To all of those who are about to celebrate the holidays, we salute you with some of our favorite classic rock Christmas music.
Bob Dylan - 'Christmas In The Heart'
Columbia Records
It seems just a tad strange to be mentioning Bob Dylan and a Christmas album in the same sentence, but such is the artist's legacy that you can always expect him to do the unexpected. Christmas In The Heart has a generous helping of traditional carols, plus "Must Be Santa," (watch video) a Dylan original.
Peter Cetera - 'You Just Gotta Love Christmas'
Viastar
After leaving Chicago in 1985, Peter Cetera (one of the band's founding members) quickly found success as a solo artist. You Just Gotta Love Christmas featured several Cetera-penned songs in amongst traditional holiday tunes. Cetera's daughter, Claire provides some of the vocals and his daughter, Senna was responsible for some of the album art.
Blackmore's Night - 'Winter Carols'
Blackmore's Night, the progressive/folk rock band featuring Candice Night as lead vocalist and lyricist, and former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore on anything with strings. Their holiday music is rock, minstrel style. Listen to some samples.
Canned Heat - 'Christmas Album'
Most of the songs are traditional carols, but the style is pure Canned Heat. It's Christmas, blues rock style. Listen to a sample of "Christmas Blues".
Moody Blues - 'December'
The Moody Blues' orchestral backup is well suited to the sounds of the season. Songs range from traditional ("White Christmas") to original ("Don't Need a Reindeer") to a cover of John Lennon/Yoko Ono's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)." Listen to a sample of "December Snow".
Jethro Tull - 'The Jethro Tull Christmas Album'
Jethro Tull's patented blend of rock and Renaissance lends itself equally well to traditional tunes like "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and "Bouree" and less conventional fare such as "First Snow On Brooklyn" and "A Winter Snowscape." Listen to a sample of "Christmas Song".
Jimi Hendrix - 'Merry Christmas And Happy New Year'
This five song maxi-single wasn't intended as a Christmas record. It is the result of Jimi Hendrix and the Band of Gypsies fooling around as they rehearsed for concerts at Filmore East during the 1969 holiday season. This probably won't be the first CD you run for when it's time to cue up the holiday music, but it is definitely worth having for its historical and entertainment value.
Lynyrd Skynyrd - 'Christmas Time Again'
There's plenty of typical Lynyrd Skynyrd here -- "Run Run Rudolph" and "Skynyrd Family" -- but there are also a couple of surprises, like the sensitive, acoustic instrumental treatments of "Greensleeves" and "Classical Christmas." Listen to a sample of "Skynyrd Family".
The Ventures - 'Christmas Joy'
Christmas on a surf board? Well, not really, but done with the The Ventures' signature slide guitars, prominent percussion, and lots of reverb. Arrangements of traditional carols are pretty faithful to the originals, with a liberal amount of '60s surf rock flavoring. Listen to samples.
Steve Lukather - 'SantaMental'
Steve Lukather gives new meaning to the concept for Christmas music for strings. This 10-track compilation also features Eddie Van Halen, Slash, Steve Vai, and Edgar Winter lending their rock guitar virtuosity -- and on some tracks, their voices -- to traditional Christmas carols.
