In 2020, we wisely agreed not to gather for the winter holidays. To keep the family feeling festive, I added a daily Advent Calendar post on our family's blog, and it was such a hit that I've continued doing it. This year @bryan suggested I should share it here too.
Until about a year ago, we didn’t subscribe to any streaming music services (we have Apple Music now), so we’ve always bought music. Some of what we’ve purchased over the years has been digital, but we’ve also bought lots of CDs.
When we lived in the SF Bay Area, we were regulars at Rasputin, a used CD store. We started keeping a shared list of music we thought we might like to have in our library. Even after we moved away, we never stopped adding to the list.
This fall on our westward roadtrip, we hit Rasputin. We bought about forty CDs - our car has a CD player, so we listened to them on the drive home. There were a few duds, but honestly not as many as we might have feared!
So, this Advent, you get an album a day.
December 1: Boston - Greatest Hits
We weren't familiar with most of the songs on this album. If I recall correctly, it had extensive liner notes. The bonkers cover art was reason enough to buy it!
https://music.apple.com/us/album/greatest-hits/405601010
[#]AdventCalendar
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December 2: OK Go's Eponymous Album
I learned about OK Go when their meticulously choreographed videos were first shared all over the internet, but we didn't own any of their albums until recently. This is their first album.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/ok-go/715924088
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December 3: Tedeschi Trucks Band - Signs
Our community public radio station plays A LOT of Tedeschi Trucks Band music, so we bought some.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/signs/1447288902
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December 4: Rush - Chronicles
I didn't know I liked Rush until I heard the song "Fly By Night" on the radio. Bryan has known he liked Rush for years, particularly due to the skill of the late drummer Neil Peart. We didn't have very much Rush in our collection, so we picked up this two-disc album.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/chronicles-remastered/1440655875
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December 5: Stone Temple Pilots - Thank You
This album wasn't released until 2003, but it sounds like the 90s to me.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/thank-you/3631635
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December 6: Liz Phair - whitechocolatespaceegg
I knew Liz Phair from "Rocket Boy" on the Stealing Beauty soundtrack. This is a very different vibe from that.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/whitechocolatespaceegg/724319797
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December 7: The Gourds - Cow Fish Fowl or Pig
We knew about The Gourds because of their cover of "Gin and Juice," which we've listened to a lot over the years, so we decided to try some more. This is one of the albums we found.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/cow-fish-fowl-or-pig/1509411619
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December 8: Israel Kamakawiwo'ole - Facing Future
When we lived in the Boston area, there was a radio station that had a mellow music show, and Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's version of "Over the Rainbow" was always the final song of the show. When we were picking through the remaining CDs at the end of the local library book sale this summer, this is one of the ones we grabbed.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/facing-future/6920356
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December 9: Mamma Mia! (The Movie Soundtrack)
I can't remember why I wanted this album. However, there is something particularly endearing about the actors in the movie who are less-than-polished singers, and the way they give it their all anyway.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/mamma-mia-the-movie-soundtrack-feat-the-songs-of/1440767912
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December 10: Tracy Chapman - Matters of the Heart
I think this is a CD @bryan plucked out of a Friends of the Library sale bin. Notably it does not include THE Tracy Chapman song that's getting all the attention lately, but it does include some other great music.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/matters-of-the-heart/293089707
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@amanda I think we were hearing several other Tracy Chapman songs regularly on the radio around that time. "America" for sure, maybe others? Easy opportunity to try more.
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@amanda Okay, but this was not good music for an hour of being stuck in my own head shoveling snow under a cold grey sky. 😭
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December 12: Paramore - All We Know is Falling
Bryan had Paramore on the music list, and I think I remember him telling me it was because of something unique about their style of music production. Regardless, now we have some!
https://music.apple.com/us/album/all-we-know-is-falling/606661046
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@amanda a couple of their songs come up all the time in "what should i learn next to improve my guitar/drum playing?" threads
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December 13: Fleetwood Mac - The Dance (Live)
This album came out when I was in high school, and while live albums are not always my preference, there are some unique versions of Fleetwood Mac songs. It includes my favorite version of "Silver Spring", which I think might have been my introduction to Stevie Nicks.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-dance-live/304937050
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December 14: Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory?
