Investigation

When the weather outside is frightful, Steve Sutherland has something delightful – 20 unusual winter wonders that’ll tide you over until Boxing Day and beyond

It’s around this time of year that the radio airwaves and supermarket speaker systems appear trapped in a loop of the same Christmas-themed songs. It becomes impossible to leave the house for a pint of milk without running into Mariah Carey, Michael Bublé, Bing Crosby, Cliff Richard or Slade.

Nothing against those artists, but surely there’s more music out there to warm the heart at winter time, put you in the festive mood, and make you forget that there’s still another two months of cold, dark weather on the way. That’s where the latest Hi-Fi News ‘Themed Playlist’ comes in, presenting for your delectation 20 exquisite numbers associated with winter.

Snow business

Some, like Cocteau Twins’ ‘Frosty The Snowman’, are unusual takes on perennial Christmas crackers. Others, such as The Stones’ ‘Winter’ and The Pogues’ ‘A Rainy Night In Soho’, are musical mood pieces that conjure images of chilled breath in the air. And as always, compiler Steve Sutherland (editor of HFN’s sister magazine Hi-Fi Choice and ex-NME boss) hopes to introduce you to some new, different sounds. Never heard of Sufjan Stevens? Now you have.

You can sample the list and play along as you read by checking out our playlist on Qobuz.

We’ve plumped for the best-quality version (ie, the 192kHz/24-bit streams of Nico’s Chelsea Girl album) where available. Grab a hot toddy, because you’re in for a treat...

Fleet Foxes
White Winter Hymnal
Fleet Foxes, Nonesuch

This lead single from Seattle five-piece Fleet Foxes’ eponymous 2008 debut album is what spurred the band’s signing with the Bella Union label in the UK. Featuring sweet, beautifully recorded Crosby, Stills & Nash-esque harmony vocals and resonant percussion, its mysterious plot involves a bloke called Michael whose unnamed misfortune leads to the white snow being blood-stained ‘red like strawberries in the summertime’. Probably lead singer/songwriter Robin Pecknold’s finest moment, and one for the music fan who likes their seasonal thrills mixed with a bit of macabre mystery.

Kanye West
Christmas In Harlem
Single release, Roc-A-Fella

Before he went completely off the rails and changed his name to just ‘Ye’, Kanye West was the most lauded musical prodigy on the planet – and this track illustrates why. Sampling Marvin Gaye and Shuggie Otis, and featuring rapper CyHi Da Prynce and singer Teyana Taylor, both signed to West’s GOOD label, it perfectly captures the excitement of last-minute Christmas shopping with its feelgood, frisky family atmosphere. In the spirit of the season, West originally released ‘Christmas In Harlem’ for free as part of his GOOD Friday offerings, before its official single launch on iTunes.

Etta James
Stormy Weather
At Last!, Argo

Written in 1933 by Harold Arlen (the genius who also penned ‘Over The Rainbow’ for The Wizard Of Oz) and Ted Koehler (‘Get Happy’, made famous by Judy Garland), ‘Stormy Weather’ became a standard after Ethel Waters sang it that same year at New York’s Cotton Club. It’s since been covered by greats including Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Charles Mingus and Bob Dylan, but perhaps the best of the bunch is this version by Etta James. On her 1960 debut album At Last!, the soul/R&B legend sounds utterly at ease giving her sultry take on the classic torch song, backed by a sumptuous orchestral arrangement.

The White Stripes
Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground
White Blood Cells, XL Recordings

A hit single release from The White Stripes, back when pretend brother-and-sister and real-life ex-husband-and-wife Jack and Meg White were leading the New Rock Revolution alongside The Strokes and The Killers. Beginning with a wail of feedback and a Pink Floyd-ish riff, it raised the curtain on their blistering 2001 LP White Blood Cells. A live staple until the duo disbanded, and only eclipsed in fan popularity by the anthemic ‘Seven Nation Army’.

James Taylor
Sweet Baby James
Sweet Baby James, Warner Bros.

There’s a splendid tradition of winter holiday travelling songs – Low’s ‘Just Like Christmas’ being another one worth checking out – but this is a hardy perennial. Our hippie troubadour drives back to his family through a frozen Massachusetts landscape in December – ‘The Berkshires seemed dream-like on account of that frosting’ – composing a lullaby for his newborn nephew along the way. Released on the hit album Sweet Baby James by Warner Bros. in 1970.

