Christmas. It is a fantastic album by Sufjan and a must have for Christmas music lovers.
O Come O Come Emmanuel
Star of Wonder
I have been on a retro Christmas album kick. Recently grabbed:
Christmas With The Chipmunks
Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas!
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Christmas Gift for You
Merry Christmas
The Hi-Fi will be full of Christmas cheer this holiday season.
My personal favorites:
X-M@$ - Corey Taylor
Oh Holy Night - Halford This is just one, but the entire album Winter Songs by Halford is just all, well, winter and Christmas songs sung by Rob Halford. Can't beat the Metal God!
Also, I recommend We Wish You a Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year. It has the aforementioned Alice Cooper song, plus ones with Dio and Lemmy and the like.
I am convinced that the acute need to buffer the onslaught of horrible, horrible holiday music is why Apollo and the muses cast Vince Guaraldi into the fray, all old-school Clash of the Titans styled. (At least that's what his biography on wikipedia used to say...)
Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack #ftw
My girlfriend's favorite track. I personally don't really like any Sufjan except for this song and maybe 1 or 2 others. For those wondering, he has a 5-cd box set with all sorts of Christmas/Christian songs: http://www.amazon.com/Songs-Christmas-Sufjan-Stevens/dp/B000HLDF0O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322873234&sr=8-1
He's very good!
In no particular order, my favorite Christmas albums are:
Agreed, this is a fantastic set of tunes. Actually, this is one of the few times I've bothered to buy the physical CDs -- the box set comes loaded with extras:
>This 5-CD box set includes all five volumes, plus a 42-page booklet with an original Christmas essay by acclaimed American novelist Ricky Moody, two essays, a short story by Stevens, a holiday sticker, chord charts, lyrics, comic strip, family portrait poster, photos, and an animated video.
(from Amazon description)
Plus, creative, independent artists like Stevens definitely deserve to see some of the money from their satisfied fans.
A Very She & Him Christmas tends to get a lot of play in our house and in the car as do the Sufjan Stevens Christmas albums. We also tend to listen to a lot of straight folk at Christmas too.
Depends on the music and whether you originally ripped to MP3 or AAC. A couple of years ago, I ran a test on my $10k home system where I ripped a couple of well-recorded songs to MP3, AAC, and Apple Lossless Encoder (ALE); burned them back to a CD; and took a listen.
The 128 kbps MP3 sounded obviously compromised. Cymbals sounded like bursts of white noise and the soundstage collapsed. 128 kbps AAC sounded surprisingly good, with some loss of dynamics and congestion during complex passages. I don't think that I could reliably tell the difference between 256 kbps AAC and ALE. Maybe on tracks from albums recorded with the quality of this one.
If you're listening to highly processed rock recordings, then 128 kbps AAC is just fine. For audiophile-quality classical albums, you likely want to bump up to 256 kbps AAC or better.
Make a test CD and listen for yourself. The V6s are very detailed headphones and should let you hear the difference. You'll learn more from an hour or two of your own experiments than in a day of talking to people.
william hungs christmas album.
Christmas in the Heart, hands down.
I love Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas and Louis Armstrong & Friends' "What A Wonderful Christmas" album, which has his wonderful, happy-making "Christmas In New Orleans" on it. ETA: Also, if you like New Orleans style jazz, I recommend Irvin Mayfield's new Christmas album, which is pretty great.
I might suggest, if you want a stirring performance with clarity in the orchestral texture, the complete ballet, Valery Gergiev conducting the Kirov Orchestra. Gergiev is always topnotch when it comes to interpreting Tchaikovsky...
Bob Dylan's ^^Phlegmmy Christmas In The Heart http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-In-Heart-Bob-Dylan/dp/B002MW50KO
From the album, Merry Mixmas:
 
(Everybody's Waitin' For) The Man With The Bag (Thunderball Mix)
 
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Away Team Remix)
 
