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]
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]
Merry Gentlemen, Start Your Engines! An adjunct to the Hot
Rod Rock series, Hot
Rod Holiday (1997) collected 16 festive songs by vintage rock artists popular with
grease monkeys and the ladies who love them. Only one song is actually about a car, but most Christmas collectors (and gearheads) will enjoy the hell out of it. [read more]
Hey Sister, Go Sister! Patti LaBelle started out as lead singer of a girl group, the Bluebelles, and their 1963 Christmas album is charming, but not much more. LaBelle would record several holiday records befitting the diva she became, but none approached the funk grandeur of "Lady Marmalade" or the turbo-charged polish of "New Attitude." [read more]
Not So Easy Listening. The 90's lounge revival spurred a frenzy for all things swank and spawned an appreciation for vintage pop music outside the realm of rock - and a boatload of reissues to cash in on the craze. For the enthusiast, Croon And Swoon is a fine introduction to classic holiday pop, and for the dabbler it's a one-stop shop. [read more]
Christmas Time's A-Coming. When I first dove into hip Christmas music, Emmylou Harris' 1979 album Light Of The Stable was newly minted. Decades later, it has aged very well, indeed. Much like the rest of Emmylou's forward-thinking country music, the album is joyful, mournful, traditional, and visionary - without contradiction. [read more]
A Punchbowl Full Of Joy. It's just five songs long, and it was just a local record, but A
Boston Rock Christmas (1983) smokes from start to finish, covering everything
from roots rock to techno pop to hardcore punk - and the Del Fuegos make one of their earliest appearances on vinyl. But beware, dear reader, it's rare beyond description. [read more]
Our Festive Friends. It takes a village to nurture an obsession, and I've collected a whole page of my favorite places to commiserate about my love of (and addiction to) wacky Christmas music. This set of merry links will convince you that you are not alone. [get linked]
Tortured Carols. Punk and new wave helped pull Christmas music back from the brink, embracing the genre with great abandon and irreverence, helping spur the revival that continues unabated to this day. Rhino's New Wave Xmas collects 17 of the musically lighter moments, including classics by the Pogues, Pretenders, and Squeeze. [read more]
Christmas Gumbo. It's taken me a while to take a close look at Rhino Records' Alligator Stomp: Cajun Christmas. Why? I don't really like Cajun music that much. But, that's my problem. On its own terms, it's a great way to spice up your holidays. But, compared to Rhino's other compilations, it's got some problems. [read more]
The 12 Plays Of Christmas. In 2007, the Indie Rock Cafe published an amazing set of holiday playlists ranging from a handful of classics to an endless supply of genuinely obscure bands sure to thrill the kiddies and stump obsessive collectors. But, the playlists fell into disrepair, so I rescued them just for you! [listen & download]
Wicked Reindeer Games. I'm old enough to have witnessed Chris Isaak's emergence as the "It Boy" of roots rock in the late '80s. Overall, his Christmas music lacks the fire of rockers like "Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing" and the smoldering passion of his greatest hit, "Wicked Game." But, there's still a lot to like. [read more]
Instant Record Collection. Rhino Records' Christmas Classics was as close to an instant record collection as you could find when it was released in 1988. It was one of the first of Rhino's historic series of Christmas compilations, and all 18 tracks are, indeed, classic - even if the album lacks the focus that would make the series so great. [read more]
A Little Bright Star. The 1965 Diana Ross & The Supremes record Merry Christmas is one of the weaker Motown Christmas albums - but that's a pretty competitive field. It certainly yields rewards, though, particularly in its 2017 ultimate edition. Simply put, most Motown fans will adore the crap out of it. [read more]
How Comfort and Joy Turned into Obsession and Compulsion. For the incurably curious, I've written a page explaining me and my crazy website, Hip Christmas. Like most of you, I love cool and strange holiday music. The difference is, I have a problem with boundaries. Many thousands of records later, here we are! [the whole sad story]
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]
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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