31 days of Christmas

Day 19 The Darkness – Christmas Time (Don’t let the bells end)

This is what I believe is the 21st Century version of ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’. It’s a full on rock Christmas classic and I absolutely love it. It has a great sing-along chorus and I love the use of the choir towards the end of the track. It’s a fantastically happy tune which is exactly what we need this festive season. Justin Hawkins’ vocal range is incredible too! This also has particularly fond memories for me as it just reminds me of an amazing Christmas when I was younger.

It’s got a great video too – so Christmassy!

Awesome song.

31 days of Christmas

Day 18 Geraldine – Once Upon a Christmas Song

This is just brilliant! ‘Once Upon a Christmas Song’ is a release by Geraldine, Peter Kay’s creation in response to the amount of reality TV on screen these days. After the success of ‘The Winner’s Song’ which reached Number 2 in the UK charts in October 2008, Peter decided to release a Christmas single and so ‘Once upon a Christmas Song’ was born. This also fared well and reached an impressive Number 5 in December 2008. It’s an exceptionally cheesy but catchy tongue-in-cheek song all about how Christmas songs are played and sung ‘over and over and over again’ until they get in our heads. In the process, this song also becomes ingrained in our brains…

And to make this even better, this song (in addition to ‘The Winner’s Song) is co-written by none other than my idol, Mr Gary Barlow!

Gotta love parody Christmas songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kmPz5IbU90

John Mayer & Katy Perry – Who You Love

I just watched the new John Mayer and Katy Perry video and I fan-boyed SO MUCH. It’s so bizarre but absolutely amazing that two of my favourite artists are not only dating but have recorded such a perfect song together.

This song took me by surprise when I listened to the previews of John’s album ‘Paradise Valley’ before its release as I had no idea he’d release anything the couple had recorded on one of his records. I’ve loved it since hearing the preview and no matter how many times I listen, it never ever gets dull. It’s one of the softest songs I have ever heard and lyrically it’s fantastically honest. They sound gorgeous together when they harmonise and it’s lovely to hear Katy’s voice without any processing or effects.

Stunning song and a beautiful video by one of my personal favourite directors, Sophie Muller. It’s lovely to see them so happy with each other – they make such a beautiful couple.

31 Days Of Christmas

Day 17 Cliff Richard – Saviour’s Day

Say what you will about Cliff, whilst he’s not perhaps the most credible artist, he’s certainly contributed generously to Christmas pop records! Most know ‘Mistletoe and Wine’ which of course is a classic too but I’ve chosen an arguably less known track. This reached Christmas Number One in 1990 and has been voted into lists of both the best and most annoying Christmas songs.

I love this, I don’t think it’s necessarily the most Christmassy song you can hear but I think it’s a fantastic song. It’s another one that I’ve grown up to listening to every year and I just love the mood and tone of it. It’s loyal to Cliff’s style with its sway-worthy beat yet the lyrics are optimistic and it is a feel-good track. I particularly love how the track changes during the middle eight and the faded out refrain at the end of the track.

An underrated and often forgot about Christmas tune.

31 days of Christmas

Day 16 Eartha Kitt – Santa Baby

Oh how I love this song. So flirty and naughty, it’s great! Forget Rihanna and her explicit escapades in her music and videos, this song is sixty years old this year and it manages to be exceptionally flirty without explicit lyrics. Eartha Kitt’s voice is just beautifully sultry – she has one of those classic voices and I love hearing this song every year. I have enjoyed other versions too, Kylie Minogue’s version being a notable cover but I think Eartha’s is my favourite.

 

 

5 of Louis Walsh’s most annoying traits on X Factor

Louis-Walsh

1) His comparisons of less than average acts to some of the biggest artists in the world are quite frankly hilarious

Every week, Louis makes a comparison between one of the contestants to a major worldwide act whom they will never be like. These are quite often based on stereotypes. For instance, Rough Copy were compared to Boyz II Men, more than likely due to them being of the same ethnicity and because of their inclusion of harmonies in their songs. We’ve also had a comparison to Lenny Henry (yes, I’m not quite sure about that one either…) in addition to him rather creepily calling Nicholas McDonald his ‘baby Buble’. Any slight similarity between a contestant and a well known star and Louis is bound to pick up on it and build the contestant up. Then two weeks later

2) His constant reminders of his contestant’s age

HOW many times have we been reminded that Nicholas McDonald is “Only sixteen”?! And perhaps he would like to explain the relevance of this to the actual contestants’ performance. Whether it’s because he has nothing else remotely useful to say or as a way to touch the public’s hearts to make them pick up their phones, it’s just bloody annoying!

