Low - Little Drummer Boy
Christmas albums needn't be nauseating white bread acts of rampant commercialism fit only for invasive airings in your local shopping centre, there's a sprinkle of magic to a lot of Xmas music that can be harnessed and brought to the forefront by the discerning musician. Greg Lake managed it on his festive favourite 'I believe in Father Christmas', the Pogues' seemingly indestructible 'Fairytale of New York' has (almost) survived 25 years of being played to death without losing its mid-winter romance and Yank slowcore nerds Low managed to pump a whole album full of fairy dust with their stellar Xmas release back in 1999. 'Little Drummer Boy' is the highlight of the set, setting a distant marching drum beat against a hum of low reverb and some gorgeously understated vocals - this is real stop you in your tracks stuff, I remember hearing it on John Peel at the time and being totally spellbound. Even the most hardened Scrooge out there secretly longs for fairies and snowflakes at this time of year and this is exactly the sort of record to bring it out of them - you might be heartily sick of the likes of Mariah Carey and Cliff Richard by now and already looking forward to January but a subtle sip of this should bring you back to the wide-eyed enchantment of Xmas back when you were a kiddie. Lovely stuff.
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