Sorry for the inadvertent hiatus in posting the last couple of days. My internet service was out for 36 straight hours over the weekend, and I had appointments yesterday and will have one today that may further delay posting. I'll try to make up for it over the course of this coming week. Meanwhile, I'll take this opportunity to remind you that our Amazon affiliation helps defray the costs of running this fine website, so consider using links from this site to jumpstart your shopping trips. Join Amazon Prime, get audiobooks from Audible, or stream Amazon Music. Thanks.
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- Rough Trade, the transatlantic label/record store/swag parlor, is advertising a 2-CD set of Elton John's Christmas Eve 1974 concert at the Hammersmith Odeon. This is of note because there's a live rendition of "White Christmas" featuring Rod Stewart and Gary Glitter here. I haven't heard it, so no notes.
- The Futureheads, Scottish power-poppers who have a 21st century classic with "Christmas Was Better in the 80s," are back for 2025 with a full album of Christmas goodies. Ordinarily I'd go to town on such a development, but unfortunately it's only available on CD and vinyl direct from their UK merch website and, no doubt thanks to the US trade war, shipping alone for either is $38 to my doorstep. No streaming as far as I know for now, but if that changes I'll update everybody.
- The band Emery, which we've featured here before with their own pop-rock Christmas music, has been offering custom songs tailored to people and events for a while now, and now they're explicitly offering custom-made Christmas songs. If you want something special for your eccentric auntie or marketing supervisor (probably should skip your HR representative unless you're on really good terms with them), Emery's got you covered.
- We've featured the Snowflakes Christmas Singles Club annually since we first became aware of them, and thought you should know they're back for 2025 with four new releases. Typically I like to review them once I've heard them, but due to the fact that they're based in the Netherlands, and the releases are limited, I've taken to linking you to them as early as possible so you don't miss out on actually acquiring them.
- Sorry for the late start to this year's postings, but I've been preoccupied with family matters and a new music-related side hustle. Meanwhile I remind you that your patronage is still treasured as it always was, and that I appreciate your use of links from this site to Amazon.com to help defray the cost of hosting this ancient, out-of-style but still unique musical resource. Thanks.
I typically write a letter to the readership of this fine music blog when we're close to the holiday, and this is it. The most recent past holidays I've reflected on my advancing age and my growing distance from what the "youngsters" consider "hep," but I'm way over that now. I'm just happy to still be at this and hope that you folks are getting something here you're not getting anywhere else. If nothing else, doing the blog informs my annual Christmas mix and that's all that's really necessary as far as I'm concerned. Whatever holidays matter most to you at this time of year, I hope you're enjoying them, and if I have any advice, make an effort to enjoy them all. Insert Amazon plugola here. Oh, and here's your annual Christmas gift.
Yes, it's in the sidebar with all the other ones; alphabetically, it's near the top. Enjoy it, please. Meanwhile, one more bit of plugola: please start your Amazon shopping trips from a live link on this site, as affilate fees keep this website going.
So much of the internet is oriented toward scamming users (and webmasters) that I apply a cargo ship's worth of skepticism to incoming requests for link-sharing and other such stuff. But I was in a good mood when this request arrived, and so I'm going to note that FeedSpot has made Mistletunes one of the Top 50 Christmas Blogs on the World Wide Web. I noted that we're in the top 10, at least via the link I was provided, and a couple of other Christmas blogs familiar to me are there too. So if you're interested in seeing the company we're sharing, hop on over to FeedSpot and find out. Meanwhile, a reminder that we're an Amazon affiliate and starting your shopping trips from a link here helps keep us on the web. Thanks as usual.