Elmore James
The Sky Is Crying
The History of Elmore James, Fire Records

This single, equating the pouring rain with a spurned lover’s tears and released in 1960 on the Fire label, is proof positive that not only was Mississippi-born Elmore James the undisputed king of the slide guitar, but he had a glass-smashing, heart-wrenching voice to match. In tribute, Brian Jones used to refer to himself as Elmo in the early lineups of The Rolling Stones, and the song later became a fret-sizzling regular in bluesman Stevie Ray Vaughan’s live set.

El Vez
Feliz Navidad
Merry MEX-mas, Sympathy For The Record Industry

Written originally in 1970 by blind Puerto Rican guitarist José Feliciano, this iteration of the ridiculously catchy ‘Feliz Navidad’ has been souped up by Mexican-American Robert Lopez, aka El Vez, who also likes to add a Latin flavour to Elvis Presley numbers. The track, complete with samples from PiL’s ‘Public Image’, resides on Vez’s 1994 album Merry MEX-mas, alongside a particularly spicy version of Leroy Anderson’s ‘Sleigh Ride’.

Sufjan Stevens
That Was The Worst Christmas Ever
Songs For Christmas, Asthmatic Kitty

Between 2001 and 2006, Detroit singer, songwriter and instrumental genius Sufjan Stevens recorded a series of fabulous Christmas EPs to give out to his friends and family. They were then assembled as a five-disc box set release called Songs For Christmas on his own Asthmatic Kitty label. ‘That Was The Worst Christmas Ever’, recorded by Stevens in 2003, is choral bliss incarnate – but also grab a listen to ‘Come On! Let’s Boogey To The Elf Dance!’. Yule not regret it.

Nico
Winter Song
Chelsea Girl, Verve Records

A composition by Nico’s old Velvet Underground buddy John Cale, and featured on her folky baroque first solo LP Chelsea Girl from 1967. The strings and woodwinds were added by producer Tom Wilson without Nico’s consent once she had laid down her stark and bittersweet vocals. She cried when she heard it, so distraught that she refused to ever listen to the album again. A shame, as ‘Winter Song’ is as wonderfully melancholy as only Nico could sound.

Kate Rusby
Little Jack Frost
The Girl Who Couldn’t Fly, Pure Records

Barnsley-born folkster Kate Rusby penned this heart-warming tear-jerker, where one of wintertime’s most famous mythical figures is reimagined as a runaway refugee orphan child. Indeed, it’s so emotional that, despite playing Christmas-themed shows every year, Rusby refuses to perform it – all the more reason for you to give her lilting, acoustic track a spin. By the way, the cover art for the album The Girl Who Couldn’t Fly, from 2005, is a painting by Blur’s Graham Coxon.

Badfinger
Icicles
Ass, EMI Catalogue

Badfinger must surely go down in history as one of the unluckiest bands ever. Having signed to The Beatles’ Apple label in 1968, and having their ballad ‘Without You’ become an international smash when covered by Harry Nilsson on *Nilsson Schmilsson*, they became embroiled in contractual disputes, lost loads of money, and two members – Pete Ham and Tom Evans – committed suicide. ‘Icicles’ is from Ass, their fourth album and their last for Apple.

The Pogues
A Rainy Night In Soho
Poguetry In Motion, Rhino

One of Shane MacGowan’s most romantic, melodic numbers, first released in 1986 on the band’s Poguetry In Motion EP, and sung by Nick Cave at MacGowan’s funeral in 2023. Weirdly there was a falling out between producer Elvis Costello and MacGowan in the studio over whether ‘A Rainy Night…’ should feature an oboe or a cornet. Since then it’s been covered by Bob Dylan, and performed by Johnny Depp and Bono at MacGowan’s 60th birthday party.

The Replacements
Skyway
Pleased To Meet Me, Rhino/Warner

Minneapolis in the winter is one of the coldest cities in the US, so it’s unsurprising that local band The Replacements should salute the Skyway, an interlinked collection of enclosed pedestrian footbridges that connects various buildings, enabling people to walk for miles in climate-controlled comfort. You’ll find the track on the band’s 1987 LP Pleased To Meet Me, where they showed a new-found sophistication following an earlier reputation for alcohol-fuelled, unpredictable recklessness. Just over two minutes long, but still one of songwriter Paul Westerberg’s finest.

