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Advent Christmas music ranges from ubiquitous elevator to bespoke. What stirs your senses?

I’ll go first with a redux of my Advent Season fave  …. Greg Lake - “I believe in Father Christmas “


Greg Lake , of “Emerson, Lake, & Palmer” rock icon fame,  penned this with Pete Sinfield in 1975. It’s been remastered in 4K version YouTube video below. Turn up the volume .

https://youtu.be/yfY4b1NszpY?si=URupLsdM0B92tNw3

In 2011, Lake was accompanied by Ian Anderson of “Jethro Tull” iconic rock band fame, with Anderson on his legendary flute to marry up to Lake’s acoustic guitat. They recorded this memorable live acoustic version video live in St Brides Church in London ….this is my favourite version.

https://youtu.be/U6-PAKOt7sM?si=F0W_TnvctBW7AGBz

Enjoy ….


They said there'll be snow at Christmas
They said there'll be peace on Earth
But instead, it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the Virgin Birth
I remember one Christmas morning
A winter's light and a distant choir
And the peal of a bell and that Christmas tree smell
And their eyes full of tinsel and fire

They sold me a dream of Christmas
They sold me a Silent Night
They told me a fairy story
Till I believed in the Israelite
And I believed in Father Christmas
And I looked to the sky with excited eyes
Till I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn
And I saw him and through his disguise

I wish you a hopeful Christmas
I wish you a brave New Year
All anguish, pain, and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear
They said there'd be snow at Christmas
They said there'd be peace on Earth
Hallelujah, Noël, be it Heaven or Hell
The Christmas we get, we deserve

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bigtwin's avatar
bigtwin
1,130 posts
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRXG8xoeXXk

Joe Satriani playing Silent Night.  7:22 of pure brilliance.  IMHO

rpeluso
1,016 posts
 

Yes Greg Lake, it’s magnificent!

roxy54's avatar
roxy54
7,700 posts
 

I really like ELP, but I always thought that song was kind of negative and harsh. I guess I prefer the more traditional orchestral Christmas music and popular stuff by well known artists.

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mahgister's avatar
mahgister
12,734 posts
 

I like especially traditional popular Christmas song for reason related to children memory as Bing Crosby etc ... I am 73 years old this year i will not enjoy christmas music created when i was over 18 years old ... but the one when i was a child believing in Chrismas ...😁

I always enjoyed choral religious music for Christmas as the like of the Cambridge children choir ...

Pop singer singing christmas dont move me really sorry ... A commercial product never moved me save those i encountered as a child ...At least i listened and associated the commercial product "white Christmas" by Crosby when i was a child looking at the commercial fiction of Christmas as depicted by Norman Rockwell for Coca Cola bottle on the barber boutique wall on the 103 street in a small city my father sitting with me waiting his turn and mine ( i remember sitting there waiting Christmas at 5 years old ) ...

But nothing beat classical choral for Christmas for me ever ... I listened to them as a child too and it is this that impressed me the more for the rest of my life... I listened choral music over anything almost in the beginning with my Tannoy purchase when i was 24 years old after discovering choral songs at the radio each noon as a child and almost a baby  ......

And when i was a child all Christmas was mostly about the "faith" not only about the gifts and anyway we were poor ...

The midnight mass with great organ and a chorus live was my musical and greatest acoustical experience ... It is where, when, how and why i take the taste for music and sound ...Alas! i waited till retirement to study acoustics but it is another story, acoustic may cost nothing but will cost an enormous amount of time, it is why people buy gear upgrades instead ....😁

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zieoBKkN9qE

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