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Noel: Songs for Christmas, Vol. I (2001)

01. Silent Night
02. O come, O come, Emmanuel
03. We’re Goin’ to the Country!
04. Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming
05. It’s Christmas! Let’s Be Glad!
06. Holy Holy, etc.
07. Amazing Grace

Hark!: Songs for Christmas, Vol. II (2002)

01. Angels We Have Heard on High
02. Put the Lights on the Tree
03. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
04. I Saw Three Ships
05. Only at Christmas Time
06. Once in David’s Royal City
07. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!
08. What Child Is This Anyway?
09. Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella

Ding! Dong!: Songs for Christmas, Vol. III (2003)

01. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
02. Come On! Let’s Boogey to the Elf Dance!
03. We Three Kings
04. O Holy Night
05. That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!
06. All the King’s Horns
07. Ding! Dong!
08. The Friendly Beasts

Joy: Songs for Christmas – Vol. IV (2005)

01. The Little Drummer Boy
02. Away in a Manger
03. Hey Guys! It’s Christmas Time!
04. The First Noel
05. Did I Make You Cry on Christmas Day? (Well, You Deserved It!)
06. The Incarnation
07. Joy to the World

Peace: Songs for Christmas, Vol. V (2006)

01. Once in Royal David’s City
02. Get Behind Me, Santa!
03. Jingle Bells
04. Christmas in July
05. Lo! How a Rose E’er Blooming
06. Jupiter Winter
07. Sister Winter
08. O come, O come, Emmanuel
09. Star of Wonder
10. Holy, Holy, Holy
11. The Winter Solstice

Songs For Christmas, Vol VIII (2006)

01. Angels We Have Heard On High
02. Do You See What I See
03. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
04. Christmas In The Room
05. Good King Wenceslas
06. Joy To The World
07. The Child With The Star On His Head

Genre: Folk, Indie Pop
Location: Chicago, IL
Label: Asthmatic Kitty
MySpace

What better time to get in the Christmas spirit than a day before Christmas?! I apologize for my lack of posting in the past two weeks. I had finals and family stuff, but I’m finally home which gives me a bunch of time for music. The only problem is that my internet is horrific, so awful that I can’t get through an upload. But despite that, this super-post of Sufjan’s Songs For Christmas is perfect for the season!

The Easy Christmas Fake Book: 100 Songs in the Key of C Fake Books Description:

We’re pleased to present the latest addition to our popular Easy Fake Book series, which features large, easy-to-read notation, simplified harmonies and melodies, lyrics, and all songs in the key of C. This Christmas collection includes: And Suddenly It’s Christmas * Away in a Manger * The Chipmunk Song * The Christmas Shoes * The Christmas Song * Christmas Time Is Here * Coventry Carol * Deck the Hall * Do They Know It’s Christmas? * Feliz Navidad * Frosty the Snow Man * I’ll Be Home for Christmas * Joy to the World * Pretty Paper * Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer * Silent Night * Silver Bells * Still, Still, Still * Sussex Carol * Wassail, Wassail * Who Would Imagine a King * Winds Through the Olive Trees * and more.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #184772 in Books
• Brand: Hal Leonard
• Published on: 2002-07-01
• Released on: 2002-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Features

• The Easy Christmas Fake Book: 100 Songs in the Key of C (Fake Boo

Customer Reviews:

Table of contents
100 songs in easy fake book notation:
Almost Day
And Suddenly It’s Christmas
Angels From The Realms Of Glory
Angels We Have Heard On High
As Lately We Watched
As Long As There’s Christmas
Away In A Manger
Away In A Manger
Because It’s Christmas (For All The Children)
Bring A Torch, Jeannette, Isabella
Burgundian Carol
Caroling, Caroling
The Chipmunk Song
C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S
The Christmas Shoes
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)
Christmas Time Is Here
The Christmas Waltz
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus
Coventry Carol
A Cradle In Bethlehem
Deck The Hall
Ding Dong! Merrily On High!
Do They Know It’s Christmas?
Do You Hear What I Hear
Emmanuel
Everywhere, Everywhere, Christmas Tonight
Feliz Navidad
The First Noel
The Friendly Beasts
Frosty The Snow Man
Gather Around The Christmas Tree
The Gift
Go, Tell It On The Mountain
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
Good Christian Men, Rejoice
Good King Wenceslas
The Greatest Gift Of All
Happy Holiday
Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
He Is Born, The Holy Child (Il Est Ne, Le Divin Enfant)
The Holly And The Ivy
A Holly Jolly Christmas
(There’s No Place Like) Home For The Holidays
How Lovely Is Christmas
I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
I Saw Three Ships
I Wonder As I Wander
I’ll Be Home For Christmas
In The Bleak Midwinter
Infant Holy, Infant Lowly
It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
It Must Have Been The Mistletoe (Our First Christmas)
Jingle-Bell Rock
Jingle Bells
Jingle, Jingle, Jingle
Jolly Old St. Nicholas
Joseph Dearest, Joseph Mine
Joy To The World
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
Little Saint Nick
Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming
Love Came Down At Christmas
Merry Christmas, Darling
Merry, Merry Christmas, Baby
Mister Santa
O Christmas Tree
O Come, All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)
O Come, O Come Immanuel
O Holy Night
O Leave Your Sheep
O Little Town Of Bethlehem
Once In Royal David’s City
Pretty Paper
Rocking
Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
Santa Baby
Silent Night
Silver Bells
The Sleep Of The Infant Jesus
The Snow Lay On The Ground
Some Children See Him
Still, Still, Still
Sussex Carol
Suzy Snowflake
There’s A Song In The Air
Up On The Housetop
Wassail Song
Wassail, Wassail
We Three Kings Of Orient Are
We’ll Dress The House
Wexford Carol
What Child Is This?
While By My Sheep
Who Would Imagine A King
Winds Through The Olive Trees
Wonderful Christmastime