3) His pleas for people to vote

“I want everyone in Devon the pick up their phone and vote”, says Louis Walsh, simply because his act is from Devon. I hate to break it to you, Mr Walsh but you’re going to need votes from people all up and down the country for your act to have even a remote chance of getting through to next week.

4) His constant digs at Gary Barlow

More than likely because Gary Barlow was in a boy-band not managed by himself, Louis appears to have a major problem with Captain Barlow and very few weeks pass without a little dig at him or without him strongly disagreeing with his comments.

5) His knowledge of musical contexts is poor

How can we ever forget “If Berry Gordy was alive, he’d sign you”, said to Misha B after a performance during Motown week back in 2011’s series. The only problem is, Berry Gordy is still very much alive…

Louis-Walsh (1)

31 days of Christmas

Day 15 Mariah Carey – All I Want For Christmas Is You

Say what you want about this one but there’s no denying it’s become a modern classic. This is such a catchy, up-tempo song and I think it’s definitely one of the most festive songs around. It’s been covered so many times but Mariah’s is definitely the definitive, best version.

31 days of Christmas

Day 14 Chris Rea – Driving Home For Christmas

I’ve been saving some of my more loved Christmas songs ’till closer to Christmas so I figure today is a good day to feature one, especially as today is the day I go home for Christmas! This is a song that ranks in one of my all time top 3 favourite Christmas songs.

I remember first hearing it when out for a meal at Christmas time around eight years ago. Part of its appeal was it wasn’t on any of the Christmas album compilations we owned as a family and I instantly loved it, although this version must have been the original 1988 version as the one we all know today was a new version released in 2007. The original 1988 version doesn’t differ significantly but it’s a little more edgy whereas the 2007 version is a more chilled out affair.

It’s just such a great song, it’s really relaxed, a little jazzy and effortlessly Christmassy. It also happens to be one of my Mum’s favourite Christmas songs 🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czhZbqpyBm8

31 days of Christmas

Day 13 Destiny’s Child – Rudolph the red nosed reindeer

As it’s Beyonce day I thought it would be fitting for today’s song to be a Destiny’s Child interpretation of a classic! We all know and love Rudolph the red nosed reindeer but I love this version. From the awesome a capella introduction to the beautiful harmonies, it’s just a fantastic interpretation of a well known, much loved song. I love the R&B/Hip hop spin on it!

Great little music video too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYw3ue5vIuM

Sometimes it snows in April…

Just wanted to share one of my all time favourite songs with you. I’d link you to YouTube but unfortunately Prince likes to play the role of Copyright police and refuses his music to be there which is a great shame, in my opinion. But ah well.

It’s called ‘Sometimes it snows in April’ and it’s performed by one of my musical heroes; Prince. Written by the man himself with two of his then band members Wendy and Lisa, this was the final track of a soundtrack album Prince wrote/recorded for a film called ‘Under the Cherry Moon’. I came across this song two years ago when watching a Prince documentary and fell in love with it. I honestly believe it’s one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

I guess some would argue it’s ‘boring’ and ‘long’ but I think it’s one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard. I love the rawness of it – it was reportedly recorded in just one take, hence why you can hear noises such squeaky stools and fingers on guitar strings.

There’s much speculation of what this song is about. The most common is that it was simply written about the character in ‘Under the Cherry Moon’ which makes sense considering it is the soundtrack album for it! But I love the other spins too. Some say it was about Prince ‘killing off’ an alter ego he had at the time whilst others say it was about a real life friend he had.

I just find it such a melancholic yet poetic and pretty song. The lyric “Those kinda cars don’t pass you everyday” is genius in its context. Also love the opening line “Tracey died soon after a long fought civil war”. Many believe that line is about someone who has suffered from depression or something similar.

I know many will consider it just a dull and depressing song but it’s one I love very much and it means a lot to me.