Anyway, here's "Wonderwall." 😁
https://music.apple.com/us/album/whats-the-story-morning-glory/1517447039
[#]AdventCalednar
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@amanda @bryan Why do i have the sudden premonition that we're all going to be rickrolled by you two at the end of Advent?
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@lenary @bryan As far as I know, we do not own that album, or any compilation that includes it. 🤷🏽♀️
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@amanda @lenary Clearly time for another trip to Rasputin!
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December 15: OneRepublic - Waking Up
OneRepublic was on the list because Bryan has seen them twice, both at corporate events. They were the first act he saw at his first Bay Area employer and the last act he saw at his last Bay Area employer.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/waking-up/1440865647
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@amanda They customized the lyrics for Good Life for each place too - "Paris to China to [Cupertino | Palo Alto]"
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December 16: Eagles - Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975)
Just a whole bunch of songs we know well. Excellent road trip music.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/their-greatest-hits-1971-1975/635829435
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December 17: Dolly Parton - Ultimate Dolly Parton
I came later in my life to my appreciation for Dolly Parton, but now I'm all in. Books for kids, funding for COVID vaccine research, and a bunch of great music. What's not to like? I listened to Dolly talk about writing "9 to 5" on the Apple Fitness+ Time to Walk podcast, and this collection includes that song.
Funny story: when I was little, I thought Dolly was married to Kenny Rogers, I think because they appeared together in a Muppet Christmas special I saw on TV.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/ultimate-dolly-parton/282883573
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December 18: Sheryl Crow - C'mon, C'mon
This is another CD from the bin at the Friends of the Library book sale this summer. A few songs I remember, a few songs I don't.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/cmon-cmon/1440906968
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December 19: Huey Lewis & the News - Greatest Hits
This was Bryan's pick, and I gotta say, I want to sing along to almost every song on it - even one I forgot about, the duet with Gwyneth Paltrow from that weird karaoke movie.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/greatest-hits-remastered/725784933
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@amanda This album is like an audio-only 80s movie night. 🕺🏻
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December 20: A Chorus Line - Original Cast Recording
The $0.99 section offered up this gem! I think Bryan even found it and gave it to me? He does not share my love of musicals, or this one in particular, but we listened to it in the car anyway.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/a-chorus-line-40th-anniversary-celebration-original/1041504493
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December 21: Kansas - The Best of Kansas
Some of the songs on this album are the ones I know and sing along to. ("Wayward Son", I'm looking at you.) But some of the ones on this album are longer ones that rarely get radio play, so I'd never heard them before, and of that set, I think "No One Together" is my favorite.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-best-of-kansas/158580313
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December 22: Toys - Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
This album does not exist on Apple Music, but I wanted to include it because it's the only album in our random CDs collection that is (kind of) Christmas-themed.
The movie Toys, starring Robin Williams, came out around the holidays in 1992, and my family definitely saw it in the theater and had it on VHS and watched it regularly. The title song "Closing of the Year" got lots of radio play around the release and has been stuck in my head since then. The soundtrack also includes Enya and Tori Amos and Hans Zimmer.
In retrospect, this movie is BANANAS, and the only passing resemblance to a Christmas movie is that it's set in a toy factory.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLN12qZ-3jjUkG8qrEZCg9up00lWa15P68&si=-6nP7SCtb7AlMOpJ
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December 23: Bonnie Raitt - Luck of the Draw
Much like with Fleetwood Mac, this was my introduction to Bonnie Raitt, even though she was hardly a new artist at the time. This album came out in 1991, and two songs in particular played on the radio constantly: "Something to Talk About" and "I Can't Make You Love Me".
https://music.apple.com/us/album/luck-of-the-draw/721215494
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December 24: Lake Street Dive - Obviously
As we near the end, I'm digging into the digital music purchases.
Several songs from this album got a lot of play on our community public radio station, particularly on our favorite show, Undercurrents*.
The two songs on this album that I love most are "Hypotheticals" and "Know That I Know". Just so rich and groovy!
https://music.apple.com/us/album/obviously/1544316126
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This essay just came across my feed and feels oddly relevant to the thread.
https://gabebullard.substack.com/p/im-thinking-about-cd-wallets
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December 25: Brandi Carlile - In These Silent Days
For a final pick, my favorite album in recent memory. "You and Me on the Rock" is perhaps my favorite song of the last few years.
Merry Christmas, y'all!
https://music.apple.com/us/album/in-these-silent-days/1577159552
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