Al Martino - A Merry Christmas

I was a baby when this came out, so I can't say I was a fan when it was first released. Like a lot of people, I came late to the party, really late. Sure, I knew about him from The Godfather, but that hardly counts. It was the maligned Godfather Part III and Johnny Fantane's character when he sang "To Each His Own" that sealed it for me as an Al Martino fan. That was awesome. "Promise Me You'll Remember (Love Theme from The Godfather Part III)" was supposed to be the big crooner moment with Harry Connick Jr., but a quick A and B between Al and Harry shows the absolute gulf between them as vocalists. I like Harry. Al was simply on another level.

"To Each His Own" was supposed to be played at our wedding, except I forgot the cassette at home that had some of the songs we wanted to play. Which sucked, because we wanted to exit the reception to Michael Nesmith singing "Eldorado to the Moon" and when he got to the part where he sang, "We got a million dollars worth of ethel gas / And a reservation for the room ..." we were going to wave so long and head out.

It never happened, but it was supposed to.

I blame Mr. Bean.

Seriously.

We hadn't been married very long and we had a very skinny Christmas music selection in our little apartment ... but I did have one CD, Al Martino's A Merry Christmas. It was perfect for us. The album was more or less split down the middle, with the first side featuring contemporary songs. You know, "Rudolph", "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", the obligatory version of "White Christmas", and the second side more traditional Carols.

One song, though, will always belong to Al. "You're All I Want for Christmas" — for me, it's the penultimate Christmas carol. Yes, I know Bing recorded it a couple of decades earlier, and his version with the Andrews Sisters is undeniably beautiful. But Al got to me first, and it's his rendition that truly melts me.

Over the decades my collection of Christmas music grew and grew, and over the last few years the number of records I've found takes up a fair bit of space. I don't mind so much. When I stumbled upon the stereo vinyl release of A Merry Christmas, I couldn't help myself. I needed it more than I wanted it, and I had wanted it for some time (apologies to Jimmy Webb, I'm sure he could do better).

There isn't a dud on this album, and the arrangements and performances are all so good. Al is at home with both contemporary and classic Christmas songs, delivering them with sincerity. I love this record. If push came to shove and I had to pick only one Christmas album to save ... it would be this one.

For over thirty years, on Christmas Eve, "You're All I Want for Christmas" is the song I dance to with my wife. The only light in the room comes from the Christmas tree - it's generally pretty late, after we've put the kids to bed and everything is ready for the morning. This is our moment. This is our song. I may not have been able to play "To Each His Own" at our wedding, but I think this makes up for it.

Styx - Paradise Theater

Styx was hands down one of my favourite bands as a kid. They were a strange band, even back then. They were a hard rock band, almost progressive at times, who had a penchant for sucky ballads. I know there's a tendency for people to zero in on "Babe" as the song that killed the band's credibility. The roots go way back to almost the beginning when Styx released "Lady" on their second album. It showed a side to the band that needed to be kept in check, and for the most part the band kept things on a pretty tight leash. The band had been setting a gruelling pace, releasing an album a year (two in 1972) and by the time they released Paradise Theater (if I end up writing theatre later it's because that's how we spell it here) in 1981 they'd dropped ten albums in less than a decade. I snapped this up as soon as I saw it, and it became a fixture on my turntable. Like the band had announced on "Borrowed Time" from 1979's Cornerstone , ...

David Baerwald - Bedtime Stories

The little sticker on the shrinkwrap says, "You may remember David Baerwald from David & David's Boomtown ..." You bet, I remembered David Baerwald. Back in 1986 Boomtown was an album with moments of sheer brilliance. The whole album may not have been as top shelf as the first few tracks, but that didn't matter - it is an excellent album. I waited for a follow-up ... and waited, and then in 1990 it was a solo David, David Baerwald, who dropped Bedtime Stories . I snapped it up. "All For You," the opening cut, is still my favourite song on the album. It was mesmerizing. I'm not sure if the song got any airplay, it may have, but that may have been wishful thinking on my part as it was on a lot of mix tapes at the time and I heard it a lot in the car. The CD had a great booklet with all of the musician credits and lyrics. Oddly, when I found a sealed copy of the record (a great score), it just had a plain paper insert - the picture of David walking wit...

Gary Numan - The Pleasure Principle

"Cars" was really the only song I knew by Gary Numan. I knew the name of the album the song came from. Over the years bits and pieces of trivia are accumulated, but in terms of his music it was still distilled down to one song ... It would be too easy to write Mr. Numan off as a one hit wonder, and I suppose in terms of actual chart hits this was his defining moment as a solo artist. Of course this really means nothing, as Gary Numan would drop an album a year pretty much through to the end of the '80s. He'd then slow down a little but continued to make music. While The Pleasure Principle was Gary Numan's debut solo release in '79, he actually cut his teeth on a couple of albums in a band called Tubeway Army, first with the band's self-titled release in 1978, and then on Replicas that came out in April of '79. By the end of Tubeway Army's run most of the band would follow Gary into his solo career. Paul Gardiner, who had been with Gary from the b...

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