Ok, this is almost totally off subject, but I wanted to give my daughter and son-in-law a playlist to go along with an itunes card for Christmas. Have I mentioned that I hate itunes? I don’t want to join Ping to share a playlist. . . .
Enough said. Plan Z, it turns out, is to hand craft a playlist from scratch. Since I was going to do that anyway, I decided to make it a blog entry.
So this is a summary of my Christmas 2011 playlist on my iphone. It’s completely idiosyncratic, and only some of it is Christmas – other parts are more ‘winter’ and some of it is just current stuff I couldn’t bear to leave off. Also, it’s roughly in order by album title:
 “A Fresh Aire Christmas” by Mannheim Steamroller. One of Steamroller’s classic Christmas albums. The songs on my playlist this year are “Little Drummer Boy” and “Veni, Veni.” |
 This is not Christmas music at all, but just fun. The song on my Christmas playlist is “Canon.” It’s really even better on Youtube:
He’s also got a Christmas EP Called ‘A Few Songs for Christmas,” but it’s not as compelling. |
 “And Winter Came” by Enya. The title track is a nice winter instrumental. “Journey of the Angels” is a new Christmas Carol / Song. |
 “Behold the Lamb of God” by Andrew Peterson. One of the great Christmas albums of recent years. The whole album is on my playlist. I’m going to this concert December 10th! |
 Andy Gullahorn and Jill Philips are part of Andrew Peterson’s Rabbit Room tribe. Listen to “I Will Find a Way” and tell me who the girl is! The other song on my playlist is “You Came Down.” |
 “Christmas Eve and other Stories” by Transsiberian Orchestra. This is another classic album. I don’t like every one, but I like “O Holy Night.” |
 “Christmas Songs” by Fernando Ortega. The two on my playlist are “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” and “Carol of the Birds.” I also have two from his recent non-Christmas album “Come Down O Love Divine:” the title track and “The God of Abraham Praise.” |
 “Ghosts Upon the Earth” by Gungor. This isn’t a Christmas album at all, but the first five songs on the album, which are focused on the creation and the fall, are great. Tim, take note! |
 “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” by John Williams. For some reason “Hedwig’s Theme” sounds Christmassy, or at least wintry to me. |
 “How Many Kings: Songs for Christmas” by downhere. I have several songs from this album on my playlist: the most well known is the title track. |
 “Love & War & the Sea In Between” by Josh Garrels. Run, do not walk, to get this album while it is still free.
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 “Jacaranda” by Josh Garrels. Ths one is not free, but is still good. I especially like “Zion & Babylon” and “Rabbit & the Bear.” |
 This is one of my favorite older albums, especially “O Com O Come Emmanuel” and “Our God is With Us.” They should be played back to back. |
 this may have been the best new Christmas album of last year. My favorite is “I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day,” but the most well known is “While You Were Sleeping.” |
 “The Christmas Collection” by Amy Grant. “Breath of Heaven” also known as “Mary’s Song” is a classic. |
 “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” by Harry Gregson-Williams. Some of the early songs capture ‘winter’ perfectly. |
 “The Cymbal Crashing Clouds” by Ben Shive. The song “Listen” has a great winter feel, even though it’s about a train! |
 “The Gospel of John” by Jeff Danna. This has long been one of my favorite soundtracks. “Here Comes Your King” has an especially ‘Christmas’ feel to me. |
 “The Ultimate Gift” by Mark McKenzie. This is another of my favorite soundtracks. The main title is great, and “Texas Christmas” is about, well . . . Christmas. |
 “Wintersong” by Sarah McLachlan. This is another more ‘winter’ than ‘Christmas’ album, but the title song is evocative, and “Happy Xmas” is surprisingly deep. |
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Well, more could be included, but that’s a pretty wide selection. |