Excellent book for the beginner
This is an excellent book for beginning and intermediate musicians. It has just about every traditional Christmas song you’d want except for The Twelve Days of Christmas. It does not have more modern Christmas songs like White Christmas. You can find the entire song list at the Hal Leonard web site.

I find the songs in this book much easier to play than those in The Easy Sixties Fake Book.

Good book
Looking for a good fake book, this will help you out if you have trouble seeing those little notes !

Click Here for Free Amazon.com Stuff Online

Entry Filed under: Musical Instruments. Tags: 0634049119, Musical Instruments, The Easy Christmas Fake Book: 100 Songs in the Key of C Fake Books, The Easy Christmas Fake Book: 100 Songs in the Key of C Fake Books Discount..

If you are looking for more info on True Blue – you have come to the right place

Review by for True Blue
Rating:
I think that this is the real stand out album of Madonna’s early career. Side one is fantastic, Papa don’t preach and white heat both have a lot to offer. Open your heart is in my opinion one of her best songs and utterly timeless whilst live to tell still remains by far her best ballad. Side two is not as good but still stands out as sheer happy pop ( where’s teh party and Jimmy Jimmy ) while La Isla Bonita is a classy take on latino and true blue flows along easily. Still one of her best albums

Review by H. R. Trigg for True Blue
Rating:
This the point where Madonna became critically acclaimed, and it is still a stand out album. It sold by the bucket loads, and whilst the album only comes with 9 tracks (+ the 2 added remixes on this remastered version), its not hard to see why.Packed with hits such as: Papa don’t preach, Open your heart, Live to tell, La Isla Bonita, and True blue, and fan favourites, Love makes the world go round and Where’s the party, this album is like a trip down memory lane.
The best remix here is for La Isla, which uses the gorgeous backing vocals to full effect, and is basicaly an extended version.

Review by BA Wilson for True Blue
Rating:
As I did with my review of Madonna’s first album (remastered), I will start with comments on the actual track list, followed be comments on the digitally remastered version.

TRUE BLUE, in my mind, is probably Madonna at her most inspirational. Other flashes of excellence like RAY OF LIGHT and LIKE A PRAYER may indeed receive mention, but it is this album that will always peg Madonna as a serious and brilliantly gifted artist. Five songs were released to great success internationally, viz. “Live To Tell”, “Papa Don’t Preach”, “Open Your Heart”, “True Blue” and “La Isla Bonita”. Moreover, “White Heat” was a fairly large hit in South Africa, and “Where’s The Party” stormed the charts throughout the Far East. It is this latter song which begs to be remodelled and re-released in time for Madonna’s upcoming Greatest Hits package (the 2nd “Immaculate Collection”). I personally fail to understand why this song was never released internationally in the first place.

The album opens with “Papa Don’t Preach” – a superbly composed, poetic tune that sets a rather gloomy ambience. This is followed by “Open Your Heart”, an upbeat, inspiring piece which is full of energy and aplomb. “White Heat” ensues, with a child-like theme akin to “cops `n robbers”. We are then confronted by some hauntingly beautiful material in “Live to Tell”, probably one of Madonna’s strongest and most sincere ballads to date. This seriousness fails to last though, for “Where’s The Party” lifts the spirits once again, as the lyrics ask us to “free our souls” and “lose control”. Succeeding this wonderful dance tune is the title track, “True Blue”, a love-inspired pop song, full of imagination and excited girliness. This is followed by “La Isla Bonita”, a Spanish-influenced pop tune with catchy lyrics and seductive percussion. “Jimmy Jimmy” is the next track, a bubblegum pop song which is, sadly, the weakest on the album. TRUE BLUE ends on a rather energetic note, with the South American carnival-style influence in “Love Makes The World Go Round” – a fitting finalé to a well-rounded, tireless pop album.

