Sunday, December 20th, 2009

"Last Christmas"

Manic Street Preachers cover Wham!

Photo via WikipediaWikipediaIrving Berlin, Mel Torme, Vince Guaraldi… George Michael? Penning modern-day holiday standards isn’t easy, but I think it’s fair to put Mr. Michael in that esteemed company. Since being released as a single in 1984, Wham!‘s “Last Christmas” has become perhaps the most-covered Christmas song of the last 30 years, maybe longer. There already exists a website – last-christmas.com – dedicated to tracking the ever-increasing number of interpretations of said tune. 430 as of this writing, and that doesn’t include the Ohbijou version that was released last Friday (but does include the Montt Mardie version I linked to on Tuesday.

Also on the list is this track by Manic Street Preachers frontman James Dean Bradfield, recorded back in 1996 on the BBC program TFI Friday, and the video footage from the holiday special is pretty funny with Bradfield settled in at the bar, serenading pub patrons. The audio was released as a bonus/hidden track on the 2003 rarities and b-sides comp, Lipstick Traces: A Secret History.

The Manics released one of my favourite albums of the year in Journal For Plague Lovers. George Michael hasn’t released a new studio album in five years but did put out a live DVD in Live In London earlier this year. Andrew Ridgeley is still giving away copies of Son Of Albert as Christmas gifts.

MP3: Manic Street Preachers – “Last Christmas”
Video: Manic Street Preachers – “Last Christmas”
Video: Wham! – “Last Christmas”

By : Frank Yang at 9:43 am
Category: Chromewaves Radio

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  1. The Vicious Guns says:

    Woooo!!!! Undying neverending love for the Manics!!!!