Great Musicians & Great Christmas Songs Combinations: 15 Great Christmas Songs for 2015 (Finished December 2, 2015)

Hello,

There are a lot of great Christmas songs, but some versions are better than others. I wanted to combine some of my favorite singers and their great renditions of Christmas songs. Enjoy!

1) Mormon Tabernacle Choir "The Hallelujah Chorus":

2) The Eagles "Please Come Home For Christmas":

3) Jars of Clay "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen":

One of my all-time favorite Christmas songs, a yearly staple for me. 4) Jeremy Fisher "Snowflakes":

5) The London Symphony "Dance of  The Sugar Plum Fairy":

6) Michael Crawford "Mary Did You Know":

 7) Phillips, Craig & Dean "O Come All Ye Faithful":

8) The Waitresses "Christmas Wrapping":

A double shot from the best, and only, Christmas rock band I know of: Trans-Siberian Orchestra:

9) "The Prince of Peace":

10) "Back To A Reason":

11) Casting Crowns "While You Were Sleeping":



12) Lady Antebellum "Baby It's Cold Outside":



13) Band Aid "Do They Know It's Christmas" (Extended Version):



I was looking for a complete Christmas CD the other day. Of the most recent releases Battistelli's Christmas CD is the most complete. I urge you to check out her Christmas CD, simply titled "Christmas". 14) Francesca Battistelli "Heaven Everywhere":



15) Sarah Brightman "Arrival":

No, I won't be posting Christmas song blogs from here until Christmas. I'm working on a CD review blog, another songs on themusicaddict's radar and reviews of "Jessica Jones", "Mockingjay Part 2", the book "A Farewell To Arms" and many other things.

themusicaddict

Merry Christmas From themusicaddict Our Savior and Songs About Him: For He Lives

Hello,

Although I consider myself a fairly religious person, I don't want to shove my values down anyone's throat. But on the other hand if people are looking for answers I also want to be open to that possibility. For your consideration:

It's hard to believe to how hard it is to find a great version of this song. When I think of this song I think a female solo singer singing the traditional arrangement. (Note: Trisha Yearwood, I know you are a country music singer, but you don't need to add twang to such a beautiful song.) I haven't found a version up to my standards as of yet. Eventually "Away In A Manger":

Miss Mariah Carey "O Holy Night":

Miss Carrie Underwood: "What Child Is This":

Miss Sinead O' Connor "Silent Night":

Bayside's rocking version of "Angels We Have Heard On High":

Whitney Houston with a great choir "Joy To The World":

Multiple Choirs "O Little Town of Bethlehem":

In my head I hear a choir singing this song. "Hark The Herald Angels Sing":

"Do You Hear What I Hear":

Casting Crowns "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day":

Merry Christmas,

themusicaddict

Songs on themusicaddict's Radar November 27th, 2015 (Started November 27th, 2015)

Hello,

Sadly Rdio.com has announced that they've sold most of their "key assets" to Pandora and will be closing down. I have a few weeks to find a new music streaming service to supplement my iTunes library. Rdio shutting down is making me very sad. I loved everything about that streaming site, I loved the low cost, how easy it is to use, it's wide selection and how it let me know about new music by artists that I love. Thanks Rdio for letting me listen to the new Vamps CD and also the "Doctor Zhivago" Original Broadway Cast album. Reviews of both coming soonish.

There are a lot of music streaming options. I have an amazon.com Prime membership, but it only has one million songs available now. I know how ridiculous this sounds, but that's just not a whole lot of songs. Thus I know at least one more music streaming service. Right now I'm checking out Google Play, which I've previously used. It has thirty million songs available and one of the bands I've discovered on there was Sheppard, who I've previously written about. Another band I've discovered is Mister Wives.

First up a triple play by Misterwives, "Hurricane":

"Not Your Way":

"Reflections":

The Foo Fighters have recorded a 5 song EP titled "Saint Cecelia", which is available free at amazon.com, Google Play, foofighters.com and probably a bunch of other places. My favorite song on the CD is the title track "Saint Cecelia":

Here's the actual 19 minute EP:

A double shot from Tracy Champman, "Telling Stories":



"Bang Bang Bang":



Another double shot, this one from Run-D.M.C. ""What It's All About":



"Papa Crazy":



From one of Tears For Fears lesser known albums "The Hurting", this is "Memories Fade":



Hollywood Vampires' "Raise The Dead":



My Chemical Romance' "Bulletproof Heart":



Shinedown's "Cut The Cord":



No Doubt's "Looking Hot":

To be continued......

themusicaddict

Have You Heard This Amazing Song? Sheppard's "Geronimo" + A Couple Of Other Great Songs from "Bombs Away"

Hello,

The lyrics are a little silly, but still an enjoyable song by Sheppard "A Grade Playa":



"Smile":



"The Best Is Yet To Come":



"Find Someone":



"Halfway To Hell":



"Flying Away":

themusicaddict

the musicaddict's Review of Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff's "Illuminae: The Illuminae Files_01" (Finished 11/23/2015)

Hello,

Last night I finished the very good "Illuminae: The Illuminae Files_01". Thanks to the Davis County (Utah) library system for me being able to check this book out. This book has 599 pages, but it's approximately only about 400 pages of reading. This book was released on October 20th, 2015.