The remodelled version of this 1986 album can simply be described as “impeccable”. “Digitally Remastered” it is, and in more ways than one. The entire package has been enhanced, including the lyrics booklet and back cover. Fans will be delighted at the inclusion of a full-length TRUE BLUE picture within the lyrics booklet (as was featured in the original cassette version).

One finds it hard to believe the clarity of each song on this refreshingly enhanced CD. Like the remastered first album, some tunes on TRUE BLUE sound even more dance oriented than before – as their beats are far more distinctive and vibrant. “Where’s The Party” and “Open Your Heart” are examples. In fact, “Where’s The Party” sounds far more exciting than it originally did! The drums throb, and the synthesisers are lucid and precise. The inclusion of two bonus tracks will please many fans. “True Blue” (The Colour Mix) is definitely one of my favourites. Shep Pettibone was a master at remixing Madonna tracks, and this one is no exception. “La Isla Bonita” (Extended Remix), however, is not characteristically different to the album version – it is merely an extended version, and not nearly as polished as something Pettibone would have performed.

The digitally remastered version of “True Blue” is phenomenal, and is a must for the fan and the musically informed. It certainly is worthy of being nominated “Top 10 Album Of All Time”.

Rating: (out of 28 reviews)

The Analysis:

Shake Your Groove Thing [Peaches & Herb]—-This husband and wife team managed to score a few top 40 hits..all inside the Disco genre and the top 40 pop genre. Although this is steeped with many of the classic characteristic Disco sounds, I more consider this to be a more Urban release than a simple Disco song. This has survived time and changes…and still sounds wonderfully fresh even today.

Y.M.C.A. {The Village People]—-This studio manufactured group has managed to outlast the disco era, the AIDS era and the general trend away from dance music with incredible energy. Still touring with different members, but the same energy, this is a mainstay of the memories of the excess and innuendo of the Disco movement. This is about as gay as you can get, but managed to capture the attention of the entire world…nuff said.

Le Freak [Chic]—-I hardly consider this song to be a Disco song per se…instead, this was a worldwide phenomenon that captured the music audience form edge of the world to the other. Chic…stteped in a rather deep bass funk sound managed to incorporate the waning Disco sound with the new invigorated Urban sound and created a hit that encapsulated Worldwide Domination. This is still fun and listening back to it now brings a huge feeling of euphoria and fun, This was not necessarily disco, but the beginning of a real Dance movement.

I Will Survive [Gloria Gaynor]—-Perhaps one of the defining songs of this entire genre, this song still plays incredibly well today and still manages to be relevant. Gaynor delivers a vocal that is just incredible…full of all the necessary emotion and mood…telling an actual story and in extended play delivers a dance rhythm that will keep you dancing for a nice 165 minutes or so. The piano adds to the depth of the song and the build up is magnificent. This is pure Disco…a song that still defines the genre and manages to stay alive despite it!

Livin’ It Up [Friday Night] [Bell & Jaymes]—-This is another of those miscellaneous jams that literally defines Disco. Steeped in  the full urban feel that also includes many of the Disco characteristics, this is still a really nice song to listen to. The orchestration that lies underneath the heavy synth beats must have been expensive to produce, but the result is another timeless classic.

Instant Replay [Dan Hartman]—-A classic song that has been remade numerous times since we lost Hartman to the AIDS crisis. This is superb…full of energy and a classic dance floor element that helped to define this moment in time. Hartman managed a really nice vocal that was so accessible…I miss that vibe…although Irather adore the version by Bros……Thanks Allan!!!!

You Make Me Feel [Mighty Real][Sylvester]—-Perhaps a defining movement in moving the whole disco movement into a Gay movement, Sylvester hit the scene with this song…combined with Patrick Crowley’s  synth lines to move the entire thing from the mainstream into a club thing. This song is so full of energy and enthusiasm…synth heavy and accentuated by the remarkable vocal of Sylvester…you will remember this forever.

I Want Your Love [Chic]—-Another of those songs that really served as a crossover hit on the American charts, Chic set a standard and never faltered from their vision. Nile Rodgers and his bass became a trademark for many of the future Urban bands that were to come after this masterful song. This is brilliance and the standout fact is how wonderful it sounds to me now…all of these years later.

Knock On Wood [Amii Stewart]—-I almost had forgotten about this song until it surfaced on this compilation. Stewart had a magnificent voice that seemed really out-of-place in the Disco movement but found a wonderful home in this song. This is brilliant…the synths, the energy and the vocal all add up to a bona fide hit!!!

