Inside Nokia Music

Its no secret that if you write a decent Christmas tune then your set up for life. The ones who have managed to accomplish this seasonal song nirvana have done it well. So well in-fact that anyone trying to – lets face it – cash in on this frosted window of opportunity these days is pretty much destined to cringe out a proper Christmas log.  I used to hate all of the usuall suspects: Wizard, Slade, McCartney, all caned to death on the radio and every shop you entered. Since I dont listen to the radio that often anymore and have the sense to avoid all shops at this time of year, my anger towards these pieces of festive croonery has kinda lifted.

I love Christmas. There, I’ve said it. Despite the fact that pretty much every year I end up getting severely stressed about something relating to this festive period, I always end up really looking forward to the end result. When you consider all the traditions that rear their heads every December, from stuffing yourself senseless with festive poultry, drinking copious amounts of under-priced beverages and fighting over the TV remote, there is always one thing that does it for me. “What is it?” I hear you whisper… Well for me it’s going to a good old carol service. (Sigh)…Actually no (gasp). If you haven’t had a chance to get to one this year then you should pencil something into your desk diary. I don’t care what anyone says, but deep down I reckon everyone enjoys singing or at least participating in a bit of festive vocal chord flexing. If they say otherwise then they’re probably lying.

I started this week by going to the annual Bristol Evening Post carol service at The Colston Hall. I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t been to this particular event before and for £6 (which went to charity) it was well worth it. It was packed. The itemised list of performers was as follows: 1 brass band, 1 Wurlitzer organ, 2 pianists, 3 local choirs, 4 conductors & a partridge in a pear tree. Fantastic! All the performances were first class and the audience participation in the five or six traditional carols was hearty and enthusiastic. Two things stood out for me that evening. The first was the front row member of the Avon and Somerset Constabulary Male Voice Choir who looked suspiciously like Captain Birdseye, the second was the amazing Wurlitzer Organ which was staggeringly AMAZING and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. It was a memorable night with family and friends and left me feeling pretty hyped and ready for Christmas.

So… If you’re wondering what to do one evening in the next couple of weeks then look up your local events guide to see where the next carol service is. You might be surprised. In the meantime, check out Nokia Music Store for some classic carols from King’s College Choir, Cambridge (bit of a tongue twister that). They are legendary. Oh… And Happy Christmas!

Which, depending on your point of view, is a blessing or a curse. I fall squarely into the latter category – I can’t get enough of Frank, Dino, Sammy and co., and it’s fair to say that that era of music is among my favourite. Never used to be – the mention of Crosby, Sinatra or Como (Coma, to my hilarious brother and I) when I was a kid/teenager was synonymous with boring, tedious, old-age pensioner music. Now I’m 31. How times change.

Looks like they’ve been at the egg nog, and given the stories you read (especially about Martin), it’s probably true. Can you imagine the fuss the likes of the Daily Mail would make if two similarly popular, similarly pissed contemporary artists performed a routine like that on prime-time TV these days?

You can download this live version of A Marshmallow World at Nokia Music Store.

The folk running Nokia Music Store are a generous sort, and they’re giving away free Christmas music (for technical reasons, this link works in Internet Explorer only). No word yet how long it’ll be around for, but you can grab classic tracks from the likes of The Raveonettes, Frank Sinatra, Twisted Sister and the omnipresent Bing Crosby, and a whole lot more. You’ll need to download and install Nokia Ovi Player (get it here), as well as create a Nokia Music account (but you’ve got one of those already, right?) to get your hands on it, but trust me – it’ll be worth it.

For all of you who are members of Facebook (99.9% of the Earth’s population, right?) you’ve probably already seen the group that’s been doing the rounds: ‘RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE FOR CHRISTMAS NUMBER 1’. With a staggering 478,097 members and counting, the group is on a mission to teach Simon Cowell a little lesson in people power of a different nature.

The X Factor started in 2004 and, with the exception of the god awful Steve Brookstein (Series one winner, looked like a Dad, really boring head…), every Christmas number one since has been the winner from the show. The charts have become a little safe haven for the show’s contestants and a never-ending money pit for the Cowell. And regardless if you like The X Factor or not (I do), the predictableness of the Christmas number one could be seen as becoming very, very boring (it is).

Remember when Mr Blobby got to number one back in the glory days of 1993? And when the do-gooding Band Aid got to number one in ’89 with Do They Know It’s Christmas? At least that was an actual bona fide Christmas song! Now it seems all we will be ‘treated’ to is either some soppy ballad written by a member of Westlife (joy) or a cover of an already loved song torn apart by the winner’s screeches (I’m thinking Alexandra Burke’s Hallelujah here, which although was an okay cover, it really didn’t hold a patch to the version by Jeff Buckley).

Fun

Not so fun

OK, so the single the group is urging everyone to go and buy is the catchy and non-radio friendly Killing in the Name with the accompanying tag line of ‘F@ck you I wont buy what you sell me’. Nice. William Hill are currently placing this second to the winner of The X Factor, with odds on at 10/3 so it does seem like there is a real chance here folks!

If you wish to partake in this festive challenge, put a little bit of fun back into the Christmas charts, and ‘Take the Power Back’ (sorry, literally couldn’t help myself) then click this link on or after the 13th December, download a copy, and sit back and hope for a little sweary Christmas miracle.

Merry Christmas!

In news that might not make anyone but me happy, Nokia Music Store has added a Christmas genre to its listings, making it even easier to find your favourite seasonal sonnets. There’s a good selection of music, from the timeless (King’s College Choir) to the classic (Nat King Cole) to the contemporary (The Killers). Check it out.

Nokia Music Store Christmas

There was a great article in last Saturday’s Wall Street Journal about the Irving Berlin classic, White Christmas, and it’s hard to avoid giving the song its due, even if it’s not your cup of eggnog. For instance, Bing Crosby’s version is the biggest-selling record of all time according to the Guinness World Records, with total sales of over 100 million copies. ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) reckons that 500 versions of White Christmas have been recorded, in dozens of different languages.

All of which is a far cry from the song’s debut in the film Holiday Inn, in 1942. Berlin, the song’s composer, was so unsure of how the song would come across that he reportedly hid on set so he could watch Bing Crosby sing it to his co-star, Marjorie Reynolds.