A quick reminder that this site is an Amazon affiliate, and that commissions help to defray the costs of keeping this modest archive on the World Wide Web. Typically you can click on the album covers to take you to an Amazon page with the music you're reading about, unless there's no Amazon availability; then I put the link in the text. And of course, I'd appreciate it if you start your Amazon shopping trips from a link on this site. Amazon Prime Amazon Music
- They're doing a 40th anniversary version of "Do You Know It's Christmas" that's a mashup of previous versions of the song, remixed by its original producer Trevor Horn. I posted this here mainly for completists; I haven't found it available from US sites yet but that could possibly change. UPDATE: Amazon now shows an EP featuring several previous versions, the new version, and a live version, dropping Nov. 29.
- Sabrina Carpenter dropped a holiday EP last year, and on December 6 Netflix will premiere her holiday special "A Nonsense Christmas" featuring herself, Chappell Roan, Tyla, Shania Twain, and Sean Astin among other guests. You might want to see if anything unique happens on there, if you're a Netflix customer anyway.
- I deleted the entry for Laufey's "Winter Wonderland" because, although a Variety article stated it was a new song and a Spotify exclusive, and Spotify has it in their exclusive holiday collection with a copyright date of 2024, the song actually appeared on her 2023 EP A Very Laufey Christmas and is not really exclusive anywhere. Thanks to Stubby for pointing that out. He also noted that Laufey actually does have a new Christmas song this year that's an Amazon exclusive, and I'll give it a listen and post about it soon.
- Also, I'd like to note that the Snowflakes Christmas Singles Club, which skipped 2023 entirely, is back for 2024 with four new releases. They don't drop until Nov. 29 and there aren't any previews on their Bandcamp page, at least until then, but since these tend to be limited vinyl releases, I'm posting now with the Big Cartel link so you can order one or all of them.
.... but I finally climbed down into the listening room with some of the early stuff that's coming for Christmas 2024. First reviews will follow soon. I appreciate your patience.
I've historically done a Christmas Eve letter to the readership, but as with last year my real-life plans will have me far from the Mistletunes workshop on that day, so I'm going to get it in now. Thanks everybody for continuing to read this site, hope I've pointed you to some great music to soundtrack your holiday celebrations, or at least gave you some fodder to frighten your friends, relatives, or work party colleagues. Mistletunes continues to exist in a 2002 version of the internet where there's no social media and not enough bandwidth to host downloads, mainly because the software undergirding this endeavor is stuck in approximately 2009 and no longer allows me to do anything more than make new posts. (Updating the software will take much more money than I make from the Amazon affiliate fees I get from you nice folks who start your Amazon sessions by clicking a live link hosted here.) While streaming cuts into the aforementioned affiliate fees I might otherwise garner, the Mistletunes mission is still useful to folks trying to compile the most up-to-date Christmas season playlists, so I persist for as long as I'm able. So once again, happy holidays of all the various origins, religious or otherwise, that you celebrate, and enjoy this little present below.
- Just noticed that Chris Isaak's most recent Christmas album has been reissued with four new songs, "Jingle Bells" featuring Jess Dunbar, "Begging Forgiveness," "Silent Night," and a new version of "Dogs Love Christmas Too (Rodney's Mix)."
- And I'll call attention to the mix disc sidebar, where my 2023 holiday playlist, There Ain't No Santos Claus!, is ready for your listening pleasure. Spotify playlist is attached at the end of the "liner notes," and you can listen there or search it directly on the Spotify app.
- Lenny Kaye teamed with the band Cedar Sparks to record a single, "Santa's Knee" backed with "Gathering Storm." Haven't heard it as it's only available in the vinyl incarnation from Rough Trade for 2023. If it pops up for streaming or download, I'll let you know.
- Several out-of-print Christmas albums have popped up for 2023 as vinyl artifacts (of course), although in the streaming age some will tend to remain available that way, assuming no business restrictions pop up in the interim. Among them are Fred Schneider's Superions with Destination Christmas, Nick Lowe's Quality Street, the compilation Psych Out Christmas, the Fleshtones' Stocking Stuffer, Bright Eyes' A Christmas Album, and though billed as a new collection, Stax Christmas is just another recompilation of that label's classic soul Christmas tunes, although it advertises an alternate mix of Otis Redding's "Merry Christmas Baby." UPDATE: Stubby checks in to note Carla Thomas' "Blue Christmas" is previously unreleased, which I should have known. And, streaming only, RuPaul's Essential Christmas adds one new track to a collection of previous releases.
