A Christmas Yuleblog

If there was a musical genre that closely identified with Christmas, it would be the blues. While most of the world focuses on the Christmas season, the gift giving, the get togethers, the tinsel, the shopping, and the like, there is an undertow of stress, depression, etc., that lurks below the surface. Enter the blues. The blues have often been an outlet for the artists and listeners to vent their frustration at people and things. Perhaps if more Christmas blues were heard, suicides and overindulgence would decline rapidly. This is just a theory. But it couldn't hurt, huh? Was this the theory behind Martin Johns impressive looking comp on Christmas blues? Or was this another showcase of his incredible talents to package together another themed comp? I've asked Martin that question in the special section we've set aside for his insights into his comps that we call... STUBBY SPEAKS : Since I was enjoying an abundance of Christmas spirit in 2005, I wanted ...

I wasn't sure what to make of this comp sent to us by Martin Johns . Was this a full Christmas CD of progressive rock and could Martin have pulled it off? The playlist (see below) was rather intimidating - set in that famous Macintosh font, stark background, only a handful of names I recognized. Not only was there this comp in the shoebox Martin sent but there was a "Progressive Christmas V5" as well (which will be reviewed later this week). This one had me perplexed for sure. Which is one of the reasons why I asked Martin for some special insight on each of the 20 comps he had sent. We feature those insights in a space reserved for him called... STUBBY SPEAKS : "Progressive" was a college radio station format I worked in. The "rules" were... an equal balance of music "categories" (Category 1 - Jazz / Category 2A - Soul, Blues, R&B / Category 2B - Country, Folk, Bluegrass / Category 3 - Rock & Pop / Category 4 - Classi...

This is our final week looking at Christmas comps and the second week of exploring through the 20 comps that Martin Johns of Greenville, South Carolina sent us via the P.O. Box. When this comp you're looking at fell out onto my passenger seat in my car, I thought at first it was a reggae flavored comp (that comes later on this week though). Then I read the title and let out a giddy squeal of delight. There is something about Hawaii and Christmas that has always clicked within me. At one time, Hawaiian Christmas music was the largest subgenre in my personal collection with 13 CDs so flavored. It is something I have never understood or tried to understand. However, when I hear "Deck The Halls" sung in Hawaiian or that luscious slide guitar playing "Jingle Bells", I simply relax and float downstream with the music. In any case, I was thrilled to add number 14 to the collection. Of all the comps Martin had sent me, this was the very first to hit the boombox...

You may have noticed that my schedule has gone askew. This is due to the death of my close friend Deb McMeen , who waged a brave but losing battle to leukemia. Since getting involved with the local theater group I'm involved with in 2004, I have been in two shows. Both times Deb was cast opposite me. She was a grand lady, a wonderful person, a better mother and wife, and had a terrific laugh that topped it all off. I'll miss you Deb. The family has asked me to be an usher / pallbearer at the wake and funeral this weekend. Our new schedule (still subject to change) for this final week of looking at Christmas comps (more specifically Martin Johns' Christmas comps) is this: Monday, March 26th JohnsCDs 2005-0152-027 - No Rain, No Rainbow: A Contemporary Hawaiian Christmas JohnsCDs 2005-0556-032 - Progressive Christmas V4 Tuesday, March 27th JohnsCDs 2005-0657-031 - Blues For Christmas JohnsCDs 2005-0859-020 - Breaking Up Christmas Wednesday, March 28th Jo...

This was one of the first comps that fell onto my passenger seat when I cracked open Martin Johns ' shoebox of Christmas comps he sent me. The cover caught my eye. A family portrait by the Christmas tree tinted slightly for effect, complete with its own Star of Bethlehem in the window. No, that's not the flash from the camera. The back cover was the same photo completely untouched and in its natural setting. The flash in the window was placed there later... I think. In any case, a quick scan of the playlist shows me that this comp is more along the traditional lines of a Christmas comp (Bing, Frank, Dean, Durante, Garland) but also has a few surprises thrown in. I've asked Martin to give us a small insight on every comp he sent us and we feature it in a spot we like to call... STUBBY SPEAKS : For the most part, I avoid what I call "The Classics" (Bing, Dino, Frank, Perry, Andy...), except in very small doses. But that's where my head was when I ...

