A Christmas Gift For You
2005
For a brief time, I'm offering free MP3's of a five
treasures from my voluminous collection - songs I love and that I'm confident you
can't find easily at any store. These are relatively lo-fi files, so
no one should get too upset (we hope) at this petty larceny. Click on the pictures,
song titles, or MP3 links to get your Christmas off to a rockin' start! Like Phil
Spector, I'm pleased to offer this Christmas gift for you.
Randy Anthony
Albert Brooks, "Daddy's Christmas" (1974)
Once upon a time, Albert Brooks was the younger, hipper, West Coast edition of Woody Allen. Brooks never
got that famous, and he's certainly not been as prolific (six films in forty-or-so years, not counting
his more frequent acting gigs), but then, he never married his stepdaughter, either. Nearly lost to history,
sadly, are the comedy records Brooks made early in his career. Both were brilliant, and neither has ever been
reissued. "Daddy's Christmas," released only on 45, is even more obscure - and more twisted.
Every holiday season, one of my favorite moments is hearing Brooks invoke this deathless bit of wisdom
during his bedtime dialogue with an unsuspecting child actor, "Honey, sometimes I wonder if through sheer
stupidity children aren't just as smart as any grownup."
MP3, 4.5 MB (ripped from vinyl)
Cheap
Trick, Christmas Christmas (1996)
Recorded in 1995, this song was ultimately released
in 1996 on Gift, a 2-track charity fundraiser available only
in Cheap Trick's hometown of Rockford, Illinois. The a-side, "Come On Christmas" (based on "Come On Come On" from In Color, 1977), has already been unleashed on the general public in an extended version on the band's boxed set, Sex America Cheap Trick. But "Christmas Christmas," a manic
rave-up merely 1:35 in length, is only available on the Gift EP
- which is by now pretty goddamn rare.
MP3,
2.3 MB (ripped from CD)
Mike Ireland, "Merry Christmas
From A Bar" (1997)
Despite glowing reviews, this Kansas City singer/songwriter and his band
Holler remain largely unheard - too dark to be revivalists,
too traditional to qualify as alternative country. Their 1998 debut, Learning
How To Live,
featured the tender ballad,
"Christmas
Past." An early mix of the song had been released by Sub Pop Records as
a promo-only single also featuring the otherwise unavailable song "Merry
Christmas From A Bar." In fact, Ireland adapted that song from Austinite
Michael Hall's "Merry
Christmas From Mars," wresting a true country weeper from Hall's weirdo
carol.
MP3,
3.2 MB (ripped from CD)
Native Tongue, "Do
You Hear What I Hear?" (1983)
One of my all-time fave raves, A
Boston Rock Christmas, is an obscure, 12-inch
EP notable mainly for the recorded debut of the Del Fuegos. With the exception
of that song (included on Ho
Ho Ho Spice),
none of the tracks has ever appeared on CD. Regardless, all five songs are
priceless, including this one.
Native Tongue's slouching insouciance and punk clatter perform the perfect
deconstruction of Bing Crosby's 1963 query.
MP3,
3.6 MB (ripped from vinyl)
Leon Russell, "Christmas
In Chicago" (1972)
Leon Russell penned "Christmas In Chicago" as
the b-side to his "Slipping Into Christmas," releasing the single
on his Shelter Records in 1972. "Christmas In Chicago" is defensibly
the better song - certainly it's the least weird - conforming to a more traditional
blues structure and featuring some snappy steel licks. All the same, the
eerie a-side slipped up to #4 on the Billboard Christmas chart. Oddly, Russell
has never included either song on one of his albums, nor has he licensed them
for inclusion elsewhere. DCC Records did, however, release the songs on a promotional
CD single to publicize their 1989 reissue of Russell's Shelter catalog.
MP3,
3.6 MB (ripped from CD)