With the silly season truly in swing I thought I'd have a look at a few of the compilation CDs and best of collections that are likely to end up in your stocking come Christmas day.
I hope for your sake that whoever picked it either checked out your CD collection prior to purchase or got the all important exchange card.
Old Skool Summer Jams 2 is the first to come in under the banner of "Hey, it's summer and I know you want to celebrate via the purchase of anything with Summer in the title and look, there's a bikini girl on the cover."
Disappointingly, even after two attempts, the compilers have not learnt how to spell school.
As the aforementioned stylistic spelling suggests the compilation is dedicated to a bygone era of Hip Hop and RnB. The tracklist reminds me of bluelight discos gone by with tunes such as Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio, Boom Shake The Room! by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince and, of course, Hip Hop Hooray by Naughty by Nature.
The definition of Old Skool is stretched to include commercial radio regulars from a more recent era such as 7 Days from when people cared about Craig David and a few pre blue light numbers from artists who turned out to be relevant such as Paid in Full by Eric B & Rakim and Ring Ring Ring by De La Soul.
If Old Skool Summer Jams is a likely choice for parents who don't really know what to get their kids the boot is firmly on the other foot with Ten Guitars. The subtitle of 40 Songs from Heartland New Zealand leads me to believe that this would be a local affair. However, the intent is to capture the feeling of heartland New Zealand with songs from all around the world.
As my experience with heartland NZ doesn't stretch much beyond stopping for gas and buying a pie I am going to assume that this compilation is bang on the money. I'm sure you couldn't think of anything better than a fire and a sing along to the likes of Poi E, It Started with a Kiss, Rivers of Babylon and of course Ten Guitars. One thing we do know about the country drunk is that they can't be bothered with the effort of a pile of cd's so this handy compilation is going to be a tremendous time saver.
Are you still on the hunt for something for your slightly eccentric aunty with far too many healing crystals and more prayer mats than chairs? The Very Best of Enya could be the ideal gift for her.
I was interested to find out that Enya is a actually a three person group, consisting of one singer and an Irish couple which are either invisible or very camera shy. I've heard all sorts of assertions as to Enya's country of origin but there can be no doubting the Irishness with names such as Eithne Ni Bhraonáin and Nicky Ryan.
I could try to write more but I don't think I can do so without plagiarising the well written overview of the group's history contained in the liner notes as penned by the very Irish sounding Niall Stokes. Best I move onto the what to get for a girlfriend who cries during Grey's Anatomy and insists on picking the music on long road trips.
The ideal gift for the girl you love everything about - barring
her musical taste - would have to be Snow Patrol's Up to Now, but
if you value your sanity I must first caution you to ensure that
she can watch the following clip without crying.
If she passes the test of re-living the moments that launched Snow Patrol from the Dundee University to global domination then you could have a cd that she'll love and you'll be pleasantly surprised to find that it's not all complete sap. You might even find that you like it as well.
For a more detailed look at Snow Patrol you can see what my colleague of the fairer sex had to say about it here
