You don’t see lots of Rolling Stones TV performances from the Goats Head Soup album, but here are the boys doing “Silver Train” and “Dancing With Mr. D” on The Old Grey Whistle Test, along with quite a long Mick Jagger interview.

Originally telecast on October 2, 1973.
 

 
After the jump: A TV commercial for Goats Head Soup, complete with Wolfman Jack voice-over.

 
It’s the Man in Black vs. the bombastic Welsh crooner…

I like the Johnny Cash version, it’s cool, but more for a James Bond film that might take place in Texas than underwater. It’s pretty obvious why they didn’t use this one!
 

 
And here’s a smoking live version from the 1960s by the one and only Tom Jones….
 

 
Moe, Curly and Larry slap, smack and poke their way through the other Stooges’ classic.

Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck.

The Seven Stooges - “I Wanna Be Your Dog” from The Rhino Brothers Present - The World’s Worst Records Vol. 1.
 

Ponytail R.I.P.

I was wondering what that giant sucking sound was. It’s the void left by a bunch of groups who disbanded this past year, most of whom I’ve never heard of and I bet you haven’t either.

Even without knowing who most of these groups are, I find Stereogum’s In Memoriam: Bands We Lost In 2011 oddly touching. A world in which Ludrica roars no more and Ponytail unravels their youthful locks forever is a world diminished, a darker world, where dreams nudge up against vast nothingness and rock bands are stacked like firewood in the engine rooms of death.
 

 
Ex-editor of the sadly defunct Melody Maker, author of Nirvana: The Biography and now proprietor of the excellent Collapse Board website, Everett True has not one but two Christmas mixtapes available to download just now. They covers all bases from the popular to the obscure, from funk to country to punk to indie(ish) and everything in-between. Everett himself says:

I spend great chunks of early December arranging and rearranging the 1,500+ Christmas songs in my iTunes folder into various playlists: for family, for friends, not for the children, and so on. Odd that I do so, as I’m really not fond of this time of year otherwise (although that feeling is changing as our family increases). This year, my task has been somewhat hampered by Daniel (aged 2) destroying the external hard drive, just two weeks after I’d transferred my entire cache of 2011 music onto it.

I suspend most of my regular aesthetic values when it comes to this season. As long as there’s a sleigh bell or an overtly schmaltzy production or a smart-ass lyric decrying the fact Santa NEVER BRINGS ANY FUCKING PRESENTS or some soulful heartfelt emotion or … well, anything to do with the season, really … I’m happy. I do have limits of course: Fiona Apple, that excrescence of a Bob Dylan Christmas album that appeared a while back, most of the She And Him Christmas album (although they still manage to sneak onto the collection below), most of X Factor (but not all), anything too self-consciously smart and/or indie. But really. Where else are you going to find a compilation that boasts Mariah Carey, The Moonbears, Willie Nelson, Can and Wild Billy Childish’s killer cut ‘Christmas 1979′?

As ever, the following restrictions apply:

The track-listing on the mix-tapes differs slightly to the one below. Copyright considerations, and all that. Also, the compilations will be available for a limited period only. If you like any of the featured artists, please track back to their MySpace sites, record company home pages and the like, and show support by purchasing their music direct.

Download A Christmas Gift from Everett True 2011, part one here.

Download A Christmas Gift from Everett True 2011, part two here.

As he says, download these now as they’ll be taken down very soon.

BONUS!

Shonen Knife’s “Space Christmas” (as featured on ACGFET2011 vol two):
 

 
Full tracklistings after the jump…

 
40 psyche-pop tunes serve as the soundtrack for the bizarre Santa Claus vs.The Devil (1959) in a special Christmas Eve mix from me to you.

01. “Is Anybody Home” - The Mirage
02. “Henry Adams” - The Frederic
03. “Princess Of The Gingerland” - Glitterhouse
04. “Travelling Circus” - The Epics
05. ‘Punch And Judy Man” - Pop Workshop
06. “Red, White And You” - Sounds Around
07. “The View” - Gary Walker and The Rain
08. “Tomorrow Today” - Kippington Lodge
09. “You’ll Find Me Anywhere” - Hi-Revving Tongues
10. Mix within the mix featuring The Groop, The Kinks,
      The Tages, The Exceptions, The Cyrkle, Frank Zappa,
      The Zombies, Mark Eric, The Sidewalk Skipper Band,
      The Beach Boys, Stained Glass, The Shaggy Boys,
      Free Design, Eternity’s Children, Summer Snow,
      The Counts, Johnny Cobb and The Attractions,
      The Family Tree (courtesy of FCR)
11. “What Are You Gonna Do” - The Summer Set
12. “Stop” - The Pan Pipers
13. “My Race Is Run” - The Motleys
14. “Buses” - The Hung Jury
15. “Alfred Appleby” - The Carnival Connection
16. “You Gotta Be With Me” - The Onyx
17. “Midnite Thoughts” - The World Column
18. “In The Land Of Make Believe” Jennifer’s Friend
19. “Walk In The Sky” The Crackerjack Society
20. “Your Way To Tell Me Go” - Plastic Penny
21. “Green Circles (Italian version)” - The Small Faces

There are so many - albeit unintentionally - disturbing elements to Rene Cardona’s film that it’s difficult to select just one. Advertised as “an enchanting world of make-believe”, it’s a whacked out battle between Father Chrimbo and Satan, who sends his minion, Pitch, to interfere in the spreading of comfort and joy. Prime nuggets? Pitch whispering to the young ‘uns that Santa’s actually a murderer (classy!) and Santa’s cloud-borne castle that looks less like a cheery base for making toys and more like something from a Bond villain’s architectural wet dream.

Enjoy the music. I don’t think you’ll miss the dialog. Merry Christmas.
 

The jungle room at Graceland all decked out with Christmas cheer.

When he was cool, he was very cool. A black leather clad Elvis croons “Santa Claus Is Back In Town” & “Blue Christmas” as young girls swoon.

Some raw takes not included in the television broadcast version of Elvis’s “Comeback Special.” June 27, 1968
 

 
A 1986 promo item from the 1980’s greatest noise pop band, Hüsker Dü. Luscious !
 

 
And if you really, really don’t like disco, then perhaps this is more up your street. It’s an unexpected Christmas cracker by the king of UK grime Wiley, taken from his forthcoming album Evolve Or Be Extinct (to be released on Big Dada Recordings on 19th January - pre-order available here.)

This track is hilarious, the beat’s great and the sentiment is universal - about a family trying to cheer up that one misery guts who would rather stay upstairs playing Xbox while everyone else is downstairs having a drink and a laugh. We’ve all been there I’m sure:

“Go on, have a dance with aunt Shirley/
A little wind-up an’ that/
No, you go have a dance with Shirley/
Leave me alone anyway!”

I only found this track about an hour ago, and I’ve already listened to it half a dozen times. In fact, I’m going to listen to it again, right now. And you should too, it’s a future Christmas classic: