Distinctly Jamaican Sounds Christmas Mix 2007 - Part 1

Here we go again... it's Christmas time and the goose is getting fat and all that jazz. Now it's time to get ready for some festive Jamaican Christmas tunes to liven up your Yuletide season! If you were here last December you'll know what to expect and if you're new I think you'll enjoy what I've put together for you. 10 songs today, 25 in total, that'll add some Caribbean spice to the bland diet of tired holiday tunes that we get force fed every year once December rolls around. I could go on and complain about how the retailers throw Christmas in our faces sooner and sooner each year but I won't... I'm keeping it festive!

So without further ado let's get to the Distinctly Jamaican Sounds Christmas Mix 2007!

We start off this year's festivities with Jacob Miller, not to be confused with Dickens' Jacob Marley, proclaiming his one wish to Santa Claus. I'm not going to tell you what that is but if you know Miller you've probably already guessed. The song is called appropriately, "All I Want For Ismas," and comes from the best reggae Christmas album ever produced Natty Christmas.

We follow that up with Horace Andy and his tune "Christmas Time" which comes to us from a various artists compilation called A Jamaican Christmas.

The third tune is a "mash-up" of sorts - the Aggrovators dub version of Johnny Clarke's "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" combined with an early 1960's kiddie record adaptation of the no budget "holiday classic" film Santa Claus Conquers The Martians. I put this together last year and was able to condense the entire 20 minute read-along story into the 3:00 dub track. Definitely wacky but I think you'll dig it.

The fourth track is courtesy of the Kingstonians, a song from 1967 called "Merry Christmas" and taken from the essential Trojan Christmas Box Set - it's a good one.

Following that up we take a turn for the digital and hear a King Jammy's produced tune from Cocoa Tea on the Kuff riddim called, "Please Come For Christmas." This one come from the album Christmas Party from 1989 on the Jammys Records label.

Mutabaruka, of all people, follows up Cocoa Tea's pleasant musings with a "grinchy" reality check. His tune is called "Postpone Christmas" and comes from the 1985 various artists album High Times All-Star Explosion on the High Times label. I have been looking for this song for years and thanks to the miracle of the internet I was finally able to track it down at the end of October! The song is not thematically keeping with the rest of the tunes but I think Muta's perspective helps make this mix a little more well-rounded.

Taking a trip to Studio One for the next tune... Brent Dowe gives us "Christmas In Jamaica" from the excellent 1992 CD compilation Reggae Christmas From Studio One on the Heartbeat label.

Up next is a single from 1976 on the Wild Flowers label from the man named Steve Golding and it's called "Strictly Rock Christmas." Golding wasn't known for his vocals but more for his work behind the scenes in the late 70's and throughout the 8o's by providing guitar work for albums by Rita Marley and Peter Tosh, to name a couple.

The ninth song in this mix is by Kashief Lindo and though it's more modern than most the stuff you'll hear on the blog, it's a great rendition of a beautiful song originally recorded by Stevie Wonder in 1967 called "Someday At Christmas." This song always brings tears to my eyes no matter who is singing it and Lindo's take doesn't disappoint. It comes from a 2005 various artists set called The Reggae Christmas Collection on the Pulse label.

Finally the last track, in this part of the mix that is, is a ska tune from 1963 by Frank Cosmo called simply "Merry Christmas." It is also available on the aforementioned Trojan set.

Give part 1 a listen and let me know what you think! Part 2 will follow next week!

Distinctly Jamaican Sound Christmas Mix 2007 Part 1

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