- Don't want to be a jinx, but it looks like the Snowflakes Christmas Singles Club won't have a 2023 release, as there's no mention of anything on either their Bandcamp page or their blog.
Hi folks. The 2023 season of Mistletunes postings will start shortly. While I'm trying to get caught up with the current musical state of the holiday season, I'm in the process of preparing a handful of posts that will plug some historical holes in this site's archives. Bet you didn't realize I didn't have posts for the original versions of such classics as "Fairytale of New York" and "Last Christmas," did you? Those are coming, along with some more contemporary songs and performances. Thanks for reading, and don't forget that clicking through to Amazon from this site helps defray the cost of maintaining it. Amazon Prime Amazon Music
Rudolph has to take his holiday break from the site early this year, though there will likely be more posts after the weekend. For now, I'd just like to acknowledge the folks who are still reading what I have to say about Christmas as seen through the prism of rock 'n roll, though that descriptor is becoming ever less relevant to the younger folks who remain the target audience of the music industry. Nevertheless, I press on. Given the increasing obsolescence of the software that powers this website, I'd like to note that one of my ambitions for the site has been to serve as a historical source, so if you're feeling it, or you don't have much to do because you got locked out of Twitter, try grazing the website by clicking on the date links or the genre links in the left sidebar. Since I sometimes wax topical in my posts, you might find it interesting to see what was concerning us all at some earlier time. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all. Oh, and my usual Christmas present of something that makes you go hmmm....
Normally we at Mistletunes leave the old-school holiday celebration totems to other websites, but we know that many readers are old folks like Rudolph and that some of them have a sweet tooth for mid-20th century pop culture tchotchkes. With that, I'd like to note the current Car and Driver online feature, "Back in the 1960s, You Bought Your Christmas Music at the Tire Store." It's a fun feature about how Goodyear, Firestone and B.F. Goodrich used to compile Christmas albums and sell them cheaply as come-ons to bring in customers. The most interesting thing about this story is that they link to a website, Christmas LPs to CD, that takes those old albums and converts them to CD or downloadable MP3. To avoid copyright hassles, they sell actual old copies of those albums to customers and ship them with the CD, or you can download most (not all) of them. For vinyl fans, there's a hitch; they make no guarantees about the condition of the vinyl albums, they may very well be unplayable. But you have your digital copies to play. The site also has Christmas albums from Longines Symphonette, Tru Value, Disney, WT Grant, Readers Digest and more. They also have non-Christmas music available.
A reminder that Amazon affiliate links defray the costs of hosting this unique website. Try Amazon Prime free for 30 days here. Or sign up for Amazon Music. And the album cover graphics link to Amazon if the albums are available there. Feel free to start your Amazon shopping sprees by clicking on an Amazon link from this website. Thanks in advance once again for doing so.
Well, my usual request to patronize Amazon affiliate links to defray the costs of hosting this unique website scrolled off the bottom, so here it is again. Try Amazon Prime free for 30 days here. Or sign up for Amazon Music. And the album cover graphics link to Amazon if the albums are available there. Feel free to start your Amazon shopping sprees by clicking on an Amazon link from this website. Thanks in advance once again for doing so.
Regular readers already know Amazon affiliate links defray the costs of hosting this unique website; newcomers are hereby informed as well. Try Amazon Prime free for 30 days here. Or sign up for Amazon Music. And the album cover graphics link to Amazon if the albums are available there. Feel free to start your Amazon shopping sprees by clicking on an Amazon link from this website. And thanks in advance for doing so.