It features this line on the cover "First survive. Then tell the truth".

This is a very enjoyable book. I'm hoping since this is "Files_01", that there will be a "Files_02". There certainly seems to be enough story left remaining to have at least a second book.

"Illuminae" tells the story of a love triangle between teenage boy Ezra Mason, teenage girl, Kady Grant, and the self-aware AI AIDAN. The action starts on the planet of Kerenza, site of an illegal mine, which is owned and ran by Wallace Ulyanov Consortium (WUC). They're raided and attacked by the corporation Bei-Tech, which is a competing mining company. About 3 hours before the attack Kady broke up with Ezra- but it seems like the two have a bond that won't ever break. It's not a traditional narrative, instead it's a collection of interviews, journal entries, messages between Kady and Ezra and thoughts from AIDAN itself.

AIDAN (Artificial Intelligence Defense Analytics Network) is aboard the Alexander. The Alexander is ran by a government organization United Terran Authority (UTA). After a valiant defense of the people that's aboard it, the Alexander was able to escape Kerenza. However sadly it was damaged in that initial attack. AIDAN was designed not to hurt the people aboard the Alexander. Was it the damage it suffered at Kerenza or something else- but the self-aware AI started making decisions that wasn't in the favor of it's crew and civilian refugees.

The Alexander escapes with science spaceship, The Hypathia, and heavy freighter, the Copernicus. Their advanced technology that can successfully navigate wormholes was damaged. They set out on a slow motion race to the Heimdall Jump Station, which is a 6.5 to 7 month journey. They have the Bei Tech warship, the dread naught Lincoln (BT042-7N) on their tail. The Lincoln trails by a bit but they eventually will catch up to The Alexander and The Hypathia. The Copernicus was destroyed by AIDAN after leaving Kerenza.

The book follows the events over the few months following the Kerenza attacks. The book follows the love triangle of Ezra, Kady and AIDAN. The Phobos virus also makes an appearance and an intriguing cast of characters make up the book.

I highly recommend this book and give it a solid A grade. I love the layout, design and the writing style of Kaufman and Kristoff. Hopefully they're busy working on a follow up now. I love the characters, especially Kady and Ezra, and their love story. AIDAN is a bit too malevolent to me and I never quite trust it. But the book is full of humor, romance, friendship, courage, the beauty of the human intellect. I suggest this book to all fans of reading.

The book I'm reading now is Earnest Hemingway's "A Farewell To Arms", I'm liking it so far.

themusicaddict

Davis High's 2015 Excellent Performance of "Les Mis"

Hello,

I had the privilege of going to see "Les Mis" with my daughter and her friend last night at Davis High in Kaysville, Utah. I consider myself a "Les Mis" snob, which is why I mock the very average movie, but thoroughly enjoyed last night's performance at Davis High. Although the whole cast was very good I would like to highlight five of the performances.  Niall Thorley was great at Jean Valjean. In a not very big role Josh Downs stood out at as The Bishop of Digne. Aubrey Bell stood out for her full fleshed performance as Fantine, her performance really shows the pain Fantine suffers. And a hat raised to our favorite despicable couple the Thenardiers. It seems both Seth Callor and Nicole Hess enjoyed so much playing this lovable, despicable twosome.

Tonight is the last performance, check it out if you can get tickets.

Sadly, I couldn't find any videos of this year's performance. This is from the same high school, but in 2008.

"The Confrontation":

"Prologue":

"One Day More":

From the 10th anniversary performance at Royal Albert Hall, Ruthie Henshall singing "I Dreamed A Dream":



From London West End 2008 performance: "At The End of the Day":



This is probably my favorite ever performance of "Stars", Mr. Norm Lewis:



"Who Am I":

themusicaddict

Long Song Blog #2 Special Neil Young and Meat Loaf Songs Only (Started November 18th, 2015)

Hello,

These are some of my favorite long songs and I'm doing a long song blog for the songs of Meat Loaf, and Neil Young. My working definition of long song is at least 7:00, number in parenthesis is how long the song is. First up a few long songs by Neil Young:

"Down By The River" (9:20):

"Ordinary People" (18:13):

"Cowgirl In The Sand" (9:08):

My favorite of all of Neil's long songs. This is off his amazing CD "Sleeps With Angels", a CD you should really add to your collection. "Change Your Mind" (14:45):

A perfectly fine song as it is, but it would be so much finer if a few minutes less: "No Hidden Path" (14:33) (This version is "only" 9:47):

Now for the master of the long 7:00 + minute song,  Mr. Marvin Lee Aday. He's better known as Meat Loaf:

For those wondering the name of the female singer is Aspen Miller. "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That) (10:48):

"Bat Out of Hell" (8:29):

"Objects In The Rearview Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are" (7:39):

"Paradise By The Dashboard Light" (8:25):

"Life Is A Lemon and I Want My Money Back" (8:18):

"A wasted youth is better by far than a wise and productive old age." Ain't that the truth! "Everything Louder Than Everything Else" (Wasted Youth) (7:59):

"A Kiss Is A Terrible Thing To Waste" (7:31):

This song is 7:58 on some of his CDs, but I can't find a good video for that version. I went with the "You Took The Words Right Out of My Mouth" (7:58) video below:

themusicaddict