Swedish Power Pop Group Brainpool Reactivates for "The Last Christmas"

I can't claim to have followed the Swedish power pop group Brainpool too closely before they went on hiatus four or five years ago, but if their recently released holiday tune is any indication of what they're capable of doing, I'm glad they're back. The song is called "The Last Christmas," and it's now widely available around the internets, including this pleasant little backwater village you're visiting now:



I hope you like it as much as I do. At first blush, it's a bouncy pop tune that can't help but reel you in with its infectious melody – but listen to the lyrics. The message is anything but festive and pleasant. As much as I love the holidays, and as happy as I am to wrap myself in the glorious escapism they sometimes offer, I'm unable or at least unwilling to suspend disbelief or divorce myself from reality for too long at a time. Too many people will be spending this holiday season in misery for good-hearted people to close our eyes to their plight. I'm confident that each of us in our way manages to assist others in some form or fashion, and hopefully this includes actively opposing some of the unforgivable actions perpetrated in recent years under the pretense of protecting our safety and security.

Purchase "The Last Christmas" on iTunes HERE.

C'est Noel, Part 6 (Tracks 17-18)

I started this blog two years ago as a place to share a few occasional thoughts about some of the tracks on my annual holiday music mixes. The scope has expanded slightly since then, but I haven't lost sight of that original mission. My latest mix is called C'est Noel, and we've been looking at each of the 35 tracks it contains. Today we look at Tracks 17 and 18, and once these two are covered, we'll have crossed the half-way mark on this year's release.

Track 18
Christ Was Born on Christmas Morn, by the Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers (1929)

Miller (left) and Jackson

It’s been called “one of the most transcendently joyous, exuberant records ever made,”* and while that strikes me as a bit of an overstatement, this one really does have some spirit, don't you think? Recorded in Chicago in August 1929, it was released a little less than four months later – or two months after the Great Stock Market Crash. I'd guess that whatever exuberance there is was more urgently needed by then than was first supposed. The Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers consisted of Frankie “Half Pint” Jaxon, a cabaret performer, jazz singer and occasional female impressionist; Ernest “Punch” Miller, a jazz trumpet player; and the Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Choir from a small church on Chicago’s West Side. This track is one of only a handful of songs the group recorded together, and it doesn't appear that this one got much traction before the Great Depression tightened its grip across the country. Sometime in the early 1980s, radio host Dick Spotswood began to play the song regularly during the holidays on his bluegrass radio show on Washington's WAMU-FM. In 2002,  it was included on the Dust to Digital CD Where Will You Be Christmas Day? 
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*Sullivan, Steve, Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, Vol. 2 (2013), at 32-33.

Track 17
Transylvanian Christmas, by Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper (1986)

Mojo Nixon (left) and Skid Roper in 2012

Our next tune is probably among the best 15 or 20 psychobilly holiday instrumental songs released during second half of the Reagan administration, so why wouldn’t it be included in one of my mixes? It was only a matter of time, really. Part of the song’s beauty lies in its simplicity – less is more, and all that, you know. It basically consists of Skid Roper playing two verses of “Joy to the World” on harmonica while Mojo Nixon beats on the bongos. Somehow Roper’s tweaked his instrument to make it sound kind of ominous. That’s sort of the overall MO of these guys, who released six albums during the 1980s before going their separate ways. They liked to shake things up a bit by fusing different styles together and parodying pretty much whatever came into view. Nixon went on to release a few more albums on his own and with others, and recently he’s launched several radio shows on Sirius.

For insight into Mojo Nixon’s First Amendment philosophy, catch his 1990 appearance on CNN's Crossfire with Pat Buchanan and Michael Kinsley, HERE.

Some of you may recall Wesley Willis, the outsider artist whose song “Merry Christmas” was included on my 1997 mix Let’s Trim the Christmas Tree. Well, are you ready for this? Wesley actually recorded a tribute song called “Mojo Nixon,” which is available HERE.

Letterman to Host Nick Lowe on Wednesday's Late Show

The always jaunty and stylish Nick Lowe released his first Christmas record this Fall, titled Quality Street: A Seasonal Selection for the Whole Family. If you like the album, or if you haven't heard it yet, be sure to watch the Late Show with David Letterman tomorrow (Wednesday) night, December 11, when Nick will be the featured musical guest. And while you're at it, might as well schedule your DVR to tape David's final pre-Christmas broadcast on Monday, December 23. I'm not sure the guests for that night have been officially announced yet, but it's a pretty good bet that Darlene Love will be on hand to sing "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" once again as she has on every pre-holiday show for the past 27 years. More on that sometime next week.

Coming Soon: We'll look at the next two songs from my latest mix, C'est Noel, which will require a trip to Transylvania via Cotton Top Mountain. Wear warm clothes.

Look Who's Back to Say "Happy Holidays!"

This video's filled with friendly, familiar faces. Some are old, some are new – but all of them seem to be really enjoying themselves at work. I've never thought there was any problem with that, just as long as the work is getting done, right?. Ah . . . so there's the rub! Still and all, they really do seem to be deep into the holiday spirit, don't they?

Billboard's Latest Holiday Song and Airplay Charts Are Out (Meh)

Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Claus, from mall to mall and smartphone to smartphone and all the ships at sea. Let's go to press! FLASH! The latest Billboard Hot Holiday Songs charts are out, dated December 14, 2013:

You needn't waste much time on these. They look pretty much the same as they have since the Ford administration. In fact, the only real change of note since last year is that Wham's "Last Christmas" fell of the chart (Praise God!). It was replaced by this radical "new" tune called "Sleigh Ride," which was recorded in 1950!

I guess I sort of get why people are pulled toward some of the old chestnuts for Christmas, and I'm fine with that. What I don't understand is why we don't have at least a few radio programmers somewhere in the land who'd be willing to take a chance now and then and play something new. And I also don't understand why Billboard goes through this ridiculous charade of publishing new holiday song charts each week. Why bother?