Monday, December 24, 2012

Countdown to Christmas Playlist - The Stocking is Stuffed

Merry Christmas, blog followers. I have cats around me, Christmas music playing, plenty of knitting, and the final countdown blog post is today.

Here is the entire playlist, song, artist and album. All of this music is available on Spotify, and if you have a Spotify account, you can get the whole playlist by clicking on the link below. (Note: Links will not be duplicated in this list - but they are the same ones used in the previous blog posts. Singles will not have an album link)

It's Christmas!

1) "Carol of the Bells" James Dooley, Christmas: Coming Soon
2) "What Christmas Means to Me" Hanson, Snowed In
3) "The Christmas Can-Can" Straight, No Chaser, Christmas Cheers
4) "Linus and Lucy" Vince Guaraldi Trio, A Charlie Brown Christmas
5) "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Classical Version" Mannheim Steamroller, Christmas Celebration
6) "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Rock Version" Mannheim Steamroller, Christmas Celebration
7) "Wizards in Winter - Instrumental" Trans-Siberian Orchestra, The Lost Christmas Eve
8) "Jingle Bells" Barenaked Ladies, Barenaked for the Holidays
9) "Carol of the Bells/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" The Piano Guys, Single
10) "Mr. Heatmiser" Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Everything You Want for Christmas
11) "Carol of the Bells" George Winston, December
12) "Joy to the World" The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
13) "The Christmas Party Sing-A-Long" Rowlf the Dog, The Muppets: A Red and Green Christmas
14) "Silent Night (More Than a Story)" Go Fish, More Than a Story
15) "Pat-a-Pan" David Archuleta, Christmas From the Heart
16) "Christmas Jam" Trans-Siberian Orchestra, The Lost Christmas Eve
17) "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" The Piano Guys, Single
18) "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" Clay Aiken, Merry Christmas With Love
19) "Holiday" The LeeVees, Hanukka Rocks
20) "Through Your Eyes on Christmas Eve" Abney Park, Through Your Eyes on Christmas Eve
21) "We Three Kings" The Piano Guys, Single
22) "I Saw Three Ships" Sting, A Very Special Christmas Playlist Plus
23) "Come and Worship" Bebo Norman, Christmas... From the Realms of Glory
24) "Silent Night" John Denver and the Muppets, A Christmas Together

There it is! My Christmas present to you, lovely blog followers. I hope you enjoy this playlist as much as I enjoyed putting it together.

Merry Christmas.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Countdown to Christmas Playlist - Day 12

Today marks the final two songs on your playlist. These were, oddly enough, the first two songs I chose for this, and they're the last ones here (I start with how I want things to end. Don't mock me).

We'll start with Bebo Norman. This is one of my all time favorite contemporary Christmas songs. It's called "Come and Worship."



Lastly we have John Denver and the Muppets. This is their rendition of "Silent Night." It includes a brief history of the song.



Tomorrow will feature the entire list complete with album names.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Countdown to Christmas Playlist - Day 11

I'm ba-ack! Two more songs for you.

Okay, this is the last Piano Guys song on this playlist. I promise. I can't help myself. It's "We Three Kings," and I'm pretty enchanted.



We also have Sting. I've been a fan of Sting since high school, and he's done an absolutely fabulous rendition of "I Saw Three Ships." This rendition is specifically from "A Very Special Christmas 3."



Oh, and if you were worried, either because you noticed that the 12th and final installation of this playlist is ending tomorrow - the 23rd for those of you who don't know what day it is - or because you wonder exactly what CD each song is on, don't worry. I'll be posting a full list with all of the info on Christmas Eve.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Countdown to Christmas Playlist - Day 10

Welcome back! I'm at my parents' place now as Christmas approaches. So I have two more songs for your playlist, as usual. Tonight we're going indie. I have two indie bands lined up with some very interesting songs from each one.

The first comes from a Jewish band called The Leevees. Usually they sing about Channukka, but their song "Holiday" is a great little piece for anyone who likes the season.

Unfortunately you're just going to have to trust me on this one. There are not any previews on the internet to be had. That's the problem with indie bands - there aren't a lot of previews because nobody knows who they are.

Abney Park is a steampunk group. They're a bunch of steampunk pirates, and their album "Through Your Eyes on Christmas Eve" is what would happen if a bunch of pirates sang Christmas songs, with understandably hilarious results. (I was driving and almost went off the road while listening to their rendition of "Baby, It's Cold Outside." If you get a chance, listen for what's really in her drink!)

This is the album's title song, "Through Your Eyes on Christmas Eve."



See you tomorrow!

