Advent Countdown 2024: Part 7 🦌

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Only six days until Christmas Day or, if you’re a guy, that means it is five days until you start your Christmas shopping (a little PSA for you there). Looking through my notes of songs I have played for this season in previous years there are many which I’m not going to be able to fit in this year, but there are still plenty of good ones to come. Today’s set of five is the one in which I play some of my favourites from those which have been UK chart hits, just to prove that I’m not entirely anti-pop charts.

It would have been a full set of five of those, had my favourite covers band not added another to their ever growing catalogue of Christmas songs a couple of days ago. So, of course, I just had to play it:

Somehow, to my ears every Christmas song seems a little better when First To Eleven have rocked it up. That was, of course, a cover of the opening track on The Beach Boys Christmas Album, which was released in November 1964 and peaked at #6 in the US albums chart. It’s a fun song, and F2E keep to its spirit. And it is another chance for me to remark on how cute Audra Miller is!

The remaining four for today are all, as I said, favourites of mine that made the UK Singles charts. The first is one which is perhaps seasonal, rather than Christmassy, though as the Winter Solstice is just two days away it seems right to play it today:

Jethro Tull have long been a favourite band for me. Ring Out Solstice Bells dates back to the period when just about every band was aiming for chart success with a Christmas song. Some were better than others, this being evidence of one of the better ones. This is described as a promotional video for the BBC, and I’m pretty sure it was shown on their Top Of The Pops show back then. It was released in November 1976 as the lead single on an EP containing four tracks, and reached the dizzy heights of #28 here. It also got to #78 on being re-released as part of another EP in 2004. The track was also included on the Songs From The Wood album, which was released in February 1977, reaching #13 in the UK and #8 in the US. A re-recorded version later appeared on The Jethro Tull Christmas Album, which was released in September 2003 and made #73 in the UK Albums chart.

I have played this next one several times before. It is also from that heyday of UK Christmas singles:

Mike Oldfield released his version of In Dulce Jubilo as a single in 1975: an instrumental version of a traditional carol, played in his own unique fashion. It spent the two weeks before Christmas at #22, went up to #21 the week of the New Year, and then rocketed up to #4 in early January, a position it also held for two weeks. Weird, eh? It is a typically quirky take on the tune, and I’ve always liked it – I’m a big fan of his, which helps.

I last played this next one two years ago. It is a much more recent hit from another of my favourite bands, with a fairly understated video, by their standards:

Of course it’s cheesy, with a fairly predictable end, but that makes it just right for Christmas! The Darkness released Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End) in December 2003: it reached #2 in the UK, having been the odds-on bookmakers’ favourite to be the Christmas #1 that year: it was beaten by the Gary Jules cover of Mad World which, though not a Christmas song, was very good, and was probably the one that restarted the trend for slowed down cover versions which have since graced zillions of adverts. This track also reached the top ten in Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands, but not in the US though: apart from two earlier singles, their chart success there has been limited to lower level placings for their albums. I still enjoy this one now, though, even if it isn’t filled with the excesses of some of their other videos! Some more information is available on Wikipedia: “The school choir that provide backing vocals, which can be heard on the song and seen in the video, are from Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham College school, in New Cross, London, which Justin and Dan Hawkins’ mother once attended. Following the humour and tone of the Darkness’s other work, the song also includes a strong level of parody, most notably the double meaning of the line ‘Bells End’ (bellend) and ‘Ring in peace’ (ringpiece).” Justin later admitted in an interview to being pleased at having got ‘bellend’ and ‘ringpiece’ into a Christmas song without getting banned. The girl in the bauble is Justin’s then-girlfriend and the Darkness’s manager, Sue Whitehouse, in case you were wondering.

For today’s final tune we’re going back to the Seventies again, for another bit of lunacy:

I love this one, as much for the slightly puzzled looks on some of the kids’ faces as for the song itself. You can almost hear the conversations now, can’t you: “It’s summer outside, so why do we have snow indoors” – this video was apparently made in July. There’s actually a lot I like about this one, which for us is a real Christmas classic. Wizzard were a glam rock band, started by Roy Wood after he left The Move and had a short spell with the earliest incarnation of ELO. This was released in 1973, and spent four weeks at a peak position of #4 over the Christmas/New Year period. It still sounds fresh to me today!

That’s today’s five but, as always, I like to leave you with a little extra something. So many of you commented on the Hafod Hardware ad that I included in the previous set that I have decided to play the other three that they made at the end of these posts: one down, this one, then two more to come, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so that fits nicely. These were all made on a shoestring budget, most of which was spent on licensing the music by the wonderful Andrea Von Kampen. This is their 2017 offering, where it all began:

That’s yer lot, but there’s just time for another PSA 🎅

 

 

 

33 thoughts on “Advent Countdown 2024: Part 7 🦌”

  2. An interesting and eclectic collection here, Clive! I had heard the first one, but the rest were all new to me. So, once again you have expanded my horizons … thank you! And of course the Hafod Hardware ad was beautiful, as always! Great Advent post, my friend!

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  6. Its beginning to sound a lot like Christmas. 😊 We always listen to Little St Nick every and I love I wish it could be Christmas every day! Been meaning to listen to it this year and now you played it for me. Never knew I would like Hardware commercials so well. LOL!

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    • I’m pleased I found a couple of your favourites, Carolyn. But there’s nothing to stop you from listening to them as often as you like 😊

      Hafod Hardware made some great ads, and put the big budget merchants to shame.

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      • Oh, believe me I do listen to alot of songs several times over. Thats why one needs to start in July. 😂 Kidding, I don’t start that early.

        Yay for Hafod Hardware, they captured the spirit of Christmas.

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      • August, then? 🤣

        Hafod set the gold standard for Christmas ads. The 2019 one went viral, and they even got a visit in 2020 from the man who is now our King:

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  7. Ah, the Wizards, I love that song. I have not heard the song of Jethro Tull before. I thought how interesting it is that some songs don’t sound like Christmas songs at all but when we are used to them as Christmas songs then they do.

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    • Wizzard gave us one of the better songs in the 70s chart blitz, but that Jethro Tull one has always been a favourite for me, right up there with Greg Lake. I think there’s a debate to be had in this, about what makes a Christmas song, a bit like the question about whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie 🤣

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  11. I just watched The Beach Boys documentary and, while it ended after the “Smile” sessions, it did give a good look at the creation of their gorgeous harmonies…which are front and center on that classic christmas song!

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  12. All fun, Clive! I especially enjoyed the up-tempo version of In Dulce Jubilo, which my choir would traditionally perform at the Christmas Eve Carol Service before Midnight Mass.
    You recently introduced me to First To Eleven and I am a proud convert! In my eyes this group of superbly talented young people can do no wrong, especially their amazing drummer and the incredibly adorable Audra Miller. I’ve always enjoyed Little Saint Nick by the Beach Boys which has now been amped up by the rocking sounds of F2E. I need to add their CDs to my collection!
    All your picks were great today, Clive! A fun set! 🎅🏼

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    • Thank you, Nancy. I’m pleased you enjoyed these.

      The Mike Oldfield one is a favourite from all those years ago, and is all the better for showing his less serious side.

      I’m happy to have made another fan of First To Eleven – you aren’t the first I’ve converted! As you say, they are extremely talented and this was another fun video.

      Thanks as ever for dropping in 😊

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