Since September 2010, this blog has recorded the journey of this music junkie as I attempt to listen to all the music in my CD collection. CDs revisited in their entirety from start to finish - no skipping tracks, no shuffle. Compact Discs only - no vinyl, no tapes, no files.

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Various Artists - Mad Men Christmas (2013)


I was very late to the game, but I binge-watched the Mad Men series in about 2 weeks earlier this month (I didn't get much work done). Loved the thing: well-written, gorgeous but unlikable characters, dapper '60s milieu. Over the span of the series, it progressed from period drama to satire to soap opera and I couldn't help myself. So when this Christmas compilation entered my radar, I picked it up on the cheap as it looked like a decent compilation of swingin' versions of Christmas classics from the 1960's. And it almost is. It's a great idea, poorly executed. The best you can ask from this disc is to add 7 or 8 tracks to your personal Christmas playlist, but it's certainly not a CD you'd play in its entirety at your ugly sweater party.

If I really wanted to pick at nits, I'd mention that the liner notes contain many pictures of the series cast, but somehow the lovely January Jones didn't make the cut.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:

12 tracks, only 37 minutes and the longest track is a lethargic remix of the show theme. This is followed by another needless remix of a another non-seasonal song sung by a cast member in this purposefully awkward scene:



Then it gets good and classic as expected, with the exception of the twee, modern day recording by Nellie McKay.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None, although I will say that binge-watching is obsessive and exhausting and I'd do it all again.

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1 comment:

  1. jabartlettNovember 29, 2015 at 9:25 AM

    I was not familiar with this disc until now, but it strikes me as something that took maybe five minutes to compile from a list of stuff that could be easily licensed, and a way to get "Zou Bisou Bisou" onto an album, somehow. Although "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" and the Otis recording of "Merry Christmas Baby" are from the time period, neither fits the "Mad Men" aesthetic at all. Even Megan, who'd be in the demo for both, doesn't strike me as somebody who'd listen to Noo Yawk girl group pop or gritty Southern soul, and Sally, who's in the demo by the end of the series, is nevertheless too young for both.

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