Tag: a very special christmas

Music Box: Stevie Nicks – Silent Night Suite

Here is a video I put together called “Silent Night Suite”. It begins with an excerpt of an old MTV special about the making of the classic A Very Special Christmas album (which includes an interview with Stevie and album producer Jimmy Iovine), and then the actual full footage/interview of Iovine’s interview. The sterling live version (with two-hit wonder Robbie Nevil lending his vocal), was performed on the A Very Special Christmas concert TV special that aired on CBS in 1987. Hosted by Fame actress Nia Peeples, it featured some of the album’s artists performing their tracks. The show closed with “Silent Night”. When Stevie sings with her long-time backup singers Lori Perry-Nicks and Sharon Celani, the result is always stunningly ethereal, and here is no exception…blending with Robbie’s call-and-response, this live version is actually more exquisite than the recorded version, and sweeps you away into another dimension.

Open your eyes, and you see a Rock ‘N Roll queen sing in celebration. Close your eyes and you are encompassed by the beauty of the song, the luxurious harmony, and the spirit of the holidays.

Merry Nicksmas and Happy Holidays to all!

On The 11th Day Of (Jeffrey)Christ-mas…

 

…Jeffrey gave to you…Stevie Nicks’ version of “Silent Night”…

 

“Twas the night before Christmas, when all through Stevie’s house, not a Gypsy was stirring…”

Stevie’s haunting reading of “Silent Night” was recorded for the A VERY SPECIAL CHRISTMAS charity album in 1987, the first (and the best) in the long line of Christmas albums benefiting the Special Olympics produced by long-time Stevie fan, producer and now chairman of Interscope records, Jimmy Iovine.

AVSC consists of some wonderful holiday tracks (including Eurythmics’ enchanting “Winter Wonderland”, the Pointer Sisters’ jovial “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” (featured as my 7th Day Of (Jeffrey)Christ-mas), Bruce Springsteen’s fantastic “Merry Christmas, Baby” and Run-DMC’s classic “Christmas In Hollis”, accompanied by an even better VIDEO), and needless to say to anyone who knows me – at all – the Stevie Nicks reading of “Silent Night” is amongst my very favorite Christmas recordings.

Below is a video I put together called “Silent Night Suite”. It begins with an excerpt of an old MTV special about the making of the album (which includes an interview with Stevie and Iovine), and then the full Iovine interview where that  footage was taken from.  To, of course, the sterling live version.

With two-maybe-three hit wonder Robbie Nevil lending his vocal, this version of “Silent Night” was performed on the “A Very Special Christmas” concert TV special that aired on CBS in 1987.  Hosted by FAME actress Nia Peeples, it featured some of the album’s artists performing their tracks. The show closed with “Silent Night”. When Stevie sings with her long-time backup singers Lori Perry-Nicks and Sharon Celani, the result is always stunningly ethereal, and here is no exception…blending with Robbie’s call-and-response, this live version is actually more exquisite than the recorded version, and sweeps you away into another dimension.

Open your eyes, and you see a Rock ‘N Roll queen sing in celebration. Close your eyes and you are encompassed by the beauty of the song, the luxurious harmony, and the spirit of the holidays.

 

 

 

 

Music Box: On The 7th Day Of (Jeffrey)Christ-mas…

The Pointer Sisters recorded “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” for the A VERY SPECIAL CHRISTMAS charity album

…Jeffrey gave to you…“Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” by the Pointer Sisters, one of the most joyous versions of the song.

 And what a wonderful song it is to capture the holiday week and the buoyancy after New York’s first big snowfall…outside my window, kids are playing, snow plows are rumbling, dogs are scrambling. Some folks are grumbling and others are whining about the weather, as if the fact that it’s December never entered their stream of consciousness mumblings.

I’d say it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, but it hasn’t snowed in NY on Christmas in years.  But it definitely feels like an old-fashioned kind, the Christmases that they wrote about in songs, though rarely seen here in New York nowadays.

“Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” is a grand ol’ tune, of course, and everyone young and old can sing the hook.  Overplayed and over-covered by hundreds of performers, sure, but still a staple for any Christmas collection. My favorite renditions, though, are those not performed in the more traditional, original arrangement, but the funkier, more soulful approach that adds more to the fundamental bliss of the lyrics.  The Pointer Sisters version, from the first – and still best – volume of the A VERY SPECIAL CHRISTMAS series of charity releases benefiting the Special Olympics, is possibly the most jubilant of versions and probably my favorite.

Their arrangement is pretty much a cover version of the Crystals reading from the classic A CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR YOU FROM PHIL SPECTOR (look for a special posting about this soon), the greatest Christmas CD of all time.  Other artists reinterpreting the Crystals classic include the awesome Jackson 5 cover from their classic THE JACKSON 5 CHRISTMAS ALBUM, and the great Bruce Springsteen live track so often played during the holidays.

But it’s the Pointer Sisters, and A VERY SPECIAL CHRISTMAS as a whole, that’s put into heavy rotation at my home every holiday.

 

The Pointer Sisters peformed the song live on the Johnny Carson show to promote the album~