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Countdown to Christmas Playlist - Day 9

It's 11pm. I've been packing and getting ready to go home for the holidays all day and I'm getting into bed. Then I go "Oh crap!" and realize I hadn't blogged today. Whoops!

The Piano Guys are back (I warned you - I had more than one song of theirs on this. They rock) with "O Come, O Come Emmanuel."



Then we have another American Idol runner up, Clay Aiken. I am absolutely in love with his rendition of "Hark! The Harold Angels Sing." Also, here's a quick thing about him: He's part of something called the National Inclusion Project which is helping to include disabled children in summer camps, after school programs and other activities. You should totally check it out and support them.



I'll be driving to my parents' place tomorrow for Christmas so I'll do my best to get a post up as soon as I get there. See you tomorrow!

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Countdown to Christmas Playlist - Days 7 & 8

Because I totally know my days of the week and thought yesterday was Monday (go figure), I completely spaced posting yesterday. Okay, we'll just play catchup.

Of all the Muppets, Rowlf the Dog is probably my favorite. He plays fantastic music and does wonderful solos and duets. The song is "The Christmas Party Sing-a-Long," but there isn't a good Youtube video for it so here's a link to a page with a short preview clip. It's from "The Muppets: A Green and Red Christmas."

The Christmas Party Sing-a-Long

The next song is by a cappella group Go Fish. They've been a favorite of mine for awhile. We're listening to their cover of "Silent Night." It's not your typical rendition, as a heads up.



A few years ago the American Idol runner up was David Archuleta. He's from Murray - not too far away from me - so being a Utah dweller I can't leave him off the list. His rendition of "Pat-a-Pan" is stunning and included on this playlist.


The Trans-Siberian Orchestra is back with their song "Christmas Jam" on the playlist! Just a little more rock to brighten your holiday.


I'll be back tomorrow with more music!

Monday, December 17, 2012

Countdown to Christmas Playlist - Day 6

Two more tracks tonight! These two have a much more classical edge to them than anything else I've played so far.

The first song is by George Winston. It's his rendition of Carol of the Bells. There are not prettier versions. Trust me on this.



The second song comes from America's choir - The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. In my opinion, it isn't Christmas without hearing them sing Joy to the World. Literally, if you haven't listened to that Santa won't come to your house. It's true.



I'll be back tomorrow with more music! See you then!

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Countdown to Christmas - Day 5

Welcome back, everyone! Two more tracks for you tonight.

The first track is from my all-time favorite group ever, The Piano Guys (be aware, they have more than one track in this playlist. I am a Piano Guys fangirl). The track is their rendition of Carol of the Bells. And yes, I totally posted this in last year's Christmas Countdown. I don't care. It rocks.



The second is from Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Yes, that's the band's name. They've got some pretty great stuff if you ask me. The song is Mr. Heatmiser. It's got a nice groove to it, so have some fun dancing at the next Christmas party.



See you all tomorrow for yet another addition to your playlist!

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Countdown to Christmas Playlist - Day 4

Today we start off with one of my favorite bands in general: Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The song is "Wizards in Winter." (BTW, this video rocks in general, not just because it has an awesome song attached to it)



The next song is by the Barenaked Ladies. Their cover of Jingle Bells is... interesting, to say the least. Have fun with it, I know I do.



Tune in again tomorrow for some more additions to your Christmas Playlist!

Friday, December 14, 2012

Countdown to Christmas Playlist - Day 2 and 3

Terribly sorry for not posting last night, but I was struck with a monster headache after work and couldn't even look at a computer screen. So today I'm posting in the morning and you're getting last night's songs and today's songs. And since today's songs are a variation on the same theme, I've probably planned this perfectly and wasn't even trying.

Song number 3 on your playlist will be The Christmas Can-Can by Straight, No Chaser.



Song number 4 is a song that's been repurposed into a Christmas classic: Linus and Lucy by Vince Guaraldi.



Songs number 5 and 6 are both by Mannheim Steamroller. They are two versions of the same song, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

The first is the classical style variation.



The second is the rock variation.



Tune in tomorrow for more of your playlist!

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Countdown to Christmas Playlist - Day 1

Hey, everyone! I'm back, and I've been spending some time building a particularly cool Christmas countdown for this year.

This year I'm going to build you a Christmas playlist, two songs at a time until Christmas Eve. All of these songs can be found on Spotify and I'll provide a link to the playlist  at the end of the countdown.

We'll start things off with the James Dooley arrangement of Carol of the Bells.



We will then move onto a favorite of mine, Hanson's "What Christmas Means to Me."



Hope you guys have fun with this!
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Help, The Stash is Attacking! When Yarn, Knitting and Growing Up Go Terribly Awry by Kimberly Lewis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at thestashattacked.blogspot.com.