Got Room for One More Christmas Album?

Well, after agonizing way too much over this ultimately trivial undertaking, I have finally finished volume five of A Rather Eclectic Christmas! This year it’s a good mix of some of my own favorites, some new discoveries, and a few suggestions from friends, acquaintances, and readers. So without further ado, let’s get on to the track listing!

A Rather Eclectic Christmas 5

1. Chipmunks Christmas Mash-Up, by Mau (don’t know where this originated, but someone took Patton’s Chipmunks routine and brought it to life...)
   
2. My Christmas List, by Simple Plan
   
3. I Won’t Be Home for Christmas, by Blink-182
   
4. Elf’s Lament, by Barenaked Ladies and Michael Bublé (this one almost made it onto last year’s disc, but I decided to wait)
   
5. Merry Christmas Baby, by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
   
6. Christmas Wrapping, by The Waitresses
   
7. Ding Dong! Merrily On High, by the George Shearing Quintet (a nice jazz interpretation)
   
8. Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal), by the Vince Guaraldi Trio
   
9. Gaudete, by Mediæval Bæbes
   
10. Step Into Christmas, by Elton John
    
11. 2000 Miles by The Pretenders
    
12. Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer by Elmo ’n Patsy (I held out forever on this ridiculously overplayed tune, but I suppose I’ll have to acknowledge that it’s garnered a permanent place in the Christmas song catalog)
    
13. Caroling, Caroling by Nat “King” Cole
    
14. All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth) by Spike Jones and His City Slickers
    
15. Snoopy’s Christmas by The Royal Guardsmen (yeah, I know this was just a quick followup to “Snoopy Versus the Red Baron” — the second followup, if memory serves — but it’s still fun)
    
16. Five More Days ’til Christmas, by The Cheetah Girls (hey, it’s catchy... and before anyone comes down too harshly, this one was put in for the girls — details to follow)
    
17. Joy to the World (Mocean Worker Remix), by The Cathedral Brass (a recommendation from itinetant technologist Tom Bridge)
    
18. Wizards in Winter, by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (a necessary inclusion after the success of the Carson Williams Christmas light display)
    
19. Gettin’ In the Mood (For Christmas) by The Brian Setzer Orchestra (I just thought it was a fun way to make an old song into a holiday tune)
    
20. Good King Wenceslas by The Roches (also a Tom Bridge selection)
    
21. Marshmallow World by Darlene Love
    
22. What Can You Get A Wookiee For Christmas (When He Already Owns A Comb)?, by Meco (one of the most hysterically misguided efforts ever undertaken, from the now-infamous Star Wars Christmas album, Christmas in the Stars — and speaking as someone who had the old LP version of this as a kid, trust me: It’s most assuredly not worth the $90 you’d pay for a copy today)

So there it is — last-minute as always — though three days before Christmas is pretty much the latest yet! (Still, not as last-minute as my long-promised A Rather Eclectic Chanukah album... which may actually come out sometime during the holiday. So much to do, not enough time.)

So, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Season’s Greetings, Feliz Navidad, what have you! Enjoy!

(Remember, the disc and cover art are designed at 150 pixels per inch, but because the JPEG format doesn't support anything but 72 ppi, the image sizes will be off. Take the images into your graphic program of choice and set the image resolution to 150 ppi without resampling the image, and they’ll print at the proper size. Also remember that there are no “bleeds” on the cover art — so if you need them, you’ll have to add them yourself, perhaps by repeating the edge pixels, the way iTunes handles it.)