Hey, remember Christmas Jollies? The Salsoul disco Christmas album from the late 1970s produced by Vincent Montana of MFSB fame? It's been reissued and remastered a number of times over the years, but for 2023 it's gone full box set edition, a 3-CD set featuring the original album, some outtakes, and an entire second album called Christmas Jollies II done by a different producer, but definitely in that 70s disco realm. I consider it a niche interest item myself, considering how cornball the original album was to my less mature ears, but given how the popular music scene of the last 20 years has consisted of young artists slicing and dicing various versions of past musical genres, maybe we're due for a suburban couples-swapping soundtrack revival. Your call.
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This 2020 release is one of those rare items, in the modern day anyway: a major-label holiday compilation not tied to a soundtrack of a movie or TV show. It's all solid modern soul music with hip-hop rhythm touches. I glommed onto this via Tayla Parx's contribution, a short but sweet "Ain't a Lonely Christmas Song," and other tunes on here include Ty Dolla $ign's "Alone For Christmas," the previously mentioned "This Christmas" by Pink Sweat$, Trey Songz' "Christmas Morning," Shelley's "Litmas," Sebastian Mikael's "Chimney," PJ's "Single on Christmas," "Santa Baby" by Ayanis, Raiche's two contributions, "Anticipating" and "I Hate Christmas," IV Jay's "On My Way," Ghoss's "All I Want for Christmas," and "Meet Me" by Jeven Reliford. It's mainly mid-tempo performances of original new Christmas songs, so you might want to mine this for favorites; Tayla Parx's song is mine.
The word "Motown" inevitably makes most people think of that Detroit record label's remarkable run of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, with occasional successes in subsequent decades via Smokey Robinson, Rick James, Lionel Richie, India.Arie and Boyz II Men. You won't be surprised to discover that the label's 2020 EP of holiday selections feature no immediately familiar names, or that they're still working the latest variations of the pop/soul realm they always have. The set kicks off with "All I Want" by Asiahn, a piano-based ballad over a slow jam beat. Ted When offers "Snow in California," an acoustic guitar-led number with a folky feel to it, and NJOMZA performs "Christmas Blues," another soulful ballad. Tiana Major9 (a real music nerd's name, wouldn't you say?) does an almost completely unadorned gospel version of "Silent Night," and Joy Denalane covers Stevie Wonder's "Someday at Christmas."