Thea Gilmore - 'The St. Stephen's Day Murders'

Released in 2009, Thea Gilmore's Christmas collection Strange Communion is a gem of a record that never seems to receive the annual radio airplay it so richly deserves. This well-crafted collection of songs opens with the goose-bump inducing Sol Invictus, an ode to the Roman Sun God whose festival fell upon the 25th of December, includes a cover of Yoko Ono's Listen, The Snow Is Falling and takes in part of Louis MacNeice's Autumn Journal along the way.

As Christmas albums go I'll admit it's not your usual collection of festive sugar and cinnamon; there are no songs of magical snowmen or pleas for presents under the tree here, instead the songs have a refreshing feeling of a cold Winter about them, replete with observations on the family festivities that most all will find familiar.

One such ditty is a rousing cover of an Elvis Costello and Paddy Maloney song, the St. Stephen's Day Murders, which was written for The Chieftains' 1991 album The Bells of Dublin. This tale of drunken the-day-after-Christmas-Day hijinks, of too much Tia Maria and Irn Bru, of Gin-soaked whiskers and exploding televisions, is a suitably wry take on celebrations for the feast of St. Stephen as you would expect from Mr Costello. 

Thea's version of the song features the vocal talents of famed ex-Shirehorse and BBC Radio DJ Mark Radcliffe, his dry delivery balancing Ms. Gilmore's melodic vocals. If you've recovered from yesterday's over-indulgence, and need a tune to soundtrack your lunch of cold Turkey and baked potatoes, you could do no better than playing this to your loved ones.

Sigur Rós - 'ég fæ jólagjöf'

José Feliciano's 1970 song  'Feliz Navidad' is, according to the folks at Nielsen, the eighth most downloaded Christmas song in the US and Canada (placing it higher than Wham's Last Christmas but some several hundred thousand adrift of the number one spot where Mariah Carey sits). It's a catchy enough pop song, with simple repetitive lyrics, that bounces along with a saccharine cheeriness; tap your foot, reach for the Egg Nog, repeat until you don't care singing it aloud.

London alternative rockers Shame recently covered Feliz Navidad, producing a refreshingly shambolic take on the original that garnered praise when it aired on Steve Lamacq's Roundtable, but it's not the best cover of the song out there. Tucked away on SoundCloud, forgotten by me until the band tweeted a link to it yesterday, is Sigur Rós' suitably ethereal version of the song. 

Recorded live in a Reykjavik pub in 1999, replete with background chatter and digital pops, 'ég fæ jólagjöf' is a sombre, mournful, near unrecognisable variant on the original.



Admittedly it's not as catchy as the original, and it doesn't roll along as does Shame's cover, but it has its own dark kind of Christmas magic about it. This version would sit comfortably over the end credits of a Scandi-noir film or, better yet, provide fitting music for a slow tracking shot over the discarded cardboard from Amazon's festive ad campaign; the singing boxes silenced after their festive cargoes have been retrieved.

Too dark for Christmas Day? Well, maybe just a bit; if this hopelandic elegy isn't the Noisette Triangle in your box of festive chocs then maybe crank this up loud instead. 

Stealing Sheep - 'Wonderful Christmastime'

Some years ago, after a last minute rain-check from a chum, I found myself staring into a half-full pint glass in a pub on Albert Road, contemplating whether or not to have another beer before venturing into The Wedgewood Rooms to see Villagers. Erring on the side of caution I decided to gauge my decision on who the support act were; after a brief foray online I finished my beverage, exited the pub, and directed my feet to the venerable Southsea venue where I very much enjoyed Stealing Sheep's support set.

Two LPs, several singles and a few years later the Liverpool trio remain a consistently innovative and entertaining band, producing interesting and melodic electro-pop. The band are due to release their third long player in the new year but, for Christmas and specially recorded for Stuart Maconie & Mark Radcliffe's BBC Radio 6 Music afternoon show,  they've released a suitably electro cover of Macca's Wonderful Christmastime.

Paul McCartney's 1979 festive classic is twee pop gem which consistently divides opinion at this time of year. Love it or loathe it you will hear it at some point over the holiday season. Stealing Sheep's cover gifts the song with a mellow electronica vibe, delicate vocals and some welcome synth drum sounds.



The song will be available for download, at a pay-your-own-price rate, until Boxing Day so if you want to pep up your festive playlist with something interesting be sure not to hesitate.

The Flaming Lips - 'Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy'

What song tenuously links The Man Who Fell To Earth, The Sound of Music, a crooner who had a penchant for golf and a bunch of psychedelic musical miscreants from Oklahoma? Any guesses? No? Well, obviously it's that festive favourite The Little Drummer Boy.

Written in 1941, and first recorded by the Trapp Family Singers some ten years later, The Little Drummer Boy has been covered by the likes of Joan Baez, New Kids On The Block, Marlene Dietrich, The Dandy Warhols and Jimi Hendrix. Of all the covers though the most famous and more peculiar takes on the song, notable for the pairing of the talents involved, is that recorded by Bing Crosby and David Bowie in 1977 for the former's final television special.

Bowie and Bing's version of the song interweaves Peace on Earth, written specifically for their television duet, and became something of a hit when it was released in 1982. The single peaked at number 3 in the UK Charts, becoming one of Bowie's best-selling singles, and I have the 7" of it safely stored here in a record box. It's weird but it's also rather sweet, this meeting of an old hand at the game and a performer who constantly and consistently reinvented himself. 

It's this version of the song that American psych-rockers The Flaming Lips have covered as their 2018 Christmas song, sprinkling it with their brand of Oklahoma magic and accompanying it with a suitably trippy video (co-directed by frontman Wayne Coyne) that could easily be an excerpt of a sequel to Santa Claus Conquers The Martians, starring Roy Wood, that would play back in my mind if I reach for the festive Absinthe.

A joyously bonkers take on a classic, reworked as only the Lips can, which might not be as far out there as the video would suggest though would sit well amongst a suitably alternative yuletide playlist.

Curxes - 'I Believe in Father Christmas'

If I didn't know better I'd say there were Elves on the Isle of Wight, escaped from the North Pole to fashion festive electronica and ambient sounds, for it's from across the water that this suitably Yuletide gem hails. 

From their Vectis base Curxes have taken on Greg Lake's 1975 Christmas tune, I Believe In Father Christmas, and created a beautifully delicate, dark and melancholy version of a classic.




Curxes have form for spinning a dark Christmas cover, their version of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, recorded several years back for the excellent Breaking More Waves blog, is also well worth a listen/purchase.

Tom Jones - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor

Sir Tom of Jones, covering the Arctic Monkeys breakthrough tune, from the Concert for Diana at the weekend:



OK, so it might not be everyone's bag of chips (a couple of Monkeys' purists I know loathe it) but I like it. It's got soul, more than the comparatively bland Sugababes' take on the song that's for sure, and that's not a bad thing.