Month: February 2016

A Month of Love: Billy Squier

“Christmas is the Time to Say I Love You” may be the big Kahuna of Holiday heartfelt howlings. It was the B-side to Billy Squier’s 1981 single ‘My Kinda Lover.’ And it has it’s share of covers.

Alexa Vega tries to Disney it up a bit. Darlene Love torches it up. Katharine McPhee certainly orchestrates it up. SR-71 and The Cute Lepers try to and metal and sass. Hurts my throat to hear ’em

But it’s Billy’s song. Here he is on crappy videotape lip syncing with his hair on MTV. Hey, is that You in the audience?!

A Month of Love: Mark Schultz

It’s Sunday Again! Time for Love to mean agape’. For, you know, God.

Churches still churn out original material, inspired as they are. Here is Mark Schultz writing for his Street Baptist Church a few years ago, and singing “When Love was Born.”

Mark Schultz

 

A Month of Love: Felix Gross

Old 78 rpm vinyl from the ’40s and earlier had a following, and some mad collectors. But not enough has been written about the artists. Felix Gross aka Sylvester Mike recorded on the Down Beat label and he sang it, swang it, poontanged it.

And check out this Christmas Essentials Youtube channel. They have got some great stuff you’ve never heard.

Here’s Felix Gross, “Love for Christmas.”

A Month of Love: Charles Brown

Charles Brown is that “Merry Christmas, Baby” cat. He helped create the nightclub scene in the 1940s Los Angeles world we all know from the moving pictures. With The Three Drifters he hit big with ‘Driftin’ Blues.’

Here he is with “The Someone that I Love.” It IS a Christmas carol. A cool one.

A Month of Love: Cinderella

More Disney–it’s Everywhere!!

Ordinarily i’d find out for you who to give vocal credit to for this throwaway, forgettable piece of music… but let the Mouse have his way: It’s Cinderella her self! The singing mice here know it! I know it! You Must know it!

So, play along with “I’m Giving Love for Christmas.”

A Month of Love: Austin and Ally

The Disney Channel spews out fun/funny kids shows like a St. Bernard does his slobber. One wackadilly from 2011 (and going strong) concerns the music career ups and downs of teen best bandies Austin (Ross Lynch) and Ally (Laura Marano).

If you deign to study the video note the presence of audience members… without the context of their eight-year-old adulation this is harmonious horseplay. Ridickio.

So: Austin and Ally with “I Love Christmas.”

A Month of Love: The Rescues

More TV music.

The Rescues have rescued several musicians from other not so successful bands, and put them in honorable mention status. If you watch teen-twenty teevee you’ve probably heard them.

“All I Want for Christmas (Is to Give My Love Away)” is from Private Practice or something like that that i never watch….

A Month of Love: Kelly Price

Somewhere between Mariah Carey and Mary J. Blige comes the street R+B of Kelly Price. She rose through the backup ranks in the ’90s and had a hit ‘Friend of Mine’ in ’98. Since then she’s been featured in soundtracks (THAT kind of sound).

“In Love at Christmas” is a simple tale of a boy and a girl and a heavy backbeat.

A Month of Love: Sandi Patty

I don’t mean to hopscotch from awesome to awful and sometimes to inbetween so much… but i find better odd holiday tunes that way.

Sandi Patty has been a Christian staple for so long: practically an album a year since 1978 (including 7 Xmas albums, and exclusives for Target, Hallmark and Walmart). She does power gospel ballads. You’ve gotta respect the range… although i do lose my place at times (what was she singing about again? oh, yeah, God!). The last minute of “Merry Christmas with Love” is a whole ‘nother song (‘Have Yourself etc.’ –turns out that old chestnut is better shorter).

A Month of Love: The Bellamy Brothers

I listen to country regular-like (from the wife’s influence), and i like honest country: Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn… but something happened near the ’80s. Pop music (including elements of disco) invaded and it just wasn’t country any more.

It was bad.

This 1996 Bellamy Brothers Christmas cash cow is just such awfulness. Listen to “Our Love is Like Christmas” all (including the wooden, cutesie couple banter intro AND outro) if… you… dare.