Dreaming of a (Al) Green Christmas . . .

And listening to the gentle tinkling of Jingle (William) Bell(s). Enough of the horrible puns, already and on to some more excellent soulful Christmas songs. My girlfriend cannot get enough of the Christmas music, so being the dutiful boyfriend that I am, when thinking of what LP to put on the Hi-Fi I keep coming back to the "Soul Christmas" album from whence the wonderful "Merry Christmas, Baby" by Otis was taken. We were listening to it last night and it sunk in just how good this William Bell song is.



Download: Everyday Will Be Like A Holiday
William Bell is one of those lesser-known soul singers of the Southern/Memphis variety that is often overlooked because of his subtlety. He wasn't a shouter like Otis or a screamer like the Godfather or a velvet-voiced crooner like the honorable Rev. Al Green, but in recent years there has been renewed interest in his tunes, particularly the heartbreaking, "I Forgot to be Your Lover" which was sampled by someone notable and comped on O-Dub's "Soul Sides Vol. 1" This song is so subtle it must have taken me five listens before I had to exclaim aloud, "Damn, that's a great song," to which my girlfriend replied, "yay, for christmas songs."



Download: What Christmas Means To Me
My brother bought me this Al Green Christmas tape a few years back. Yes, a cassette tape and yes, it was only a few years ago. My brother likes tapes and having a car myself, I can appreciate tapes because my car has a tape-deck, not a CD player or a DVD surround-sound entertainment system. So, come the holiday season there is only one Christmas tape in my collection, which means its a "Green Christmas" in my car all season long. This is a bit dated in its 80s production, but as far as another modern Christmas classic, I think it's up there and Al Green has to try pretty hard to mess up anything.

As for the Brazilian Christmas songs, they are coming tomorrow. However, I realized to my chagrin that I don't have one of the songs I was hoping to post: "Jingle Black" by Gerson King Combo. If anyone else out there has it on MP3, hit me up on email and I will get it posted.