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What Becomes a Classic Most?

Streisand at her apex in recordings made almost three-and-a-half decades apart. Make no mistake--she’s the classic here, and a classy one at that.
by David McGee
 

 
 
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What Christmas Is As We Grow Older

From CHARLES DICKENS's twopenny weekly, Household Words, a 1951 meditation, 'What Christmas Means as We Grow Older,' an optimistic paean written the same year the author's father and daughter died.
by David McGee
 

 

 
brian setzer dig

‘Zat You, Santa Claus?


Brian Setzer puts on his cat clothes and rocks the yule again...and again, putting his indelible stamp on rock 'n' roll Yuletide fare for all time.
by David McGee
 

 
 
genensky marsha

A-Caroling They Go

From 2011, our interview with MARSHA GENENSKY of ANONYMOUS 4 centered on the group's five Medieval Christmas albums.
by David McGee
 

 

 
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Christmas, Close to Home, Hearth and Heart

In his songs about home, hearth and heart, RICK LANG evokes a down-home Christmas celebration, with the help of some talented musicians who took his songs to unexpected places.
by David McGee
 

 
 
Lisa Biales At Christmas cover

A Yuletide Evergreen Grows Here

LISA BIALES's first holiday album may become essential to keeping Christmas well in our time ahead. Hearing is believing.
by David McGee
 

 

 
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To Dream Like an Angel

Under the direction of BERNARD LABADIE, LA CHAPELLE DE QUEBEC's THE ROAD TO CHRISTMAS will light your way, all through the days--nay, years--ahead.
by David McGee
 

 
 
BBBC Christmas Festival cover

Being About an Aural Feast at Yuletide

A vintage seasonal classic from 2011: The BRASS BAND OF BATTLE CREEK gets to the heart of the Yuletide.
by David McGee
 

 

 
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Coventry Carol (Lully, lullay): Twists and Turns

The ancient origins and twists and turns in the evolution of 'COVENTRY CAROL (Lully, lullay)," one of the most plaintive of sacred seasonal songs
by David McGee
 

 
 
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The Man With All the Toys

BRIAN SETZER and his ORCHESTRA return for his sixth Christmas blowout, ROCKIN' RUDOLPH, which lives up to the warm , virtuosic and rockin' high standard the Stray Cat has set for himself at Yuletide
by David McGee
 

 

 
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The First Christmas Stamps

It may seem like Christmas stamps have been around pretty much forever in some form, but in fact the U.S. did not issue a Yuletide stamp until 1962. Canada, in 1889, beat everyone to the punch with its Queen Victoria-approved C...
by David McGee
 

 
 
Frosty featured

Animated Christmas Classics

Christmas classics from the inkwell including Peace on Earth (1939), The Insects' Christmas (1913), and the first Frosty (1953).
by David McGee