Far Out There Christmas Soundtracks: Ichabod (Patreon)

It’s nitpicker time, again, kiddies! Yep, our next Christmas playlist is none other than Ichabod’s, and if anybody remembers Ichabod’s regular character soundtrack, you know that means this one will be a bit… esoteric. Heck, just knowing anything about Ichabod in general will tell you that his tastes are a bit on the odd side. Obviously, when it’s Christmas music we’re dealing with, there’s only so much pure weirdness we can pick from, but Ichabod still managed to come up with a spacier, more Prog Rock holiday playlist than you might expect would be possible.

…which makes it a bit funny that we kick off with “Deck The Halls” by Mannheim Steamroller. Yes, I know it’s become totally common place to modern ears after millions of records sold and hours upon hours of playtime in your local mall, but really THINK about this. Mannheim Steamroller may not be the Progiest Prog Rock outfit ever, but that doesn’t stop “Deck The Halls” from being fairly weird by Christmas music standards. Just listen to that synthesizer lead, especially in the middle eight where Chip Davis gets to flex his muscles a bit with the arrangement. This song sounds as much like something out of Flash Gordon as a Christmas special. I think it’s a suitably weird kickoff for Ichabod.

Next up, speaking of electronic noise, we return to an artist you may remember from Avatar’s playlist: RushJet1. “Christmas Medley” is just what it sounds like, a mashup of everything from “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” to “Silent Night” to “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” to “O Holy Night” all in just over a minute. The chirpy Chiptune execution obviously flows nicely from the synths on “Deck The Halls” but the part that really makes me think of Ichabod is just how densely packed the arrangement it. Seriously, there’s a LOT packed into these sixty-three seconds, and I think Ichabod would really admire how unpredictable the song structure becomes as a result.

Next up, we have another song with some noticeable synth usage, though this time it’s mixed in behind a swirl of harpsichord and electric piano: “Carol of the Bells” by The Bird & The Bee. This is a product of 00s Indie Pop’s fascination with 60s Exotica and Lounge music, twisting the familiar folk tune of the original through weird Jazzy chord changes and a truly dizzying arrangement. It’s honestly a lot spacier than a lot of Prog Rock stuff that deliberately TRIES to sound like it’s from space. It’s also exactly the kind of song I would probably build a Mariska Christmas Playlist around… if I were actually going to do that. But I’m doing too many of these as it is, so Ichabod gets to claim this one.

Continuing down this Lounge Revival path, though in a much more deliberately kitschy tone, we next have “Space Age Santa” by Jaymz Bee & His Royal Jelly Orchestra. This feels like the kind of weird comedy Ichabod would get a kick out of, even if I must confess that it’s ALMOST on the wrong side of annoying to me. The arrangement is fun enough for “Space Age Santa” still work for me, but I’ve also never had the slightest desire to seek out anything else about Jaymz Bee, because this sounds like the kind of shtick that would get really old really fast.

Moving back to something that gets really old really fast to everybody ELSE, we have more Mannheim Steamroller. This time, it’s “Joy to the World,” which is a pretty transparent attempt to recapture the magic of “Deck the Halls” …or to sound like the opening jingle of the evening news at The North Pole. Either way, the synth lead and hyperactive harpsichord backing still really works for me, and thus for Ichabod as well.

Next up, I’ve mentioned Prog Rock several times so far, which a number of readers would probably find a bit odd given the artists I’ve applied it to so far. You can’t question my use of the term in this next one, though, since not only is band The Weird & The Wonderful quite clearly classified as Prog, but they even subtitled their cover of “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” as “(prog rock version).” It doesn’t get much more definitive than that! And yeah, between needlessly complicated drum lines and showy keyboard flourishes, this sounds like what would happen if one of the battle themes from Final Fantasy VII suddenly got really festive.

Continuing down this particular Progy path, we next have Yes bassist Chris Squire. Wow, that’s two playlists in a row with a Yes member. What a weird streak. Anyway, Squire gives us “Three Kings,” and no, I didn’t forget a “We” there. This is a totally different song than the John Henry Hopkins Jr. one we’re all more familiar with, instead being a German tune by Peter Cornelius. I was really surprised to learn that this “Three Kings” was actually written AFTER the “We” one, because it sounds waaaay older. Apparently Cornelius borrowed a lot of stuff from much older (as in 16th century) sources, and yeah, that’s exactly what this sounds like, aside from the Rock & Roll drums in the back, of course. An iconoclast like Ichabod would appreciate that kind of surprise detour into REALLY old school, I think.

And now we get a bit… unclassifiable. “Christmas Is The Day” by The Free Design is a song I spotlighted on one of my “Christmas Songs You’ve Never Heard Of” blogs, so I’ll direct you over there for my more in-depth thoughts on it. The short version, though, is this manages to simultaneously sound like Easy Listening, Sunshine Pop, Progressive, and Liturgical music all at once. It’s a mystifying, ethereal song I still haven’t quite managed to figure out, which is exactly what Ichabod would probably like about it.

Not hard at ALL to figure out is out next one: “I Saw Three Ships” by David Arkenstone. Now, I’m not saying that Arkenstone deliberately tried to rip off Mannheim Steamroller on this song… but that’s totally what he did. I used to have this song on a cassette of Christmas songs my Dad taped off the radio, and for years I legitimately thought it WAS Mannheim Steamroller. It’s got all the trademarks: spacy synth lead, hyperactive keyboards in the back, original sections that sound like the theme to some old CD-rom adventure game, all that good stuff. This song is as much a standard of Weather Channel Christmas playlists as any Steamroller tracks, so of course Ichabod would include it as well.

And that brings us to the climax, which can really only be one thing: “Stille Nacht” by Mannheim Steamroller. I mean, of COURSE it is. You can’t have this much of a Steamroller (or similar) presence on a playlist like this and NOT end with “Stille Nacht.” And it’s fitting, too. As much as Ichabod likes to pose as a misanthrope, he DOES have a sappy, sentimental side to him, and that side probably get’s a little misty-eyed every time this tune is wrapping up.

So that’s Ichabod’s Christmas Soundtrack. Full disclosure, it just might be my personal favorite out of the bunch. There’s other songs on other soundtracks I might like more individually, but I really think this is one of the most cohesive of the bunch. I love the flow from track to track here, and it’s one of the ones I’m most likely to just play from beginning to end as background noise. What does that say about the others? Well, come on back to read the others and see for yourself!

Ichabod's YouTube Christmas List