Hi, I'm Tim, and I'm a Christmas music addict. (Hi, Tim.)
It all started when a friend of mine had a wedding in December, and used a lot of Christmas music in the ceremony, most from Mannheim Steamroller's first Christmas album. He also gave each of his groomsmen, including me, a copy of a Canadian Brass Christmas album. That was it. I was hooked. I could hardly walk through a mall at Christmas time without picking up one or two CDs.
Sometimes I ask myself, just how many versions of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" does one guy need? But usually, I just add to the collection, and try not to think about the possibility of encountering a bad version of "The First Noel."
I've got some taste, though: I've never even been tempted to pick up any of the "Very Special Christmas" CDs, nor have I touched any Motown or hip-hop Christmas albums.
I do, however, have all of the aforementioned Mannheim Steamroller Christmas albums. And the GRP Christmas Collection, volumes 1-3. Harry Connick, Jr.'s "When My Heart Finds Christmas" is a great one. Chicago 25 has one of the few renditions of "The Little Drummer Boy" that I don't just hate. David Phelps, a man whose voice I covet, blows me away with "O Holy Night" on his "Joy, Joy" album. The King's Singers, Rockapella, The Gaither Vocal Band, Bryan Duncan, Larry Carlton, Manhattan Transfer, and even the Trans-Siberian Orchestr all have a place in my special case full of over 50 holiday CDs.
My favorite at the moment is a new one, by my buddy Ike Graul and his cohorts in Blue Line Max. They're an a cappella sextet out of Portland, OR, and they have a smooth sound. I love their arrangement of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" and "O Holy Night." Just the bomb!
I know what you're saying. You're saying, "Tim, you've got to stop. You can't go on like this." But, hey, it's not a real problem. I can quit anytime I want. I just don't want to right now.
God rest ye, merry gentlefolks.
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Tim, not to make you jealous or anything, but I bought Mannheim Steamroller tickets for my wife for her birthday. It's next Saturday evening here in OKC. Growing up in Omaha, NE (where Chip Davis is from, I believe), they were a big deal. Far too big for us to ever get tickets, though.
I've got a pretty big Christmas music fetish of my own.
Oh, sure, I'm not jealous.... much.
One of Chip Davis' buddies is John Rutter, who is a choral director and arranger. He has done some of the best arrangements of old English music that I have ever heard.
Okay, for some other great music, which you can't possibly trump me by seeing live, go to www.animusic.com and order the DVD. Just do it. Oh, okay, I guess you can view the clips first, but you'll want the DVD. Trust me on this.
We sang some Rutter works in college. don't remember which ones, but do remember that they were wonderful works.
Oh -- Here's a CD not to get. It's called A Music Box Christmas. It's very, very tinny, as the title would suggest. Kind of reminds one of a slow-motion scene in a horror movie. I was rolling sausage balls while listening to it and it was torture. But I didn't want to go to the effort of getting up and scrubbing my hands just to change the music. Rob finally wandered by and I had him change it about 7 songs in.
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