wasn't sure what option that was in the poll.

Love his Christmas albums.

...and if anyone can give me the name of a GOOD CD with a realistic compilation...I'll let you borrow my soul!

I've been looking for years. I bought one set about 15 years ago that ended up being just awful. Poor recording, poor orchestration, etc.

Joan Baez singing "O Holy Night" is so beautiful that it transcends words. I am also very fond of Steeleye Span's "Gaudete" from their Below the Salt album.

And then there's Spinal Tap's "Christmas With The Devil"

And I'm an atheist.

anything written in the last 100 years or so is pretty bad.

except little drummer boy. Eff that guy.


Unless maybe there's a cover out there by Proscriptor of Absu.

And if I hear Jingle Bell Rock or The Little Drummer Boy

ONE MORE FREAKING TIME, SOMEBODY'S GOING TO LOSE AN EYE!

Otherwise, I'm just fine with Christmas music.

One of the local radio stations plays nothing but popular Christmas music from Thanksgiving to Christmas. And it sucks.

Used to be that CBS radio had a "Calvacade of Christmas" thing each year where they'd play several hours of Christmas music, recorded by college choirs around the country. That was nice to listen to.

Classical music and carols for me, but not The Messiah, or Joy to the World, or Silent Night. I'm permanently overdose on those.

The Coventry Carol sung a cappella is one of my favorites. Its history is murky as well. Though it is associated with Christmas due to its mention of King Herod having all the firstborns killed upon learning of the birth of the Messiah, actually some think the carol refers to children dying during the Black Plague and their mothers' anguish.

My other favorites are Luciano Pavarotti's rendition of Adeste Fideles and Ave Maria. I am not religious by any means, by the way, and in Italy Christmas is a lot more subdued than it is in the U.S., so thankfully I didn't have to be subjected to musical torture at this time of year.

And the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is totally overrated - they are a huge, blah musical pile of mush, kind of like you can imagine oatmeal sounding like if oatmeal made music. You want to hear great performances of Christmas music? Check out the Tallis Scholars and The Sixteen. Here's an example of some great music for Christmas (Advent, technically):

I belong to a small ensemble that just performed this wonderful piece. This is my idea of great music for the season - not "The Little Drummer Boy" sung by some lame-ass pop outfit.

I only listed MTC because I figured those were the most well known

One of the many settings of this English folk carol




From Benjamin Britten's "Ceremony of Carols"




Like most of Poulenc's choral music, this is devilishly hard to sing



The title of this Advent anthem means "A voice said, "Cry!" It continues with some of the same verses that Handel set in "Messiah." It's typical British multi-themed choral bombast, but it's fun to sing.



This is Herbert Howell's anthem about the visit of the Wise Men. Howells was a wonderful choral composer, little known in the U.S. except among choir geeks, especially Episcopal choir geeks

My group also performed this relatively modern piece last weekend:

Just don't make me do anything by John Rutter, the Thomas Kinkade of choral music.

It sounds like it should be the background for some Target Christmas shopping advertisement.

Actually, his setting of "What Sweeter Music" is tolerable. The music fits the words quite well.



Of course, unlike "The Star Carol," "The Candelight Carol," and "The Nativity Carol," he didn't write the words.

Ironic that he's otherwise such a banal composer when the Cambridge Singers' recordings of Anglican church music are so wonderful.

One day I had the radio on in the car (I get a few obscure XM stations) and this loud, treacly choral piece came on and I thought, Damn, that's awful, must be Rutter. And sure enough, it was.

attend a Christmas Eve service that does NOT end up with candles being passed out and everyone singing "Silent Night."

I can sing it in four languages, and I don't like it in any of them.

God may strike me dead for this, but I hate "Silent Night." Not only is it not a very good tune, but unless it's accompanied (and sometimes even then), it gets slower and slower and flatter and flatter as verse after tedious verse drags on and the candle you're holding drips hot wax on your hand. I also hate "O Little Town of Bethlehem" unless it's the Vaughan Williams setting, which I like very much. The better-known tune is harmonically icky.

I head over to somafm's Christmas channels:

Xmas in Frisko
Christmas Rocks!
Christmas Lounge

Seriously, I love the whole Percy Faith Silent Gen Christmas

but I would gladly eliminate stuff from the last twenty years.