And the fat man's comin' in hot with Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town (Johnny Mercer), although I always like to pretend it actually say's "Batman's coming"
Fave Albums
I think you are looking for this... Roy Hargrove, Christian McBride, Nic Payton + female vocalists Abbey Lincoln, Shirley Horn and Betty Carter.
Jazz for Joy: A Verve Christmas Album
Not trolling, just saying. Check out the Barenaked Ladies Christmas album, featuring three Hanukah songs and a Christmas ornament on the cover.
$15 on Amazon
A Charlie Brown Christmas [Green Vinyl] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002Y1OAJU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_EKb4DbA5MMVQV
This is going to sound funny, but here goes...
Jingle Bells - Diana Krall Album
The mastering on this album is fantastic, and I would say that every track is a great reference track. The brass and bass line, coupled with Diana's delivery are absolutely outstanding. No joke, this is my year-round reference.
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I don't man I remember seeing a commercial for a hipster christmas album she did with some richie valens looking dude.
You don't just do hipster christmas albums as an act..
Here it is I mean.. she's also a vegatarian and all that shit too.
Hold on, you guys are making me think maybe I shouldn't buy a copy of A Charlie Brown Christmas next November.
Prepare yourself for the sound of 1,000 angels: http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Heart-Bob-Dylan/dp/B002MW50KO.
If your'e feeling jazzy, B3 organ master Jimmy Smith's Christmas Cookin', from 1964, has been a favorite of mine for many years. It absolutely smokes.
In that same vein, An Oscar Peterson Christmas is pretty damn fine, too.
Oscar Peterson. Its nice and soothing. Nothing ground-breaking, but solid.
http://www.amazon.com/Oscar-Peterson-Christmas/dp/B000003D4X
There is always the Bob Dylan Christmas album. Would you rather be stuck with that? It sort of reminds me of what Christmas music would sound like if a scary monster was singing it.
So do the Barenaked Ladies in their Barenaked for the Holidays album. Their original songs "Elf's Lament," "Green Christmas," and "Christmas Pics" are becoming my favorite new traditions.
My personal favorite.
RULES
If you comment don't mention reddit
Mass media doesn't recognize internet shit until it reaches a huge number of people, so watch it a bunch of times (It has something to do with ad money, Im not really sure).
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Anyways remember this guy
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RrLQUN8UJg
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interweb does wonders for gay asians. people actually bought this http://www.amazon.com/Hung-Holidays-William/dp/B0002PUHSI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1301627850&sr=8-2
Howard Stern interview with Hung, about a year after American Idol.
'Hung For The Holidays' currently has a 3 1/2 star rating based on 66 Amazon reviews. On May 6, 2015 Patty Weir gave the album 5 stars, saying simply, "This was a gift."
I like Diana Krall's Christmas album quite well.
Picturing her while hearing them also helps.
I find Sufjan Stevens's Christmas album to be a pretty pleasant listen when Xmas music would be most appropriate.
Check out his entire album for more.
Here is one of my favorites
Sufjan Stevens christmas album. Amazing singer/songwriter, five full length discs of music for $14, original as well as classic songs. What more could you want?
You could try this, its all good remixes of classic songs.
Amazon link
Always a good choice to stay sane: A Charlie Brown Christmas It's a jazz trio...no Josh Groban howling at you!
I just spent all last week compiling about 24 hours worth of Christmas tunes! My favorite albums are:
And personal favorite songs are:
Christmas With the Rat Pack Gotta love it.
"half-naked women"? If you want a great Canadian christmas album go for this hot album
We Wish You A Metal Xmas. Alice Cooper and Tim Ripper Owens sing Christmas carols, Stephen Pearcy does a fantastic rendition of Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer, and Testament's Chuck Billy covers Silent Night.
Sufjan Stevens' "Songs for Christmas" box sets. Vol. 1-5 and Vol. 6-10
Not a bad CD, Dio's take on "God rest ye merry gentlemen" is fucking epic, but as for the rest I personally wouldnt go out of my way to acquire this.
For those of you that would, I will not link you to Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Wish-Metal-Xmas-Headbanging-Year/dp/B001DZN5XA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1261686212&sr=8-3
http://www.amazon.com/Wish-Metal-Xmas-Headbanging-Year/dp/B001DZN5XA/
A sample from Los Straitjackets's Christmas album.
Michael Bolton's Christmas album is surprisingly good (as is his live show - remember he was in a hair metal band in the 80s and early 90s before becoming a balladeer. The man can SHRED a guitar).
Frank Sinatra
Vince Guaraldi
Stevie Wonder
Elvis
Johnny Cash
Louis Armstrong
Oscar Peterson
Even Bob Schneider, though I don't recommend paying over $20 for the few songs that cd has on it.
Lastly, my absolute favorite Christmas 'song,' by Cary Grant. Enjoy and share. Here's the Amazon link
NONE MORE BLACK!
I would like this one because:
Thanks for the contest! You rock!
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If you need to keep it proper.. I really like Merry Mixmas - Christmas Classics Remixed .. standard songs.. little twist
This is where it's at.
Do it online, do it online!!!
EDIT: Okay, seriously, you need to buy this. It is awesome and perfect for this time of year.