- Lenny Kaye teamed with the band Cedar Sparks to record a single, "Santa's Knee" backed with "Gathering Storm." Haven't heard it as it's only available in the vinyl incarnation from Rough Trade for 2023. If it pops up for streaming or download, I'll let you know.
- Several out-of-print Christmas albums have popped up for 2023 as vinyl artifacts (of course), although in the streaming age some will tend to remain available that way, assuming no business restrictions pop up in the interim. Among them are Fred Schneider's Superions with Destination Christmas, Nick Lowe's Quality Street, the compilation Psych Out Christmas, the Fleshtones' Stocking Stuffer, Bright Eyes' A Christmas Album, and though billed as a new collection, Stax Christmas is just another recompilation of that label's classic soul Christmas tunes, although it advertises an alternate mix of Otis Redding's "Merry Christmas Baby." UPDATE: Stubby checks in to note Carla Thomas' "Blue Christmas" is previously unreleased, which I should have known. And, streaming only, RuPaul's Essential Christmas adds one new track to a collection of previous releases.
- Don't want to be a jinx, but it looks like the Snowflakes Christmas Singles Club won't have a 2023 release, as there's no mention of anything on either their Bandcamp page or their blog.
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The RuPaul influence on 2015's holiday season continues with this raft of "Drag Race" competitors doing their take on the holiday repertoire. Like RuPaul's disc, the sound is mostly modern pop/dance/R'nB, but it's more of a novelty album, in that enthusiasm outstrips talent here. And it's also for mature audiences, in regard to some infrequent sex talk. But you might get a kick out of Ginger Minj's "Christma-Hannu-Kwanzaa-Ka," a song that will at least help you explain to the Fox News-obsessed stick-in-the-muds out there why people say "Happy holidays" this time of year. Or Sharon Needles' punky take on "Jingle Bells" that does something unspeakable with the top of a Christmas tree to start. "From Head To Mistletoe" by Courtney Act throws in a tiny bit of girl-group schmaltz, Jiggly Caliente brings the hip-hop on "Ratchet Christmas," and the near-obligatory ode to the ugly "Christmas Sweater" is brought to us with a touch of folk-country by Alaska Thunderfuck (really), Courtney Act and Willam. The latter artist shows up again doing a Bill Cosby impression on "A Very Cozby Christmas," which is really "Baby, It's Cold Outside." Oddly, Manila Luzon performs "Slay Bells," which you'll recall is the title of RuPaul's album, Violet Chachki delivers an R-rated "The Night Before Christmas," and Detox tips his wig to Hanukkah with "This Is How We Jew It." I won't make any great claims for this album, but there are some giggles to be mined here if you're up for it.
America's favorite drag queen plays Christmas for all it's worth on this 1997 album, with tunes like "RuPaul the Red-Nosed Drag Queen" and "All I Want for Christmas" ...is plastic surgery. He slips in an original, "Funky Christmas (Christmas at My House)" that thoughtfully includes "A Visit From St. Nicholas," and a dance medley of several traditional Christmas standards. Ru shows a bit of creativity in choosing songs, like Dolly Parton's "With Bells On," Little Steven Van Zandt's "All Alone on Christmas," a funky "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch" and an interesting arrangement in which "Disco Lady" meets "Here Comes Santa Claus." On the other hand, his "Santa Baby" is overbaked and he ruins the joke of "I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus," done in a much funnier version by comedian Kip Addotta on the first Dr. Demento Christmas album. This album was released in conjunction with his VH1 show from that period; he previously did an excellent dance-pop single of "Little Drummer Boy" on Tommy Boy in 1995 that isn't part of this collection. Strangely, the music section of RuPaul's website ignores his holiday releases.