As longtime followers of this site are aware, I typically ruminate on the state of the culture when Christmas Eve arrives, although recent entries in this series have had more to do with the state of this website and my growing estrangement from what's considered popular out in the world. For now, I'd just like to recognize that first, people are still visiting this site, and to thank them for doing so. Even though we've had some recognition in the wider culture over the history of the site, this has still been, first and foremost, a hobby for me, and one in which the readers are just as hip as I've ever claimed to be, maybe more so. So thanks once again for stopping by. When I started this site, it was as much to help me compile my annual mix cassette as anything, and then my annual mix disc.
This year I finally sloughed off physical media, although some of my correspondents still lovingly compile and design virtual mix discs with art and everything and just choose not to clog up the USPS with the actual plastic and paper versions, leaving it to the listener to do that. Good on you folks; some technological armageddon may come along in which it once again becomes cost-effective to burn discs, and you'll be ready. I've skipped ahead to simply building a Spotify playlist, which I chose because that service offers a free tier and the ability to embed the music into a website. Hopefully this covers everyone, though I'm open to suggestions. Almost forgot to note: this year's Mistletunes mix is called Don We Now Our Plague Apparel, and you can access it here.
Going forward, I'm going to do what I've always done, which is to highlight new Christmas records in the rock 'n roll realm, with a certain generosity toward covering associated genres. If I can, I hope to update the software underpinning this site to make it a more convenient historical archive at some point, but we'll call that an aspirational goal for now. Don't forget to click on Amazon from here to start your shopping sprees. And just to remind you why we're here, merry Christmas from Thin Lizzy and the Sex Pistols.
Once again, I'm pointing out that Amazon affiliate links defray the costs of hosting this unique website. Try Amazon Prime free for 30 days here. Or sign up for Amazon Music. And the album cover graphics link to Amazon if the albums are available there. Feel free to start your Amazon shopping sprees by clicking on an Amazon link from this website. And thanks in advance for doing so.
Once again, I'm pointing out that Amazon affiliate links defray the costs of hosting this unique website. Try Amazon Prime free for 30 days here. Or sign up for Amazon Music. And the album cover graphics link to Amazon if the albums are available there. Feel free to start your Amazon shopping sprees by clicking on an Amazon link from this website. And thanks in advance for doing so.
In the past, I've reviewed the individual singles from this annual release when I could get access to them, but as they aren't posting the individual songs for sampling until after the singles ship, I thought I should call attention to them now. As they ship from the Netherlands, the various supply chain and postal issues unique to the 2020s probably mean many people won't get their copies in time for Christmas unless they already live in the EU. So I'll just note for now that this year's singles are by Swansea Sound, The Boy Least Likely To, and The Shacks, and you should visit their Bandcamp page to order the vinyl artifacts sooner rather than later. Digital copies will post next Friday for Swansea Sound and The Boy Least Likely To, and December 10 for The Shacks.
Just another reminder that Amazon affiliate links defray the costs of hosting this unique website. Try Amazon Prime free for 30 days here. Or sign up for Amazon Music. And the album cover graphics link to Amazon if the albums are available there. Feel free to start your Amazon shopping sprees by clicking on an Amazon link from this website. And thanks in advance for doing so.
Hello to my faithful readers, just a quick note to advise that new posts are coming shortly. Also, this is a progress report as to the status of this lowly holiday blog. A couple of years ago we had a disastrous failure of the whole operation here, which was caused by two things: the content management software running this site was wildly out of date and simply gave up the ghost, and while I was trying to deal with that I didn't notice that the domain mistletunes.com had expired. I lost a lot of personalized touches like the banner art and my Amazon affiliate links. This year I tried to see if I could resurrect those things and discovered that I couldn't access the template files to edit them.
So what I'm going to do from here on in is to occasionally insert a post reminding everyone that the affiliate links defray the costs of hosting this unique website and provide live links to said affiliations. Try Amazon Prime free for 30 days here. Or sign up for Amazon Music. Also, most album cover graphics link to Amazon if the albums are available there.
