The Best Christmas Albums…. Ever.

It’s raining carol concerts in the city and I’ve attended some lovely caroling events these past few weeks. What a beautiful way to usher in this season… through songs of joy and hope. I start playing carols nonstop from November 30th, which is also my sister’s birthday, and my parents have so rightly named her Carol. I wrote a poem for her on her birthday, I thought it was pretty funny… 

 

No sparkling Somerhalder

Nor sexy Holloway’s smoulder

You got the best man little sister

In my friend who resembles Richard Gere. 

 

So my sister likes these two guys (I mean, who wouldn’t, click on the links to check them out) and the first guy Ian Somerhalder plays a vampire (hence the sparkling reference) in some teen drama series, and the second guy Josh Holloway used to appear in an old series about plane crash survivors called Lost. And yeah, my friend does resemble Richard Gere, at certain angles… anyway, if you get the poem, then good. I can’t do more explaining than this… 

 

Coming back to the real reason of this post… Christmas carols, I think it’s wonderful how carols have the ability to bolster up the spirits and turn everything around you magical. These are some of the best Christmas albums ever, I dig them up every December to bring back the memories of the past growing up Christmas years, where every moment was filled with excitement and expectation. 

 

There is not a Christmas carol list anywhere in the world without the Jim Reeves collection mentioned on it. He was the epitome of the season, my parents used to play his records while we were growing up and it’s almost like a tradition to listen to him every December. Even now, back in my home town, one can still hear him crooning from houses and street corners. He will always be remembered as the person who heralded the  change in season with his delightful carols rendered in his trademark magnificent voice. 

This is another classic growing up, Boney M is more upbeat and addictive, they somehow inject you with an energy serum and the dance just gets into you. There used to be a football club in my colony and those guys used to blast the colony (at least my part of the colony) with Boney M before and after the midnight mass, and the air positively buzzed with an infectious feeling of goodwill, happiness and excitement. 

My brother Manoj has a collection of some of the best country Christmas songs I’ve ever heard,  I remember him playing Let it be Christmas by Alan Jackson a few years back and I was blown away. It’s impossible to listen to it without falling in love with the season and the man singing the song, it’s that potent. Country artists  are a class apart (at least the older ones are) and even now as I am writing this, Alan Jackson is softly playing in the background. He can make any song sound beautiful, and his Christmas album is poignant and exponentially wonderful, as time increases it only gets better and better. 

Scotty is a recent addition, he released his Christmas album this year and when I heard a few songs on it I knew it was tradition material right away. His rendition of First Noel, is so uplifting and soulful it brings tears to your eyes. And a new song I heard on his record ‘Christmas in Heaven’ is beautiful beyond words. It speaks about the loss of a loved one and the singer wonders how Christmas in Heaven is like. He asks if the snow is falling on the streets of golds or if the one who died is singing with angels right now. He wonders whether that person is kneeling with the shepherds before the divine baby now… the song gets to you, tears you up. It’s hauntingly  beautiful and Scotty does a great job, of shaking you up and making you feel alive… to wonder about the beauty of this season. 

There are a few other country Christmas songs that make it to my playlist every December like ~
Old Toy Trains by Toby Keith, 
Tennessee Christmas by Alabama,
Grown up Christmas List by Amy Grant,  
Old Time Christmas by George Strait 
among others. So listen to them, spread the Christmas cheer and have a wonderful advent season. 

 

Okay, listen to Scotty now…