THE 12 HITS OF CHRISTMAS – OUT NOVEMBER 1st!
An album of all new original Christmas songs by Tim Readman and Andy Cooke. Your seasonal shopping problems are over and it’s only November 1st!
CHRISTMAS ALBUM AVAILABLE NOW
Tim Readman and Andy Cooke – The 12 Hits of Christmas
The 12 Hits of Christmas features folk, pop, rock and EDM tracks. There’s a shanty, a carol, some classic soul, electro-pop, glam rock and a world music track.
We decided several months back that it’s time we had some new Christmas songs to entertain ourselves with during the annual festive season. After analyzing over 27,000 Yuletide hits from a musical and lyrical perspective and feeding the results into our super computer, we soon discovered what the people want. Armed with that vital information we set to work, rather in the manner of Santa’s elves, in our sonic workshop in a land far away. Emerging from our labours, blinking in the daylight, clutching twelve new Christmas songs, we saw that it was done. All that remains is for you dear reader to accept this gift. Please enjoy our offering: The 12 Hits of Christmas.
THE 12 HITS OF CHRISTMAS – THE SONGS
All songs by Tim Readman and Andy Cooke
The 12 Hits of Christmas
- Festive Prelude/The Light Will Return – A world music track inspired by Afro-Celt Sound System provides the backing for this song about pagan winter solstice festivities.
- Christmas Gift -A perky melodic pop tune telling a tale of melancholy, isolation, re-kindled love and joyful redemption
- Inside the Snow Globe – The pandemic prevented many of us from being with our loved ones at Christmas. In this jazzy-pop number a couple seek solace in a fantasy world inspired by a winter scene inside a snow globe.
- Santa’s Sleigh Shanty – A song in the style of a sea shanty as might be sung by Santa, Mrs. Claus and the elves as they load the sleigh in readiness for Christmas Eve.
- Christmas Soul – A classic 60s soul track, celebrating all the things that give Christmas soul.
- Christmas Yuletide Holidays – A Christmas carol-like alphabet song that spells out all the great things to be savoured and enjoyed during Christmas Yuletide Holidays.
- Be Good This Christmas – A glam-rock influenced song advocating sharing and caring as the best and truest ways to celebrate the season.
- In Time of Winter – An electro-pop song in which our hero drives across the winter miles so they can be together with their loved one for Christmas.
- Rudolph Robot – Santa plays a practical joke on the elves and they are so relieved when they realise they’ve been tricked, in this humorous EDM-inflected pop song.
- Christmas Dances – A pop-dance classic in the making as electro beats and slap bass whip up a groove to get your feet moving in all the Christmas dances we know.
- Christmas Without You – This heartfelt pop ballad is a sly nod to Wham’s Last Christmas – with the love-gone-bad theme cranked up to 11.
- One More Circle – This driving rocker sees us looking forward to a New Year free from fighting and war and finds us hoping we can finally learn to give peace a chance.
THE 12 HITS OF CHRISTMAS – COVER ART
The cover art and Santa illustrations were created by Tania Yakunova. Tania is an award-winning illustrator and educator from Ukraine with a dominant interest in minimalistic expressive art and amusing characters. Her field of work spreads from commercial, book, and editorial illustrations to international exhibitions of her personal artworks. She finds her inspiration in avant-garde art and design of the 20 century and brings its perspective it to modern illustration. Her works are recognised by bold composition, rhythm and excellent use of forms and colours. Her website is here.
INTERVIEW WITH FIONA BLACK
An interview Tim did with Fiona Black, director and programmer of Capilano University’s BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts for rootsmusic.ca is now available here.
LET’S CELEBRATE THE BEATLES… AND BEATLE WEEK
There’s a new video here featuring Newcastle Road’s music from their album Under the Influence. It compiles clips from International BeatleWeek 2022 in Liverpool, along with a sequence of original portraits by UK artist David Rainey. It was Alan Millen’s 19th time at BeatleWeek.
CURRENT PROJECTS – AKA WHAT’S GOING ON?
If you want to know about the various musical projects that Tim is currently involved with and what they are all about, then you can find out on this new page on the website. We’ll be regularly updating this section as projects come and go. Updates and chat and other blog-style postings will still be found in the News section. Information about recordings featuring Tim can be found on the Discography page.
EVENTUALLY BROTHERS COVER ART ‘SEA BED’
The cover for The Eventually Brothers album The Ancient Art of Weaving features a detail photo of ‘Sea Bed’ (found shoreline materials) by artist and friend of the band Peter Achurch. We were delighted to find out that it is now the newest addition to the City of Nanaimo Public Art Inventory. It is a large scale hand weaving, now located in the lobby of the Vancouver Island Conference Centre. Using marine rope & cord woven into an armature made from a stripped down steel-spring mattress, discarded materials take centre-stage with this sculpture. As the artist says, they tell their own tales of work along our coast. The collection of reclaimed materials used in the creation of this piece took place over the course of many years as Achurch wandered BC shorelines. perter commented, “I like to identify such elements and employ them in my work, especially when they display the evidence of nature’s deconstruction. I find this helps to position myself both geographically and chronologically as I consider the where, when, and how of the object I’m holding and where it fits in history. It is also a reminder of the provisional relationship we have with the planet.”
NEW EXILES SONG AND VIDEO
Home Debut is an energetic punk-influenced song by The Exiles (recorded October 2022) and presents three versions of individual fans remembering their first visit to St. James’ Park. The results of the three matches referenced are as follows: Newcastle United 6 Swansea Town 0 on October 27, 1962; Newcastle United 3 Derby County 1 on March 27, 1971; Newcastle United 3 Manchester United 0 on February 12, 2000. You can check it out here.