Cocteau Twins
Frosty The Snowman
Treasure Hiding: The Fontana Years, Fontana

The original was recorded by cowboy singer Gene Autry in 1950 as a seasonal follow-up to his popular version of ‘Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer’. It then became such a cultural Christmas go-to that Nat King Cole, The Ronettes and The Jackson 5 all recorded covers. Our pick, however, is this shoegaze-y version by Cocteau Twins on their 1993 Fontana single ‘Snow’, which also features a lovely version of Felix Bernard’s ‘Winter Wonderland’.

Kool & The Gang
Winter Sadness
Spirit Of The Boogie, Mercury Records

Before they became hot disco mainstays with hit singles such as ‘Ladies Night’ (1979) and ‘Celebration’ (1980), New Jersey ensemble Kool & The Gang were ice-cool jazz-funk operators, as evinced by their sixth LP Spirit Of The Boogie. One of the lengthier cuts on that 1975 album was this moody, glacial treat, which washes smooth ARP synths and alto saxophone over wide drum patterns and languid bass – the lyrics are minimal, but this is all about the music. Twenty-one years later, the track’s memorable guitar hook became the backdrop to Tupac Shakur’s mighty ‘Picture Me Rollin’’ from his All Eyez On Me double set.

Let’s Go Sailing
Icicles
My First Xmas EP, Izumi Records

Another track named ‘Icicles’, this time from Los Angeles band Let’s Go Sailing. An indie outfit formed and fronted by Shana Levy, and featuring double bass legend Charlie Haden’s daughter Tanya, their only LP to date, The Chaos In Order, came out in 2006. This track, however, is from the 2008 My First Xmas compilation EP and features a delightfully cheeky, festive chord sequence that owes more than a debt to The Cure’s ‘Just Like Heaven’.

Elliott Smith
Angel In The Snow
New Moon, Domino Recording Co.

After singer/songwriter Elliott Smith died from possibly self-inflicted stab wounds, the unfortunately named Kill Rock Stars label collated a bunch of tracks that didn’t make it onto the albums he released while he was alive. The set – called New Moon and as richly endowed with doleful gems as the better known Either/Or and XO – includes this wintry gem. With its maudlin melody and intimate lyricism, it’s a stunning testament to Smith’s sad and beautiful genius.

Vampire Weekend
Horchata
Contra, XL Recordings

Not familiar with horchata? It’s a Latino drink made from milk, vanilla, rice and cinnamon, and clearly a favourite of US indie rockers Vampire Weekend, who penned an ode to it on their brilliant 2009 LP Contra. Of course, there’s more to it than that, as singer Ezra Koenig, teeth-a-chatter, bemoans the fact that he’s still wearing sandals in December (‘winter’s cold is too much to handle’) – not to mention that he looks somewhat ‘psychotic in a balaclava’. Oddball brilliance.

The Rolling Stones
Winter
Goat’s Head Soup (Deluxe Ed.), Polydor

A ballad on The Stones’ 1973 long-player Goat’s Head Soup, this is one of those tracks where Mick Taylor played all the lead guitar parts with Mick Jagger handling rhythm, Keith Richards being absent from the studio at the time. The original title was ‘Blood Red Wine’ but Jagger changed it, deep in the midst of a bout of wishing he were in sunny California. Similar in spirit, then, to The Mamas & The Papas’ 1966 hit ‘California Dreamin’’ – only a lot more bluesy and angst-ridden.

Van Morrison
Snow In San Anselmo
Hard Nose The Highway, Warner Bros.

Hard Nose The Highway is the criminally overlooked seventh solo LP from singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1973. Nowhere near as famous as Astral Weeks (1968) or Moondance (1970), it’s a jazzy beauty worth discovering, and it kicks off with ‘Snow In San Anselmo’. Listen out for the weird, yelping gospel choir, the banging saxophone break, and enjoy Morrison’s scene-setting lyrics as he watches the Californian rarity of white snowflakes falling.