50 BEST CHRISTMAS SONGS OF THE LAST 50 YEARS

Whether you like them or not, 'tis the season for Christmas songs to be played on an endless, relentless loop. You will hear the same songs involving 'ole Saint Nick, a deformed reindeer, a jolly, talking snowman and chestnuts roasting over an open fire many times over from a wide variety of musicians covering these tunes. Some of these versions are certainly better than others but it's really the songs themselves that take us back to memories of the childhood excitement on Christmas morning and the family coming together to celebrate the holiday.

The Christmas Songbook, which are now cherished classics, where largely written throughout the 1940's, '50's and '60's. There are more recent songs that have become Christmas standards like "Wonderful Christmastime" from Paul McCartney, Wham!'s "Last Christmas", The Carpenters', "Merry Christmas, Darling" and of course, Mariah Carey's '90's holiday earworm, "All I Want For Christmas". The Los Angeles Times has complied a list of what they consider to be the best songs of Christmas over the last fifty years. It is a diverse collection made up of songs, old and new, covering various genres of music. Some of these songs I am very familiar with while others I had never heard before but they are all great songs to help celebrate the holiday.

Click below to read the article:

50 Best Christmas Songs of the Last 50 Years

And here are a few of my favorites from this list with some that might be far lesser known:

39. Pet Shop Boys - "It Doesn’t Often Snow at Christmas" (1997)



28. Tracey Thorn - "Maybe This Christmas" (2012)



23. The Jackson 5 - "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (1970)



13. The Waitresses - "Christmas Wrapping" (1981)



5. Joni Mitchell - "River" (1971)

50 SONGS FOR A NEW LOS ANGELES

Since I have lived here longer than any other city in my life, Los Angeles is now what I consider home. It has changed quite a bit since I moved here and nothing has been more noticeable than the Hollywood and Downtown areas. When I first arrived, I had visions of a Los Angeles that I had seen in the movies and television. But the city had fallen on rough times by the time I got here with Hollywood filled with dilapidated buildings and hookers standing where movie stars once strolled. And just like what happened with New York City, developers eventually pounced on these rundown areas and have rebuilt them into livable neighborhoods and exciting destinations with new massive buildings continuously rising everyday.

Musicians have always been inspired by the City of Angels, writing songs that would help the world understand the beauty of Los Angeles yet also reveal the darkness that lurks behind the sunshine. The LA Times have put together a playlist of fifty songs which best represents the sound of 21st century Los Angeles. Some are familiar tunes from well-known artists while others are musical musings by more obscure performers. Each song is presented with key lyrics and a little background of the song.

Click below to read the article:

50 Songs For a New L.A.

And here is a small selection from this list that are my favorites:

ABSENT FACES IN POP MUSIC

I had read a interesting article recently in the Los Angeles Times about the difficulties of a new generation of Black female singers being able to cross over to the pop charts. It really made me take notice and realize how true this has become. Female soul singers have regularly appeared on pop radio for decades and there was a high point back in the '90's when there were a large number of solo artists (Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige) and vocal groups (TLC, SWV, Destiny's Child) who found major success on both the r&b and pop charts. But by the mid-2000's, a large number of these female performers seemed to fall out of favor as male-dominated hip-hop took over the charts.

What is making it particularly difficult for these new singers to crossover is that while they're using classic soul as their foundation, each one is taking their own individual approach by creating what would be considered alternative soul music, which merges electronic dance, rock and hip-hop, and doesn't easily fit in today's narrow pop music scene. As I love a great female voice, I'm going to do my little part and put a spotlight on a few of these very talented vocalists featured in this article.

If you want to read the story, please click below:

Los Angeles Times: Female R&B Artists Struggle For Attention

JHENE AIKO

Jhené Aiko, the twenty-nine year old, L.A. native, began her music career as a teen by providing backing vocals for the r&b boy-band, B2K in 2002. Due to her association with this act, she was able to get signed to Sony Records and recorded an album but the label would not released it. Following this disappointment, Aiko decided to go back to school to finish her education. When she made her return to music, Aiko did so on her terms by releasing a mixtape, "Sailing Soul(s)" in 2011 which features an impressive roster of musicians lending support including Miguel, Drake and Kanye West. This lead to her opening for Nas, Lauryn Hill and Drake before getting signed to ARTium Records. Aiko released an EP in 2013, "Sail Out" which featured the single, "The Worst" that peaked at number four on the U.S. Adult R&B chart and was nominated for a Grammy for Best R&B Song. The following year, Aiko finally has her debut album released. "Souled Out" is an alt-r&b concept album about a woman's journey to enlightenment and received plenty of critical praise. Now her follow-up album, "Trip" just came out last month without any advanced notice. Not only will Aiko be on a headlining tour to support the album through the end of the year but in January she will go on the road with Lana Del Rey with her LA To The Moon tour. Take a look at the video for the first single from the new album, "While We're Young":



SZA

Born Solána Rowe, SZA (with her stage name inspired from RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan) started her career in music purely as a lark. After dropping out of college without a future career plan, Rowe was inspired to write a few songs one day. She later recorded them with a friend and eventually decided that this was something that she seriously wanted to pursue. SZA self-released her first EP, "See SZA Run" in 2012 which was met with critical acclaim with music critics describing her sound as a fascinating mix of Beyoncé and Björk. She would release two more well-received mixtapes that led to her writing songs for other artists like Nicki Minaj, Beyoncé and Rihanna before signing to a major label, RCA Records and releasing her debut studio album, "Ctrl" (pronounced "control") this past June. The first single, "Drew Barrymore" was named after the actress and inspired by her role in one of her early films, "Poison Ivy". You can hear SZA now on pop radio due to her recent collaboration with Maroon 5 on the rising hit, "What Lovers Do" which just reached the top-twenty. She also has just dropped another single from her album, "The Weekend" which is riding high on the r&b and pop charts.



SEVYN STREETER

Amber Streeter knew she wanted to be a professional singer ever since she was a little girl. She sang in church and talent shows (including tying for first place while competing on "Showtime at The Apollo") before becoming part of the teen girl-group, TG4 (which was short for "tom girls four") at the age of fifteen and signing her first recording contract. The group opened for other youth-oriented r&b acts like B2K, Immature and Lil' Bow Wow but their music never made an impact on the charts. Soon TG4 disbanded and Streeter would join another girl-group, RichGirl in 2007. This group managed to open for Beyoncé on tour but their promotional singles failed to take off. By 2011, RichGirl was done and Streeter was on her own again but her career would begin a major shift after meeting r&b bad boy, Chris Brown. She signed to his label, changed her name to "Sevyn"and sang on Brown's 2012 album, "Fortune".  Later that year, Streeter dropped her own singles, "It Won't Stop" and "Next" which brought her plenty of attention as a solo artist with them reaching the top-twenty on the r&b and hip-hop charts. This year, the determined thirty-one year old Streeter released her first album, "Girl Disrupted" with the singles, "My Love For You", "Before I Do" and "Fallen" serving as perfect representations of her brand of passionate and sensual modern soul. Check out the video for the ballad,  "Fallen" that features Ty Dolla $ign and Cam Wallace: