December 9, 20232 yr Like the title says... I'm looking for Christmas music that more or less meets the following criteria Doesn't suck Not "pop" or modern Ideally instrumental, orchestral, and/or choral Doesn't have to be mainstream Some of these are the vibe... and maybe my only modernish.... Just sounds clean & lush You get the idea... PS Surly search is the Mariah of Christmas music
December 9, 20232 yr December and Charlie Brown Christmas are my go to LPs this time of year. Looks like you're covered.
December 10, 20232 yr "Charlie Brown Christmas" is awesome. I'm a decent piano player, and some of that Vincent Guaraldi stuff is surprisingly hard to play. My hands always get tied up on "Linus & Lucy".
December 10, 20232 yr It's perfect to relax to in your mid-century modern furnished Don Draper condo as you have a drink or ten.
December 10, 20232 yr Author 14 hours ago, GhostOfTomJoad said: December and Charlie Brown Christmas are my go to LPs this time of year. Looks like you're covered. December is a great one, and I like the Charlie Brown album as well, but I'm interested in other great recommendations too. I have music on all the time (not just around Christmas), two albums aren't going to get it done.
December 10, 20232 yr I don’t know when it starts but KUTX goes wall to wall Christmas at some point and it is terrific. They do a great job of playing unique and eclectic music, including a lot of instrumental music. We stream it every Christmas whenever it starts.
December 10, 20232 yr Do you like jazz outside of the Vince Guaraldi? Christmas Cookin' by Jimmy Smith and Merry Ole Soul by Duke Pearson are pretty good.
December 10, 20232 yr 3 hours ago, BrickHorn said: Not instrumental, but this is the gold standard for Christmas music: Linky no worky (for me at least).
December 10, 20232 yr Author 2 hours ago, gofuckyourself said: Classic choral arrangement Username checks out
December 10, 20232 yr 3 hours ago, jimmyjazz said: Linky no worky (for me at least). Bing Crosby’s White Christmas.
December 12, 20232 yr Based on OP's criteria, I think this one may fit. Opening number alone is worth the price of admission:
December 13, 20232 yr I was talking to the wife about this one earlier today. 1978 Sam Houston Coliseum, I got a late invite from a gal on the beach in Galveston. Great song as part of a great show.
December 13, 20232 yr The Three Tenors Christmas album is incredible. Love Andrea Bocelli with the Space Christian Choir (and pretty much any Christmas music by him). Randy Travis did a pretty good Christmas album sometime back.
December 13, 20232 yr Each year I purposely listen to one Thanksgiving song, and one Christmas song, and then call it a season. Humbug.
December 15, 20232 yr It's got some nice guitar work on it that you usually don't find on Christmas music.
December 17, 20232 yr Over the last couple of decades I have done a lot of digging for seasonal songs that don't suck, because I really hate the 99.9 percent we always here that really are trash. Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but this is one of my faves.
December 21, 20232 yr Holy crap! I love how the other bass player just puts his bass down about 45 seconds in. Drummer ain't bad, either.
December 21, 20232 yr This one has been on heavy rotation this year. @jimmyjazz Try the piano on this
December 23, 20232 yr On 12/10/2023 at 8:07 AM, Stringer said: I don’t know when it starts but KUTX goes wall to wall Christmas at some point and it is terrific. They do a great job of playing unique and eclectic music, including a lot of instrumental music. We stream it every Christmas whenever it starts. FYI, this has begun. Give it a listen.
December 26, 20231 yr On 12/12/2023 at 8:23 PM, horn4life said: I was talking to the wife about this one earlier today. 1978 Sam Houston Coliseum, I got a late invite from a gal on the beach in Galveston. Great song as part of a great show. It was a great show, but are you sure about that venue? I was at his show at The Summit on December 8, 1978. Here is the playlist: Dec 8, 1978 The Summit, Houston, TX Set One Badlands Streets of Fire It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City Darkness On The Edge Of Town Spirit In The Night Independence Day The Promised Land Prove It All Night Racing in the Street Thunder Road Jungleland The Ties That Bind Santa Claus Is Coming To Town The Fever Fire Candy's Room Because the Night Point Blank She's the One Backstreets Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) Born to Run Detroit Medley Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out You Can't Sit Down Quarter To Three
December 26, 20231 yr 1 hour ago, HouTex said: It was a great show, but are you sure about that venue? I was at his show at The Summit on December 8, 1978. Here is the playlist: Dec 8, 1978 The Summit, Houston, TX Set One Badlands Streets of Fire It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City Darkness On The Edge Of Town Spirit In The Night Independence Day The Promised Land Prove It All Night Racing in the Street Thunder Road Jungleland The Ties That Bind Santa Claus Is Coming To Town The Fever Fire Candy's Room Because the Night Point Blank She's the One Backstreets Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) Born to Run Detroit Medley Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out You Can't Sit Down Quarter To Three Yep- I was thinking about that "invite from the beach" that Coliseum show was July 15th 1978. You are correct on the Summit show. I had 10 seats on the first row balcony for that one. Good times... Thanks again to whatever gal invited me to Springsteen for that first show. It was awesome not having any expectations. Now the expectations are so high for Springsteen live that it's damn near impossible to live up to the hyped expectations. My BIL were talking about the 1980 show at the Erwin Center, he worked at Joske's here and got the ticket gal to pull the first tickets she could for him. Third row Center at "the drum." I was at that one too, but a lot farther back on the side. Regardless of all that, Springsteen's version of Santa Claus is coming to town always brings a smile to my face, for multiple reasons.
December 27, 20231 yr 3 hours ago, horn4life said: Yep- I was thinking about that "invite from the beach" that Coliseum show was July 15th 1978. You are correct on the Summit show. I had 10 seats on the first row balcony for that one. Good times... Thanks again to whatever gal invited me to Springsteen for that first show. It was awesome not having any expectations. Now the expectations are so high for Springsteen live that it's damn near impossible to live up to the hyped expectations. My BIL were talking about the 1980 show at the Erwin Center, he worked at Joske's here and got the ticket gal to pull the first tickets she could for him. Third row Center at "the drum." I was at that one too, but a lot farther back on the side. Regardless of all that, Springsteen's version of Santa Claus is coming to town always brings a smile to my face, for multiple reasons. I was at the 1980 concert at the Erwin Center as well. Second row from the stage. A guy in the frat was on the events committee and didn’t know who Springsteen was. It was amazing. I saw him again at Moody Center this year. The guy can still play.
December 30, 20231 yr Sting's Christmas album from like 15 years ago is good. You said not Pop or modern and it's not either. It sounds like it's from another time.
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.