This holiday season, I’ve been feeling particularly thankful for the high-quality indie record shops in town offering a welcome sanctuary from the standard-issue post-Thanksgiving shopping procedure, and for offering exclusive select Record Store Day Black Friday vinyl along with the odd fresh, re-imagined and rediscovered holiday albums and compilations that dropped this fall. A breakdown of some holiday-themed sounds below; call your local indie retailer to check availability.The Blind Boys of Alabama & Taj Mahal, Talkin’ Christmas!The gospel-howling Blind Boys team up with multi-instrumental bluesman Mahal to riff on some Christmas favorites (including an up-tempo, hand-clapping rearrangement of “Do You Hear What I Hear?”) plus five new original holiday songs, like the funky title track about the power of Christmas (featuring Money Mark on keys) and a few soulful songwriting collaborations with Stax Records legend William Bell.
Miles Davis, Blue Xmas 7¨(RSD) In 1962, Davis, along with composer Gil Evans and distinctively high-toned be-bop singer Bob Dorough, produced a jazzy anti-commercialism tribute to the season, “Blue Xmas,” with percussive embellishments added to the standard swinging rhythms and trumpet soaring from traditional arrangements to looser, free blasts while Dorough wheels through lines like “Lots of hungry homeless children in your own back yards/while you’re very very busy, addressing 20 zillion Christmas cards.”
Earth, Wind & Fire, HolidayHorn arrangements, kalimba melodies, percussion-infused rhythm breaks and plenty of creamy falsetto vocals give classic holiday odes a groovin’, discofied R&B feel, while Earth, Wind and Fire hits get the seasonal treatment (like “Happy Feelings” transformed into “Happy Seasons” and “December,” which is just “September” with overdubbed lyrics). A traditional Japanese winter song, “Snow,” makes for a bizarre yet strangely intriguing fusion of Eastern sonic textures, electro-funk synthesizers and female backing vocals sung in Japanese.
Run DMC, Christmas In Hollis 7¨(RSD) A reissue of the group’s funky seasonal ode from 1987 that riffs on Twas the Night Before Christmas, samples and skews the horns from Clarence Carter’s 1968 hit “Back Door Santa,” and pays homage to the iconic rap group’s Queens hometown and Christmas traditions while envisioning a Santa Claus Christmas gift fantasy.
Phil Spector and Various Artists, A Christmas Gift For You 12¨ (RSD) Artists that were on Spector’s Phillies label in 1963 (including the Ronettes) perform mostly secular covers over his trademark wall-of-sound production. Among the originals is “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” as keened by Darlene Love; it became her signature tune and she’s performed it on every pre-Christmas episode of Late Show With David Letterman since 1986.
Wham!, Last Christmas 12¨(RSD) New Wave synthesizers, brawny bass grooves, sleigh bell chimes, and George Michael’s breathy vocals singing the lovesick pop refrain. The 30th anniversary of this holiday hit is celebrated with a limited translucent red/green vinyl single that includes a previously unreleased instrumental version of the track.
Ben Kweller, It Ain’t Christmas Yet 7¨(RSD) This very limited release (1,000 only) from the Austin indie rocker is worth seeking out; the title track is an original about how waiting sucks, and is paired with a distorted cover of “Here Comes Santa Claus” with ex-Radish drummer John David Kent.
Various Artists, ’80s Wonderland If the Wham! 7" doesn’t scratch your New Wave itch, you can also pick up this comp featuring, among others, the weirdo vintage-swing of “Zat You Santa Claus” as done by Buster Poindexter and His Banshees of Blue and a lively soul-pop dance ode, “Dear Santa (Bring Me A Man This Christmas)” by The Weather Girls.
Various Artists, An Americana ChristmasAlt-country label New West serves up this 16-track collection that encompasses both vet and modern roots music talents. Noteworthy re-imaginings include a grooving Southern-fried “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” by Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars), Bob Dylan’s 2009 polka-styled cut of “Must Be Santa” and “Winter Wonderland” done in jangling, romping folk-blues fashion by Valerie June, as well as six fresh holiday-hued originals like upbeat, retrofied “FaLaLaLaLove Ya” by Nashville songstress Nikki Lane and “At Christmas Time” by bluegrassy Dutch duo The Common Linnets.
Various Artists, Gonna Have a Really Soulful Christmas: 50 R&B and Soul Gems A two-disc comp of 1950s and early ’60s yuletide tunes makes for a treasure trove of obscure, unusual odes, like the loose doo-wop of “Crazy Santa Claus” by The Debonaires, the funky shuffling “Holiday Baby” by booming-voiced Fat Daddy, a twinkling surf-rocking instrumental “Twistin’ Bells” by Santo & Johnny (the duo known for “Sleepwalkin’”), Selena Jones’ saucy-soulful “I Want a Man for Christmas,” and a handful of dancehall-island swaying tunes including “Mambo Santa Mambo” by The Enchanters.
Various Artists, Christmas at Downton AbbeyPeople are nuts about the British period TV series drama, and its official two-disc, 45-track release features carols and hymns you might hear in post-Edwardian era holidays. The selling point? Downton Abbey cast members Elizabeth McGovern (Lady Cora) and Julian Ovenden (Charles Blake) belt a few carols of their own, while Jim Carter (Mr. Carson) delivers a spoken-word Christmas story.
Seth McFarlane, Holiday for Swing The South Park creator has a buttery Frank Sinatra-esque vocal quality and big band style that earned his 2011 debut a Grammy nom. His second outing is Christmas-themed, and has the same swinging jauntiness and overarching earnestness. Among the guests are Norah Jones (“Little Jack Frost Get Lost”) and Sinatra bassist Chuck Berghoffer, and McFarlane is bolstered by pitch-perfect female backing coos and lush arrangements for a 65-piece orchestra.