Hitting the Reset Button

Despite my best intentions, I didn’t really do a thing with my blog this year. I decided I’d hit the reset button on it and try to start posting to it regularly, at least through Christmas. I wasn’t sure what my focus would be until a couple weeks ago, after the new Christmas music for the season started to be released. As a lot of the people who know me are aware, I’m a little nuts about Christmas music. What struck me about this year is that it has been a far better than average year for new releases. That said, I was a little bummed out by the thought that so few people would actually hear the bulk of what’s being released. It’s a lamentable fact that no new Christmas songs have entered the popular Christmas music canon since Mariah Carey’s atrocious “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” way back in 1994. It’s been almost a quarter of a century since a new Christmas song has caught on and stuck with the public. Sadly, most of you out there only listen to what’s played on the radio or in the local department store, and maybe a CD or two you have in the car, so each year you’re hearing the same five to ten dozen songs from the same couple of dozen artists. By the time Christmas rolls around, most of you are bored with or tired of Christmas music. I’m sure I’d be in the same boat if I was subjected to “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” at least twice an hour every day for a month and a half.

 
The thing is, though, there is so much more out there, and most of it is far better than what you’re hearing on the radio. As I pondered that fact, I decided I’d use my blog to try to expose people to some lesser known, truly great Christmas albums (plus some not-so-great ones as well). I plan on reviewing some of my absolute favorite albums as well as some newer releases and a few things I’ve never gotten around to listening to. While some of my reviews will be for individual albums, for some artists I’ll cover their entire Christmas catalog. I guarantee that the bulk of what I’ll be reviewing are songs and albums most of you have never even heard of. You might not like all of what I review, which is fine by me. I just want to show people that there’s more to Christmas music than Trans-Siberian Steamroller, Band-Aid and John Lennon.