Friday, January 08, 2016

Imagene Peise [The Flaming Lips]: Atlas Eets Christmas (2007]

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I hate Christmas music with a passion. I can sort of tolerate Xmas tunes if I hear the jingly-jangly music during the festive season, but only barely, and not until after my December birthday. Despite being an atheist, I have a clear preference for religious Christmas music, if I were forced to choose. I know, that sounds truly bizarre. Even Bruce Cockburn's Christmas album, chock-full of superstition and fairy tales, is far more palatable than secular curiosities, like Frosty the Snowman. I guess one explanation is that Christmas music is really music for children. Another explanation could be that Christmas music, especially the secular variety, is simply inane.

Having said that, I bought copy of this record on red vinyl (brand new, still in shrink wrap) for $1.99, marked down from $19.99. Only 5000 copies in red vinyl were released. At that price, I could not say no. I love The Flaming Lips, so I had to buy it. This was a 2014 Black Friday Record Store Day release. A limited edition CD came out in 2007.

Imagene Peise is a fiction. She is described as being an Iraqi jazz pianist who recorded this record at the age of eighteen. She is said to have committed suicide in 1978. This record is reported to have been a lost album. None of that is true, but I guess it's entertaining, and so is the record. I would argue that this is the greatest Christmas album ever recorded.

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