Playlist 02.11.09

How can you dislike Bob Dylan? His later years have been filled with mirth, broadcasting cheer, some quietly intense records, those barmy chronicles, and now a Christmas album. And what a silly record it is, too. The backing tracks sound like they're rented off a karaoke machine, the songs are worn flat with familiarity, and the sleigh bell player is on overtime.

And yet I found myself grinning throughout. Bob chuckles like a guy who doesn't have to do this at all, My guess is that his work is subject to so much analysis that there's a freedom in being daft. And I don't know if the Zimmerman family ever threw a party on December 25, but there's a loose nostalgia here also. Meantime the phrasing is off the scale, the vocal chords seem to function at random and the inner artwork includes a Betty Page figure, getting foxy in a winter wonderland. Cosmic.

Playlist 02.11.09

The Cure - Inbetweendays (Fiction)

Mumford And Sons - Winter Winds (Island)

Bob Dylan - Winter Wonderland (Columbia)

Paul Curreri - Down By The Water (Tin Angel)

Regina Spektor - Eet (Sire)

Ash - True Love 1980 (Atomic Heart)

Rickie Lee Jones - Wild Girl (Fantasy)

Chuck E Weiss - Fake Dance (Cooking Vinyl)

Slim Harpo - Strange Love (Righteous)

Martha Wainwright - Adieu Mon Coeur (coop)

Choir Of Young Believers - Why Must It always Be This Way (Ghostly International)

Madness - My Girl (Salvo)

Pocket Billiards - Don't Touch My Soca (white)

Bob Dylan - Here Comes Santa Claus (Columbia)

Erin Mc Keown - Santa Cruz (Righteous Babe)

Edwin Collins - You'll Never Know (Heavenly)

Spiritualized -Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating In Space (Sony)

Panama Kings - Judas (white)

Lisa Hannigan - Lili (live) (EMI)

J Tillman - A Year In The Kingdom (Bella Union)

Richard Hawley - Ashes On The Fire (Mute)

Mantler - Childman (Tin Angel)

Willie Nelson - Baby Its Cold Outside (Blue Note)

Cold Cave - Death Comes Close (Matador)