Disco Nights [Rock Freak] [GQ]—-Joyful, spirited and full of every Disco synth that you could find, this is a sure listen if you are seeking nostalgia. The vocal is so smooth and full of funk that you are sucked in from the onset. When the whole group joins in on the vocal, you are lost in the wonderful enveloping of the song. This is magnificent…a pure lost classic.

Love & Desire Pt. I [Arpeggio]—-For me, this falls into that cliché  sound of 70′s Disco…full of gang vocals that trade back and forth from male to female…without ever going anywhere. To me this was a waste of time…the female vocal is downright annoying.

He’s The Greatest Dancer [Sister Sledge]—-Really one of the first all girl groups…later they would  permeate the 80′s sound, Sister sledge had that nice combination of funk and disco that plated very well on FM radio. This still sounds fairly fresh today…all of these years on. This  reminds of so many things…mnost of them really good…thanks to you Sister Sledge!

Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now [McFadden & Whitehead]—-One of my very favorite songs from this genre, this track includes classic Disco sounds and swirls with a feel good music that took over the airwaves in the early 80′s before New Wave became the phenomenon. This is full of breaks and rhythms that would later permeate our musical history. This still sounds as remarkable to me now as it did when I first heard it!

Ring My Bell [Anita Ward]—-Distinguished my the mechanical bell sound…supplied by a drum program and a remarkable less than conventional vocal, Ward scored a HUGE hit with this song. It still sounds magical and fun to me…this is Disco personified!

Bad Girls [Donna Summer]—-By the time this single emerged, Summer and moroder were the King and Queen of disco music…this only further cemented the reputation as the duo produced yet another single that was full of sexual innuendoes and a classic synth line that would define the careers of these artists. this is classic, unforgettable and comfortable.

Born To Be Alive [Patrick Hernandez]—-This song is so full of classic disco sounds…the song travels at an amazing speed. The sentiment that is displayed in the lyrics makes this song one of the most powerful Gay Anthems that has ever been recorded…I find it a bit distressing that it has been forgotten so easily. This should be blaring from the stereos of every State Legislature as we battle for HIV funding and marriage rights…this is a true anthem!!!!

Good Times [Chic]—-Yet  another song that I personally don’t think belongs in the whole disco genre, this song capitalized on the burgeoning funk movement of the early 80′s, Chic appealed to mass audiences everywhere…not just those who were dancing at Studio 54 style clubs. This is slow, seductive and displayed mass appeal…perhaps displaying the genius of Nile Rodgers and his staying power in the stream of popular music.

Don’t You Want My Love [Debbie Jacobs]—-This is nice and fast….Sylvester type fast disco…full of low and seductive lyrics and a fun sexy style that inspires hedonism and abandon. The vocal is classic…full of back drop singers that beef up the feel of the song and adds layers of sexiness to the already seductive feel of the song. The synth swirls around your head and brings a euphoria you thought impossible…the true mission of Disco Music!!!

H.A.P.P.Y R.A.D.I.O [Edwin Starr]—-This is just slop……..

 I Shoulda Loved You [ Michael Narada Walton]—-A name that turned up in the later 80′s as a production credit, Narada delivers a song that is steeped in classic funk/disco sounds that played very well in the later part of the 70′s after the crowds began to abandon the dance floors of Club 54 in search for a more real Urban sound…Narada delivered this with a playfulness that still appealed to the Disco mad audience that DID NOY burn their records at the infamous I HATE DISCO  rally.

We Are Family [Sister Sledge]—-This is a true anthem for the Gay community that still plays very well and pronounced at rallies to this very day. this speaks of unity and the need to come together ad one…you cannot deny the underlying meaning of the song…tis was meant as a battle cry…one that we need to shout to this day!!!!

**** out of 5

Just like he has done with hit songs like “Ghost In This House,” “On The Verge” “That’s That” and “The Song Remembers When,” songwriter Hugh Prestwood creates simply beautiful songs with even simpler melodies.  Each song is pure poetry and Sammy Kershaw’s latest single “The Snow White Rows of Arlington” isn’t any different.   

With a simple acoustic arrangement, Kershaw sings the lyrics which sound like a mission statement for simple patriotic pride.   Instead of boastful or jingoistic lyrics, “The Snow White Rows Of Arlington” simply serves to remind people why Americans have the freest land in the world while truly serving as the perfect memorial song for anyone who died to keep the USA free as it is today.

The best way to understand this song is to simply read the lyrics.  Add Sammy Kershaw’s spot-on vocal of Hugh Prestwood’s words and what we have here is a beautiful and poignant song that hopefully will find a welcoming audience.

You can support Sammy Kershaw by purchasing this single digitally at Amazon.