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The RuPaul influence on 2015's holiday season continues with this raft of "Drag Race" competitors doing their take on the holiday repertoire. Like RuPaul's disc, the sound is mostly modern pop/dance/R'nB, but it's more of a novelty album, in that enthusiasm outstrips talent here. And it's also for mature audiences, in regard to some infrequent sex talk. But you might get a kick out of Ginger Minj's "Christma-Hannu-Kwanzaa-Ka," a song that will at least help you explain to the Fox News-obsessed stick-in-the-muds out there why people say "Happy holidays" this time of year. Or Sharon Needles' punky take on "Jingle Bells" that does something unspeakable with the top of a Christmas tree to start. "From Head To Mistletoe" by Courtney Act throws in a tiny bit of girl-group schmaltz, Jiggly Caliente brings the hip-hop on "Ratchet Christmas," and the near-obligatory ode to the ugly "Christmas Sweater" is brought to us with a touch of folk-country by Alaska Thunderfuck (really), Courtney Act and Willam. The latter artist shows up again doing a Bill Cosby impression on "A Very Cozby Christmas," which is really "Baby, It's Cold Outside." Oddly, Manila Luzon performs "Slay Bells," which you'll recall is the title of RuPaul's album, Violet Chachki delivers an R-rated "The Night Before Christmas," and Detox tips his wig to Hanukkah with "This Is How We Jew It." I won't make any great claims for this album, but there are some giggles to be mined here if you're up for it. The Drag Racer had a Christmas album before, and he's back with another one for 2015. The difference this time around is more than a decade of reality-show celebrity, to the point that the numerous spoken-word interludes are mainly comprehensible only to those who follow the various RuPaul broadcasts. And there's one of those for every song on this album, exhausting my patience. Apparently this album is the soundtrack for a Christmas special airing on Logo TV this season, so it's possible the spoken word clips are actually from the show. We're more about the songs though, and there's 10 of them, created in a dance/pop/R'nB style that on some tunes almost evokes the 80s, and it appears that they're all originals, other than a cover of "Deck the Halls" and a short throwaway rendition of "Joy to the World." Things start out promisingly with "Merry Christmas Mary," an ode to being "loud and proud," and "Christmas Is About Love," which could be a single very easily if hit radio would be caught dead playing songs by people over 50. "You're the Star (On My Christmas Tree)" starts out nicely retro but bolts for the modern day quickly, "Christmas Cookies" lays on the 50's "doo-bops" behind the double-entendres, and "My Favorite Holiday" could have been done by Dead Or Alive back in their heyday. "From Your Heart" is a duet with Michelle Visage, Ellis Miah and Big Freedia join in on the hip-hop "Jingle Dem Bells," "Nothing For Christmas" plays on everybody's holiday nightmare, and the obligatory nod to New Year's is the dance-out processional "Brand New Year" with Siedah Garrett. If you like modern R'nB/pop, this is actually a decent album, although I'd make a playlist with the "interludes" removed, myself. It's definitely an improvement over RuPaul's previous Christmas album, which was mostly covers and parodies, with at least a few candidates for playlists and mixtapes.
America's favorite drag queen plays Christmas for all it's worth on this 1997 album, with tunes like "RuPaul the Red-Nosed Drag Queen" and "All I Want for Christmas" ...is plastic surgery. He slips in an original, "Funky Christmas (Christmas at My House)" that thoughtfully includes "A Visit From St. Nicholas," and a dance medley of several traditional Christmas standards. Ru shows a bit of creativity in choosing songs, like Dolly Parton's "With Bells On," Little Steven Van Zandt's "All Alone on Christmas," a funky "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch" and an interesting arrangement in which "Disco Lady" meets "Here Comes Santa Claus." On the other hand, his "Santa Baby" is overbaked and he ruins the joke of "I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus," done in a much funnier version by comedian Kip Addotta on the first Dr. Demento Christmas album. This album was released in conjunction with his VH1 show from that period; he previously did an excellent dance-pop single of "Little Drummer Boy" on Tommy Boy in 1995 that isn't part of this collection. Strangely, the music section of RuPaul's website ignores his holiday releases.
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