When I first asked for Christmas comps (it seems like a decade ago) last October , I was very interested to hear what others put on their annual Christmas CDs. I knew that I would discover rare Christmas tracks that I had been searching for, Christmas music that I had never heard before, and artists whose Christmas work I needed to explore further. Little did I know that I would learn much, much more. Take for instance this 2004 comp from Martin Johns . When I saw this for the first time, I thought to myself it would be full of Beach Boys Christmas songs, surf guitar instrumentals by the Ventures, Los Straitjackets, and forgotten Christmas 45s with that flavor attached. When I got a look at the playlist (see below), I saw four tracks out of a possible 22 that I had heard before. I hadn't a clue on the rest. Something didn't mesh. I opened the booklet and read the liner notes, discovering that this was a comp full of Christmas songs from a whole new musical genre th...

When the shoebox arrived and I read Martin John 's letter, he specifically referred to this comp the way a fine jeweler would show you a breath taking diamond that he had cut and polished as a display of his craft. As I went through the twenty comps Martin sent me, my organizational skills began to kick in. I instinctively sorted them by year and placed the comps that made me go "WOW" towards the top of each pile. When I was done with my initial sort, I noticed an additional two things about this recommended comp: 1.) It was the only comp from 2003 that Martin had sent. 2.) Like yesterday's " Solid Gold Christmas V2 ", this one had songs bulging out at me that I couldn't ignore. The heart can only take so much... For more information on this comp, we present the area of each review set aside for Martin to share his side of the story as... STUBBY SPEAKS : In 2003, I'd finished my mixes for the year and I was just a tiny bit bummed. It...

This was the last of three comps Martin Johns sent me that he crafted in the year 2002 - the first being " Hepcat Holiday " posted yesterday afternoon, the second being " Solid Gold Christmas V2 " posted this morning. This comp salutes the American postal worker who from January to October handles about 40% of their total annual output. This leaves just November and December (two months) to do the remaining 60% - staggering! I have seen the despair in their eyes around Christmas - especially when I roll up with a microwave box full of packages in all different sizes and shapes that all must be weighed individually. However, I always remember the experience one postal worker in Northville, Michigan gave me during the Christmas season of 1999. He never complained once, was asking about the contents of each (chocolate birth announcements for my first child Alex and a Christmas comp), and sat with me for almost one hour weighing out each of the 137 packages th...

While I was sitting in the parking lot of the Fort Wayne post office, looking over the stacks and stacks of Christmas comps that Martin Johns had sent (click the link to get the full story), this 2002 comp stuck out. I opened the CD case to scan the playlist (see below). What I found was a treasure trove of Christmas songs transferred over from vinyl to one compilation. However, two songs stood out from the pack. Two songs that grabbed me by the collar, stared at me directly in the eye, and delivered a wallop so hard that it made my jaw drop, my stomach flutter, and made me squeal in absolute delight. One was a B-side from the 1950s that I'd thought I'd never, EVER hear in my lifetime. The other was a much-sought after A-side from the 1960s that bordered on the myth of urban legend. To better explain this, here is a special insight from Martin that we like to call: STUBBY SPEAKS : In 2001, I discovered eBay . I had my long-time wishlist by my side as these soug...

Earlier today, I posted the first comp from the prolific Martin Johns (Background info? Click the link!). This 2002 comp is his earliest true Christmas comp he sent to me via the P.O. Box. along with some 20 other comps. Sleep is very overrated among Christmas music enthusiasts. The festive cover and title really says it all - a comp chock full of swingin' Christmas music for all those crazy cats and fabulous felines to jitterbug to. Considering the whole lounge music craze was about over by 2002, this might seem a little dated. However, with Mr. Johns as your DJ, this can turn into a masterpiece. For more on this project, I've asked Martin for a special insight. We call it... STUBBY SPEAKS : I loved the NeoSwing movement, especially the Jump Blues stuff and the general irreverence. As the universe of legitimate NeoSwing Christmas music was rather limited, I challenged myself to do a credible collection without resorting to using any classic swing tracks. I ...