The Decks Files: Sony TC-D5M (1978)

The Decks Files: Sony 'Higher-Fi advertisement, Circa 1976

Run DMC - Christmas In Hollis (1987)

A single that was included on two 1987 Christmas compilation albums featuring various artists: A Very Special Christmas (A&M records 3911) and Christmas Rap (Profile records 1247). The track was produced by Run DMC along with Rick Rubin, and has become hugely popular during the Christmas season. It re-released and reached no.78 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in 2000, 13 years after it was first released.
The title refers to Hollis, the neighborhood in Queens where Run, DMC and Jam Master Jay grew up. The track samples Clarence Carter's 1968 Christmas song Back Door Santa, as well as using the melody from Frosty the Snowman, Jingle Bells, and Joy to the World. The song was famously used in the 1988 film Die Hard, played by the limousine driver Argyle when he drives into Nakatomi Plaza's underground garage. It was heard briefly in 'Can't Fix Crazy', the final episode of the first series  of Orange Is the New Black, and was also heard at the beginning of the Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode 'Christmas'.
The song is currently being used as part of UK catalogue retailers Argos Christmas 2014 campaign.

- FVHK5K

Charles Brown - Merry Christmas Baby (1961)

First posted 21/12/2012.

R'n'B dynamite from the man who goes back so far, he even influenced Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. This much recorded tune truly evokes the spirit of the festive season.

Are we the only ones bothered by the fact that many of our most treasured holiday songs were recorded in the balmy surroundings of Los Angeles? Think about it… Bing Crosby probably played a round of golf and had a couple of cocktails by the pool before laying down White Christmas in an air-conditioned studio. L.A. also served as the backdrop for the holiday classic Merry Christmas Baby by Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers, with the great Charles Brown on vocals and piano. Guitarist Moore tried several times to recreate the success of that number - even recruiting Brown soundalike Frankie Ervin for this blatant rip-off recorded in November ’55 (just in time for the holiday season).

Who cares? We’ll take this over Michael Bublé’s Christmas any time of year. 

- FVHK5K

Merry Christmas, James Brown Style!

Post first published 22/12/2011

Between 1966 and 1970, James Brown released three Christmas-themed albums; Christmas Songs, A Soulful Christmas and Hey America.
The records are a mix of Christmas standards (The Christmas Song, Charles Brown's Merry Christmas Baby), Christmas-themed throwaways ("Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto, Go Power at Christmas Time), obvious filler ("hey, let's do a blues vamp, throw snatches of vibraphone that quote Rudoloph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and title it something seasonal like, uh, I don't know, maybe Believers Shall Enjoy (Non-Believers Shall Suffer)) and stuff that has no obvious reason for being on a Christmas album (Say It Loud (I'm Black & I'm Proud)).
In some ways, they represent James's songwriting at its worst-- the lyrics usually sound like they were entirely ad-libbed-- but his gifts as a singer, a star and a bandleader are such that the records are pretty enjoyable. I was planning to post a bunch of rips, but I discovered that all of the tracks I wanted to post except one are currently available, including a gang that had been left off Rhino's classic James Brown Xmas reissue. So instead, I'll post the one omission and run down some other faves:

This is one of my favorite James Brown songs; when I listen to it, I feel transported. I can't explain why I find it so affecting, but for a few minutes I feel flush with benevolence and optimism like, hey, maybe we all can get along. Really.

I'm Your Christmas Friend, Don't Be Hungry

James's tendency towards maudlin sentimentality on these Christmas records can get really silly, especially when a song also includes lines like "I do the monkey, the mashed potato/Whenever I'm blue", but he infuses the "I'm your friend/I'm your friend" refrain with so much soul that it really moves me.

This song probably contains more WTF? moments than any other James Brown song, and that is saying something. James begins with a shout to those who've come to see him in concert in the past year, riffing about having seen "a million peace signs", before briefly slipping into some Christian fare ("God gave his son, let us celebrate") and then launching a hail of multi-cultural catchphrases, shouting "as salaam aleikum" and "danke schön" (which he pronounces "donkey Sean") and then singing snatches of ethnic-themed supper-club fare (Hava Nagila and Volare).