Time to share folks, not that i mean to segregate from others who don’t celebrate the holiday (hell I’m a Buddhist now, but I still have lots of memories tied up in the holiday)
What are your favorite non-traditional christmas CD’s?
Mine:
Squirrel Nut Zippers - Christmas Caravan
The Vandals - Oi to the World
Los Straightjackets - 'tis the season for Los Straightjackets
The Brian Setzer Orchestra - Boogie Woogie Christmas
I love the Vince Guaraldi soundtrack to the Peanuts Christmas Special.
Amen to Brian Setzer’s Boogie Woogie Christmas!
But I also love the Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas CD. 
I looked all over town for Boogie Woogie Christmas last holiday season and couldn’t find it anywhere. But I see I can get it through iTunes. Sweet.
The Boney M Christmas Album.
Greatest German calypso band ever!
The Roche’s We Three Kings.
I’m a fan of Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s Christmas CD…at least the songs I’ve heard from it.
Manheim steamroller christmas 1,2&3
There are two, actually. The Christmas Attic, and Christmas Eve and Other Stories. I like both a lot, but really prefer the second one.
I was very excited when I heard TSO was going to release a CD called “Beethoven’s Last Night” because I LOVE Beethoven… but it was surprisingly bad (and was more Mozart than Beethoven, go figure!) I’m hoping for another volume of Christmas songs next!
Kiki & Herb - “Do you hear what we hear?”
Hard to get but so worth it. Here are some track listing samples;
For YEARS I have loved the music from Phil Spector’s Christmas Album.
But I never owned a copy until last year I finally went ahead and bought the CD to listen to during the Holiday Season.
Then right after I bought it HE GOES AHEAD AND SHOOTS SOMEBODY!!! Not exactly what you want to put yourself in the festive mood.
Well, he didn’t do it until after the holidays so I did get one good Season of listening in. I don’t know how much I’ll listen to it this year though. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to boycot it or deny myself if I wish to listen to it. It’s just that it’s a little tainted now.
P.S. Yes, I realize he’s never been a Saint. The whole Album has probably been “tainted” for Ronnie for years. It’s just that the murder thing is still “newish” and fresh in my mind whenever his name comes up.
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A various artists collection - The Rounder Christmas Album: Must Be Santa. The single most horrifying version of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” by a guitarist from the Bahamas, and “Christmas At The Triple X Ranch” by Riders In The Sky, and the title track from the polka/punk hybrid band Brave Combo.
Bruce Cockburn’s Christmas, especially “Mary Had A Baby.”
Turtle Island String Quartet’s By The Fireside, especially for the reworking of the “Winter” section of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. The original pieces are awesome.
The original first volume of Windham Hill’s Celtic Christmas from 1995.
None of these are what you’d call “typical” Christmas albums by any stretch. These are the albums I play for friends who really have no interest in Christmas music (too much for too long, basically).