Having heard at least half a dozen versions of Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas" (possibly
the most iconic soulful Christmas song) released this
year alone, it got me to wondering how many versions of it have been
recorded.
SecondHandSongs
lists 300 so there will be many others not listed (including several in
the playlist below).
Here's a playlist of 50 of the best ones I've come across (in loosely
chronological order of release). Three hours worth of background music for
Christmas day or until you get fed up with the song, but there are many
different arrangements and styles.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the visitors and
contributors to the blog and wish you a very merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous new year. It has been a bumper year with the blog
surpassing 1m hits in Jun and is well on the way to 1.5m.
Rather than drip feed the multitude of Christmas singles which have been
released since mid Nov (some even at the end of Oct) they've been gathered
together into the playlist below. All are 2022 releases with a running time of two hours.
If that's not enough for you, and you prefer some more vintage Xmas
cheer, then we've also dragged out our timeless 60 minute vintage soulful Xmas mix for one more
year. If you're interested in the playlist then it was posted here last year.
Curiously, if you been following the latest posts, specifically the Mountain of Soul Episode 5, which had Artie Fullilove tagged on to the end of the podcast, it is included in our mix done a few years ago as the penultimate track.
In Oct '22, Karen Bernod released her latest album which was titled "LYFE REMIXED" which was a remix of her 2006 sophomore album "Life @ 360 Degrees" on Dome.
She continues the theme with her new single which consists of four 6th Sense Remixes of her 2013 Christmas/Holiday single "Celebrate The Love".
Karen has performed lead and support vocals for Chaka Khan, Mary J. Blige, Erykah Badu, D'Angelo and Incognito, among many others.
She moved from the background to the foreground when she independently released her debut album "Some Othaness For U" (Jun 2000) followed by "Life @ 360 Degrees" (Jan 2006), "#PlantingSeeds" (Oct 2014), "Four Women: Side 1" EP (Jun 2016) and most recently "LYFE REMIXED" (Oct 2022).
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I'm afraid this 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein song is NOT one of "'My Favourite Things" .. wasn't it sung in 'The Sound Of Music' by the 'whiter than white'
Julie Andrews?
However, flavour of the moment, Ari Lennox does quite a good job updating it and it is barely two weeks until 'the
day'!
It's her first release since her acclaimed sophomore album "age/sex/location" from Sep '22.
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Newcastle's SouLutions (Steve Lee and Louise Mehan) have a Christmas
single out, "Just One More Christmas", which is available only from theirwebsite. A nice soulful festive song.
Earlier this year they supported Shalamar (two original members Howard Hewett & Jeffrey Daniel with Carolyn
Griffey (daughter of Carrie Lucas and Solar Records boss Dick Griffey))
along with special guest Phil Fearon & Galaxy on Thu 2 Jun 2022 at the
world famous London Palladium.
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As it's the fourth Thursday in November, it's Thanksgiving Day in the US
today and the Americans seem to love their holiday songs far more than we
do in the UK. I guess it's because there is just a month between
Thanksgiving, when the festive spirit begins, and Christmas.
So to kick it off Parkes Stewart has released a holiday song "Don't
Forget" which is EXCLUSIVELY available from
EatMusicGroup. (NOTE it will NOT be available on the usual digital platforms!) A nice soulful song with a message, which brings out his gospel roots in sections, and has a steppers groove. I think it may be one of the best original songs he's done recently.
The song was written and produced by Parkes Stewart and Turhan Terrell who is the Musical Director for the Four Tops. It honours loved ones who are no longer with us and reminds us not to forget just how fortunate we are to have everything we have most importantly, family.
Parkes is a sought after Grammy nominated songwriter, producer, and speaker who has released four albums and five singles to date, the last being a tribute to The Whispers with a cover of "And The Beat Goes On".
He sang background vocals and wrote many songs for the 80s/90s urban contemporary gospel group Commissioned and also wrote songs recorded by Yolanda Adams ("Open Arms" and "More Than Just A Melody" also recorded by Ashanti), Dave Hollister ("Ordinary Just Won’t Do") and 3m selling "Cry On" for 112 on the tribute to Notorious B.I.G.
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I'm not a big a of Christmas songs in general but remove the Christmas reference from the lyrics in the new song from Avery*Sunshine and we have a very nice soul tune. It's the first, and could well be the last, posted this year!
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