Hello once more with my annual Christmas Eve message. Apparently, the difficulties I had running this site back in 2019 turned out to be a harbinger for everybody else's 2020. Sorry about that, folks. The COVID-19 pandemic pretty much wiped out the livelihoods of many in the hospitality and entertainment businesses, so I was surprised to see that musicians managed to keep the new music coming, especially the new holiday music, which is what we celebrate at Mistletunes. Once again, thanks for stopping by this music enthusiast's way station, which will be here for the foreseeable future, and hopefully without any further reflections of the site's relative hipness quotient. I'll continue to point out new and unique Christmas music on this site as I've been doing for 23 years now, and when I have time I'll go back and post some info on any past holiday milestones I've missed, as I've always wanted this site to be a historical reference of significant rock 'n roll/pop Christmas tunes. Keep coming back, and please start your Amazon shopping trips here, as the ever-shrinking returns they provide still help defray this site's hosting costs. Again, thank you, and Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and happy all the holidays. Before leaving here's a double dose of things that make you go hmmm....
Letting everyone know that holiday posts will begin in the next few days.
This is also a personal note to those folks out there who are occasionally in contact with Rudolph via snail mail. I've relocated and my geographical address is different. Drop me a line and I'll bring you up to date.
As the holiday this website celebrates makes its arrival, I'd like to thank all the folks who have stuck with us, especially this year, when technical snafus threatened to kill this website outright. The problems were partly my own fault -- I let the software that runs this website go too long without upgrades, mainly because the original vendor abandoned the hobbyist market and began charging enterprise prices for their goods. Rectifying that cost me a couple weeks of posting time. Then, when I managed to successfully patch things with the last known free version of the software, I discovered my hosting plan only allowed me to write a finite number of files to the server, and I had long exceeded my limit. That cost me another week of posts until customer service simply changed my plan -- and saved me a couple bucks in the process while allowing me to get Mistletunes back on the information superhighway once more.
I'm starting to feel age creeping up on me, mainly in regard to what seems like the ebbing relevance of what I once considered to be a great idea for an underserved market -- rock 'n roll Christmas music reviews. Hell, I'm still making a physical disc of my annual Christmas mix, even as fewer people have CD players in their homes or cars. But then, I'm still listening to rock 'n roll, even as those of us who still do that are regarded by our younger peers the same way we once regarded our weird uncles with their Sauter-Finnegan records.
So while I doubt the original premise of this website would pass muster with your average focus group as a good idea, or even a comprehensible one, I'm going to keep doing it for the foreseeable future, if only to justify the amount of time I spent on hold with technical support in the past two months. If you still find this site provides you with value, please do me the small favor of routing your Amazon orders through this website. (I'll be replacing the more prominent Amazon links, and maybe even the original website banner, once I figure out what I'm doing again; webmastering skills really don't stay with a guy if you're not building new sites from scratch three or four times a year.)
In the meantime, please enjoy this bit of mash-up holiday weirdness, have a happy holiday, and don't be a stranger.
- Back in 2013, Dr. Dog dropped a Christmas EP, Oh My Christmas Tree, and this year they added four more songs to make it a full album, but the only way you could get it to date was to order it from Press On Records by December 20. Oh, and it's a cassette. They promise a digital release is forthcoming, but it's not showing anywhere at this writing.
- And my annual gift to the readership, the Mistletunes mix, can be perused by linking here. When you click through, you'll find a Spotify playlist, minus three tunes because Spotify can't have everything.
- Speaking of playlists, Paste Magazine has a free one in conjunction with its recent merger partner Noisetrade.
Sorry to have gone missing for almost a week. A problem developed on the server end of this website causing me to be unable to upload new posts. After a couple of championship rounds with tech support and customer service, the problem has been resolved, and it even saved the site a couple of bucks. Hopefully there will be no more technical problems going forward, although I'm going to have to consider switching from Moveable Type to Wordpress since the former now charges serious money for upgrades and support, and I'm about two versions behind.
