Six musicians share the Christmas albums they come back to every year

Jingle all the way.

Just as everyone will overspend on the Kris Kringle and one of the aunties will fall asleep drunk before dinner, Christmas music is an unavoidable part of the holiday season. Whether you love it or hate it, there’s no escaping those chiming bells, cheery choirs and musings on Old Saint Nic.

As a former mall employee (yes I did have to wear a little elf hat), I’ve been subjected to a draconian amount of Christmas music and as a result, I have strong opinions. Justin Bieber’s ‘Under The Mistletoe’ can stay, always – same with Christmas with Boney M. and Stevie Wonder’s ‘Someday at Christmas’.

Discover more about Australia’s musical talent in FJ’s Music section.

I won’t be a scrooge about the rest of it, but let’s just say I could do with a little guidance on how to zhuzh up the holiday playlist this year. To help make my yuletide merry and bright, I turned to the professionals, AKA some of my favourite local musicians and asked them to share the Christmas albums that have a special place in their hearts.

Ella Fitzgerald, Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas

Picked by: Katie Noonan

I grew up with very fond memories of listening to the ABC Jazz program on Saturday mornings with my dear dad Brian – sitting in bed, having cups of tea and Saos, discovering the magical voices of people like Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald.

After the jazz show it was usually The Goons, at which my dad would laugh uproariously. My opera-singing mum Maggie was usually teaching classical students in the family music room on Saturdays, so Dad and I would retreat to their bedroom and listen to the radio together without interrupting her lessons! 

It was only years later when I started to study jazz more seriously after I left my opera degree to immerse myself in the freedoms and more complex harmonic world of improvised jazz and art music, that I realised how fundamental those Saturday morning listening sessions were to my development as a singer-songwriter and my perception of groove and time.

Ella’s sense of time is so deep and swinging, and her tone is so sonorous and rich. She’s without a doubt one of my greatest influences and I love this album of classic tunes spun through her magnificent web of hard-grooving jazz! This will be our first Christmas without my dear Dad, so we will be playing this album again and thinking of him with love.

Various Artists, Now! That’s What I Call Christmas

Picked by: Jude Kelly

If the album cover alone doesn’t bring you instant nostalgia, the contents of this album takes you through your most loved Christmas movies, melted marshmallows coated in chocolate, thick knitted throw and an ugly sweater you swear on your grandma’s life you hate. Guilty pleasure is why I think this album is the best soundtrack to Christmas. 

A dreamscape compilation of Paul McCartney, Kylie Minogue, The Pretenders, Ella Fitzgerald, John Lennon, Wham! and of course, the Christmas queen, Mariah Carey. The album itself is ordered meticulously to take you through bells, soft strings and singable bass lines, not to mention we already know the words. Now that’s what I call Christmas. 

Sufjan Stevens, Songs For Christmas

Picked by: Stella Bridie

Sufjan Steven’s Songs For Christmas is a sprawling box set of five EPs, featuring originals and covers of classics. It’s not always the standard holiday soundtrack your grandparents might want to hear, but hey, Christmas is a complicated time.

Sometimes it’s about melancholy and putting strain on your relationships and staring out the window for a full hour without realising the time has passed. Sufjan understands this and still leaves room for some twee odes to sparkly lights and baby Jesus. This album has something for everyone. Highlights include ‘Put the Lights on the Tree’ and ‘That Was the Worst Christmas Ever’.

Husbands, XMAS

Picked by: Kai James of Girl and Girl

This is a pretty old release from these guys and you can only find it on Bandcamp nowadays. It’s incredibly wacky and charming, two critical boxes to tick if I’m to enjoy a Chrissy album. Weirdly enough, it also helped me through a lot of my studies, very fantastic study music, and if you like XMAS, then check out XMAS 2!

Various Artists, Perfect Days soundtrack

Picked by: Beatrice Lewis of Haiku Hands

An album that sums up a holiday vibe for me currently is the soundtrack from the film Perfect Days. It’s got a whole heap of classic songs you can have on either in the background or cranked right up and it provides a really nice soft life cushion.

Haiku Hands and myself work primarily in electronic music so it’s nice on holiday to have a break from the more modern production sound palette. I hope the record (and the movie if you have time to watch) can give you a much-needed holiday.

Vince Guaraldi Trio, A Charlie Brown Christmas

Picked by: Aleksiah

Growing up, I never actually celebrated Christmas that much. My family was a denomination that celebrated it in a different way and on a different day, so I never got around to listening to specific Christmas-themed albums (apart from Mariah Carey’s, that’s an all-year treat!).

But recently, I’ve been listening a lot to the instrumental album A Charlie Brown Christmas when my partner and I learned how to play the song ‘Linus and Lucy’ as a duet on piano. I think it’s the sweetest and most joyous-sounding album ever, it really is the embodiment of the spirit of Christmas, or at least what I think it should sound like.

For more on Christmas music, head here.