Podcast Segment: New Holiday Tunes

Note: The title of this blog is actually a reference to a podcast that’s never gotten off the ground. If I was naming it now, I’d probably call it “Musical Musings of a Dinosaur,” or something similar. But I actually do a two-minute music news segment on the Earth Station Onehttp://esopodcast.com podcast, and after doing so for over a year now, it’s occurred to me to more proactively tie the two together. So roughly once a week I’ll do a short post that’s the basis for the segment, with (hopefully) more info than I can get into on the show. We’ll see how it goes! 

The holiday season is upon us, and that means it’s time to start spinning and streaming the holiday tunes. If you’re tired of the same old same old, there are always new releases and this year’s no exception. Here are four new albums to add to your holiday rotation: 

Fifty-two years after their heyday, the Monkees have released their first Christmas album, “Christmas Party,” produced by Fountain of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger, with new vocals by Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and (supposedly) Peter Tork, along with vintage recordings of the late Davy Jones that are apparently taken from his 1976 album “Christmas Jones” and include “Silver Bells” and “Mele Kalikimaka”. Tork has been very quiet this year for undisclosed reasons, and it’s not clear how involved he was in the recording. 

The album features new songs written by Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo (“What Would Santa Do”) and Andy Partridge of XTC (“Unwrap You At Christmas”). Novelist Michael Chabon and Schlesinger collaborated on “House of Broken Gingerbread,” while R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey of the Minus 5 wrote the title track and also play on a cover of Big Star’s “Jesus Christ.” Nesmith didn’t write any of the songs, but does sing lead on “The Christmas Song” and “Snowfall.”Other tracks on the album include “Wonderful Christmastime,” “Angels We Have Heard on High” and “Merry Christmas, Baby.”

Also, Nesmith has recovered from the quadruple bypass heart surgery he was forced to undergo this year while on tour with Dolenz; he’s already back on the road with The First National Band, and the four canceled shows from the Mike and Micky Show will be made up next March. 

Another legend releasing a first Christmas album is Eric Clapton, whose “Happy Xmas” includes 14 tracks that mix a few standards like “White Christmas” and “Merry Christmas Baby” with lesser-known tunes such as “Christmas in My Hometown,” “Sentimental Moments,” and a new original, “For Love on Christmas Day.” 

John Legend is capping off a banner year with “A Very EGOT Christmas”“A Legendary Christmas.” Produced by Raphael Saadiq, the album includes “What Christmas Means to Me,” with guest Stevie Wonder and the singles “Bring Me Love” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” with Esperanza Spalding.  It’s accompanied by the “Legendary Christmas” tour, which will take in a sweep of mostly the northern half of the U.S. and wrap on December 30 in San Diego. 

And to make your holidays complete, William Shatner has released “Shatner Claus,” with his own unique stylings on your favorite holiday classics. 

Who else could bring together a lineup like this: Henry Rollins for “Jingle Bells,” Billy Gibbons (“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”,) Brad Paisley (“Blue Christmas,”), Judy Collins (“White Christmas”), Iggy Pop (“Silent Night,”) Elliot Easton (“Run Rudolph Run”), Rick Wakeman, Ian Anderson (“Silver Bells,”), Todd Rundgren and Artimus Pyle (“Winter Wonderland,”) and more. 

Mr. Zander Needs to Use the Phone: Encounters with Hall of Famers

Now that we’re well into nomination season, I thought I’d revisit something I brought up on Twitter a while back: How many Hall Of Fame acts have you seen live? Since that tweet, I’ve got some friends so into it that now they’re a little competitive about it: whenever one of them goes to a show, the others are checking the relevant HOF status and keeping score.

I’ve seen more than 80 artists thus far in life; a good percentage of them are now Hall of Famers and more will be soon, with the Cure, Todd Rundgren and Def Leppard on the ballot right now.

Was It All Worth It: A Fan’s View of “Bohemian Rhapsody”

With big personalities, conflicts, and drama to spare, the saga of bringing the Freddie Mercury and Queen biopic to the big screen came to rival the story it was set to portray. But at long last,”Bohemian Rhapsody” is in theaters worldwide, and for its creators, the question “Was It All Worth It?” looks to have been answered, at least financially: it’s opened at No. 1 in more than 50 markets and racked up $142 million in its second weekend. Remi Malek’s transcendent performance as Mercury is generating Oscar buzz, and the song itself has re-entered the UK charts. Just like the band did in its heyday, the movie has underwhelmed critics, so as a fan for more than 40 years, I was optimistic, but unsure what I’d find. Here’s my answer: