VOLUME 5, CURATED BY ANDREW

How do you boil Christmas down to just 97 minutes? Maybe I’m not the best person to ask. I make the annual Christmas day playlist since my family hosts Christmas. That playlist clocks in around 8 hours and I struggle to get everything into that playlist. That aside, there are a few Christmas cuts that are crucial to my annual Christmas listening. My playlist mixes nostalgia-fueled cuts together with the songs I’ve found on my own over the years that resonate with me. It’s largely a mix of gospel and pop with a few touches of jazz and R&B.

Things open with the underrated pop perfection that is Kylie Minogue’s “Christmas Isn’t Christmas ‘Til You Get Here” (if you’ve never heard her Christmas album, don’t hesitate on working it into your rotation). From there the playlist cruises through the necessary Mariah, Aretha, and Nat King Cole which marries my own finds (the former) with classics I’ve been listening to since before I can remember (the latter). Mary J. Blige jumps in to do her best Ella Fitzgerald on “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer.” Otis Redding follows with his holiest moans for a “White Christmas.” Vanessa Williams croons over a spirited contemporary jazz rendition of “Hark The Herald Angels Sing,” which leads the way for Celine Dion to deliver her brilliant original, “The Magic Of Christmas Day (God Bless Us Everyone).”

The fare is largely similar from there on out, but a few other cuts are worth noting. Aretha Franklin’s take on “Silent Night” originally appeared on her 2008 Christmas LP, but a decade later marked her first posthumous release just two months after her death as stripped back with just Aretha’s vocal and piano accompaniment. It’s haunting. My favorite contemporary song, “Where Are You Christmas” by Faith Hill also surges through, as does Donna Summer’s understated “White Christmas,” one of the only cuts to appear on the playlist twice. Things close with Aretha delivering the most hysterical take on “‘Twas The Night Before Christmas” that you’ve ever heard. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good soundtrack!

LISTEN TO ANDREW’S 97 MINUTES OF CHRISTMAS

Also available on: Apple Music – Tidal

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The holidays are a magical time. When you’re a kid, it’s the most exciting part of the year. Presents! And did I mention, presents? As a result of getting older priorities change, while time has a funny way of de-railing the joy of the holidays. However, one thing that remains timeless through it all is the music. When I think about the holidays, 3 albums come to mind that encapsulate all of the holiday feels. Around Christmas, I get out these three records in particular, ready to play on my old school record player. As I only listen to these albums around December, they are then stored away until next Christmas. These are my top 3 Christmas albums.

Nat “King” Cole The Christmas Song

I’m listening to this album for the first time this year on the day before Thanksgiving, and I feel myself surrendering to the Christmas season. There’s no turning back now. I grew up in an Italian household, so there’s a plethora of Sinatra, Martin, and Crosby circulating throughout the airwaves. However, the one memory that holds strongest is the warm feeling of hearing “The Christmas Song” by Nat crackle through the speakers.

While the title track takes the cake for being iconic, the rest of the album also maintains the same mood. His readings of “Deck The Halls“, “O Tannenbaum“, and “O Little Town of Bethlehem” are definitive, almost flawless. I actually want to cry listening to this album, because it is so beautiful and so nostalgic. Consequently, without oversharing my personal life it evokes an overpowering, yet necessary sense of melancholy. This is the past in my top 3 Christmas albums trilogy.

Vanessa Williams Star Bright

I love me some Vanessa Williams, and I believe that this album is the catalyst (combined with her flawless and festive performance as Ebony Scrooge in VH1’s “A Diva’s Christmas Carol“). I remember being with my mom 20 years ago, and purchasing this at Hallmark in my hometown (I believe it was part of a special). She loves this album, and prior to us becoming another family glued to the TV during dinner, we listened to music while we ate most nights. In December, my Mom puts this in heavy rotation, even to this day.

The album combines elements of new wave, jazz, and pop, with a sprinkle of light gospel. I especially gravitate towards her jazzy take on “What Child is This“, the upbeat and choir-filled “Hark The Herald Angels Sing (Shout)“, and the mood-setting opener “Do You Hear What I Hear?/Little Drummer Boy“. The arrangements are tailored to Vanessa’s rich and warm voice, therefore providing an ideal soundscape for her to showcase her vocal ability. This represents the present in my top 3 Christmas albums.

Mariah Carey Merry Christmas & Merry Christmas II You

Listen, this one is challenging. How do you, the self-respecting Mariah Carey fanatic just choose one? There’s something irreplaceable about the original, however the sequel is just as incredible. I will never forget purchasing Merry Christmas in November of 2001 at Tower Records in Picadilly Circus in London. It was my first time in London, yet my priority at 11 years old was the record store. This was also my first experience hearing this album. Until then, “All I Want For Christmas” was unknown to me. It also took about 7 years to realize that the magnificent acapella album closer “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” is actually a bonus track unavailable in the US.

Mariah has a knack for songwriting and arranging, and Merry Christmas is a stellar showcase of this. She excels on the self-written “Miss You Most (At Christmas Time)“, while effortlessly capturing the vintage sound of Darlene Love’s classic “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)“. Then there’s the elephant in the room: “All I Want For Christmas Is You“. Amongst the set, it sounds like a standout before even realizing what it is (my 11 year old self states that objectively). Consequently, it manages to not eclipse the rest of the album in a full listening. Each song stands strong on it’s own, marrying a mix of pop, soul, and gospel.

The Sequel: Merry Christmas II You

The sequel evokes a different musical tone. It sounds bigger, more expansive, and more produced. The lead single “Oh Santa” uses a formula similar to “All I Want For Christmas”: It’s upbeat, with a vintage feel and layered, multiplied vocals (plus church bells for good measure). She embraces her now-ubiquitous hip hop side with a rousing rendition of “Here Comes Santa Claus/Rooftop Celebration” and shows off her (still in tact) powerhouse vocal chords on “O Little Town Of Bethlehem/Little Drummer Boy Medley” These two albums combined represent the future in my top 3 Christmas albums trilogy.

When I recount Christmases that have passed, and look to Christmases to come, these are the top 3 Christmas albums I want playing, from the day after Thanksgiving until people start yelling at me. I get it, it’s 70 degrees in July and you don’t want to hear it anymore. Too bad.

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“I was just ready.”

In 1991, after more than 15 years in the music industry, Natalie Cole dug into her roots and found the biggest success of her career. The one thing Natalie Cole avoided early on in her career was her father’s music, she was determined to be her own musician. She achieved that, and emerged in 1991 with a 22-song album dedicated to her father: Unforgettable… With Love.

The mid-1970’s were Natalie’s coming out party as a musician. She was a force to be reckoned with in R&B, a far cry from the jazz & pop standards her father championed in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Her success positioned her as vying for the crown against the biggest female names in R&B at the time: Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross. Fueling her ascent, she famously ended Aretha’s undefeated 8-year winning streak of Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance with “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love),” her now-signature song.

Natalie continued to shine until addiction reared its ugly head and sidetracked her throughout much of the 1980’s. Less-than-stellar musical pairings also did not help keep her career on track. Albums such as Dangerous and I’m Ready, have some quality material, but failed to ignite a lasting spark. 1987’s Everlasting found Natalie returning to the charts thanks to a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Pink Cadillac,” but when 1991 rolled around, Natalie’s career would change forever.

“(I)t took 15 years into my career before I felt comfortable and confident enough to even attempt at singing my father’s music” she would later say. Much of the album was recorded at Capitol Records studios in Los Angeles, where her father recorded many of his own hits. It was clearly the magic touch. “I felt my father everywhere” she told Ebony Magazine in 1991 of the recording sessions.

The album is nothing short of a masterwork and a testament to the talent gene being passed from parent to child. While Nat’s voice is unmistakable and inimitable, Natalie’s holds a certain tonal quality that recalls her father. Not only is the album powerful, it’s dense, clocking in at an impressive 22 songs. Recording the album however, presented a few challenges.

First off, there were the label issues. Her label at the time, EMI was scared shitless to let her go off on what they considered a musical tangent. They felt that going so far left would alienate her audience and destroy her career. Suffice it to say they ate their words when Natalie struck a deal with Elektra Records and went full-steam ahead turning her tribute to her father into a reality.

Second, there were the vocal challenges. As Natalie said in 1991, she had to “throw out every R&B lick that I had ever learned and every pop trick I had ever learned. With him, the music was in the background and the voice was in the front.” It is an impressive feat for her to seemingly transition from R&B/pop to the much more challenging techniques and accuracies required in a jazz/pop/standards world of music.

Many of these songs are, for all intensive purposes, Nat’s songs. He sang them first, and he made them the hits they continue to be. Natalie’s renditions and arrangements are more than quality, but Nat’s versions remain superior. Those include “Nature Boy,” “Smile,” and “Mona Lisa.” “L-O-V-E” however, is a par for the course example of Natalie delivering a performance memorable enough to challenge her father’s. “Paper Moon” and “Lush Life” also fall into this category.

Interestingly, there are songs where Natalie outshines her father’s originals, most notably “Orange Colored Sky.” The arrangement she bestows, combined with her spot-on rapid delivery of the lines “’Cause the ceiling fell in, and the bottom fell out, I went into a spin, and I started to shout, “I’ve been hit, this is it, this is it!” upstage Nat’s original vocal performance. Not only that, but her delivery recalls the climactic “Hugging and squeezing, and kissing and pleasing, Together forever throughever whatever” & “So long as I’m living, true love I’ll be giving, To you I’ll be serving, cause you’re so deserving” from “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)”.

The crowning jewel of course, is the title track and album closer “Unforgettable.” It created a revolution in the recording industry, pairing Natalie with her late father, for a chilling, incredible performance. It was a transcendent experience for all involved. As producer David Foster recalled, “the orchestra… could barely play… they were gasping when his voice came in and hearing her sing. It was almost like he was alive again.”

To call the success of Unforgettable… With Love ‘massive’, would be an understatement. The album became Natalie’s first number one record within a few weeks of being released. The single “Unforgettable” shot from number 78 to peak at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in a single week. As Natalie said at the time, “It’s absolutely shocking to see it between Van Halen and Skid Row on the charts, totally out of its element.” The album went on to be certified 7 times Platinum, the single “Unforgettable” Gold, and the video for “Unforgettable” Platinum. It also landed at number 47 on the Billboard 200’s End of Decade Album Chart.

At the Grammy Awards in 1992, the album swept. Including David Foster’s win as Producer of the Year, Non-Classical Unforgettable… With Love walked away with 7 Grammy Awards. It also achieved the rare feat of winning Album, Record, and Song of the Year. The Song Of The Year win was so controversial (due to the song being written 40 years prior) that the rules were changed for the following year.

As a result of the massive success of Unforgettable… With Love, Natalie continued to drift towards the Great American Songbook. She released two more albums in its vein along with two Christmas albums. Her return to R&B and pop came with 1999’s magical Snowfall On The Sahara. Another few albums passed through a variety of musical styles, although her final two releases both returned to focus on her father.

2008’s Still Unforgettable was billed as the official sequel to the 1991 album. Her final album, 2013’s Natalie Cole En Español paid homage to her father’s catalog of Spanish music. Both contain a new duet with her father, and their pairings have never tired on listener’s ears. Her death earlier this year was a tragic loss to the music world, but like her father, she will remain ‘unforgettable.’

Sources

“Natalie Cole.” Intimate Portrait. 1 Aug. 1999. Lifetime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_CVxyXAw5I

“100 Essential CDs – Number 29 – Unforgettable With Love –Natalie Cole (1991).”

Reviewsrevues. N.p., 19 July 2015. Web.

https://reviewsrevues.com/2015/07/19/100-essential-cds-number-29-unforgettable-with-love-natalie-cole-1991/

“Natalie Cole Dead at 65.” Billboard. N.p., 1 Jan. 2016. Web.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6828859/natalie-cole-nat-king-cole-dead-at-65

“34^th Annual Grammy Awards”

http://www.grammy.com/awards/34th-annual-grammy-awards

“Natalie Cole.” – Chart History. N.p., n.d. Web. 2016.http://www.billboard.com/artist/277011/natalie-cole/chart

Pareles, Jon. “Natalie Cole, ‘Unforgettable’ Voice and Million-Selling Hitmaker, Dies at 65.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 Jan. 2016. Web.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/02/arts/music/natalie-cole-grammy-award-winning-singer-dies-at-65.html?_r=0

Simon, Scott. “Remembering Natalie Cole, Who Made A Name All Her Own.” NPR. NPR, 2 Jan. 2016. Web.

http://www.npr.org/2016/01/02/461700672/natalie-cole-gone-but-not-forgotten

Randolph, Laura B. “The Untold Story of Natalie Cole’s Comeback Tribute To Her Father, Nat King Cole”. Ebony. October 1991, 112-118. Print.

https://books.google.com/books?id=NdQDAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

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Though she was the daughter of a King (Nat King Cole to be exact), Natalie Cole didn’t let her father’s legacy overshadow or impede the creation of her own. A major player across R&B, soul, and jazz throughout her 6 decade career in music, she will be greatly missed and her legacy shall live on. Forging a path distant from music and the spotlight, she received her BA in child psychology in 1972. After performing a bit during her senior year of college, she caught the singing bug, and from there, secured a record deal.

At first, she tried to keep herself independent from her father’s legacy, moving in the R&B direction at “the house at Nat built,” Capitol Records. She released her debut album Inseparable in 1975 and won her first Grammy in 1976 for “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)” [which many people of my generation best know from ‘The Parent Trap’ remake in the 90’s], dethroning Aretha Franklin’s 7-year winning streak in the Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female category.

She continued to see success throughout the 70’s, but saw struggles in the early 80’s as drug abuse consumed her life. She recovered and bounced back in the mid-80’s, most notably with a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Pink Cadillac.” She continued with her music career and her crowning achievement came in 1990 when she did exactly what she tried to avoid for years and intertwined her father’s musical legacy with her own.

The idea was presented to her: release an album covering her father’s songs and incorporating some new technology which would allow them to duet. Unforgettable… With Love went on to win 6 Grammy Awards including Album, Song, Record, and Producer of The Year, and also found success at radio and on the Billboard Charts.

Throughout the 90’s she continued to prosper in pop, R&B, and even forayed into jazz. She gave a standout performance at a big blues show, Lightning In A Bottle in 2002 (see video below), and followed up her 1991 hit with Still Unforgettable in 2008. Her final album, Natalie Cole En Español was released in 2013.

She will be greatly missed and remembered as a influential and versatile voice in music.

Take a look below at some memorable moments from her career.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fWOrBkkEL8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zl2LTsOzCQ

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