Alternative Christmas Records: James Brown The Christmas Album and The Complete Christmas Box Set

The Christmas Album LP - DL Here
The Godfather of Soul puts on a showcase for Christmas in "The Christmas Album". The aplty titled record is none other than a shining example of what you can do with the Christmas spirit, and soul music. This is 11 tracks and 44 minutes of James Brown pulling through the world of the holidays. The thing with this record is that it’s not all “traditional” songs. This is a soul record that seems a bit disjointed at times, and sometimes, just odd.

Take for example the song “Clean for Christmas”, which regales in the fact that Brown wants to be “clean” on Christmas. Like by taking a shower and dressing nice. Of course there are other moments on this record that are odd, but hey, who am I to say a think about alternative records for the Christmas spirit. James Brown puts on a showcase of his classic rhymes, singing, and spoken word. The production is a bit odd to me, though. The vocals are turned up way high compared to the music, and it seems like it’s more of a hip hop compilation in the way that some of the songs are put together.

Stand out tracks on this record are definitely the ones that are more “traditional”, if you can even call them that. The good tracks include, “Sleigh Ride”, “Spread Love”, “Not Just Another Holiday”, “God Gave Me This”, and “Reindeer on the Rooftop”.

But that’s not all!
James Brown Complete Christmas LP - DL HERE

In 2010, another collection of songs from James Brown came out in a box set. This was 37 songs and
over 2 hours of music from the Godfather of Soul. I found this at a Hastings in Moscow Idaho for a whopping 5 bucks. Now this record is something else. It has outtakes, it has singles, it has new and old tracks. Now this is the Christmas record that you want to pick up from James Brown. It collects all of the tracks that you may or may not know about, including some from “The Christmas Album” mentioned above.

Now here are some stand out tracks and better recording overall. Perhaps the earlier release was late in his life and the production had suffered. This however has that classic production and good overall tone that you’d expect from the Godfather of Soul.

Some of the stand out tracks amidst this 37 song release include, “Let’s Make Christmas Mean Something This Year”, “Signs of Christmas”, “Please Come Home For Christmas”, “Christmas In Heaven”, “I’m Your Christmas Friend, Don’t Be Hungry”, and a lot more.

Ok, so there you go, 2 special records from James Brown. If you’re a big fan of soul, these two are very well worth it. If you don’t like soul, or you just can’t get over the stop and go traffic of James Brown’s delivery, you may not like these records.

You can pick up all the James Brown Christmas music you can handle by clicking here.

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