Oh my goodness. Six years ago, without much thought behind it, myself and a friend decided to offer to the world an unnecessary and unasked for gift in the form of an uncurated collection of covers of Wham!‘s holiday standard “Last Christmas.” Besides underestimating the number of people who’d be interested in such a thing, we never thought it would lead to various radio and blog interviews, an MTV news interview, hanging out with bands, or even being interviewed for a graduate thesis on the topic of cover songs.
Even more impressive is the fact that every year more and more covers are released and sent to us! Keep them coming! We are but a small crew with limited resources, so any help in corralling songs and leads is a great help. Additionally if any of you, dear readers, are up for the challenge of guest posting or even better, recording “Last Christmas” just for us, then by all means get in touch!
And before we get started with the grueling task of sorting and listening and delivering some Whamtastic gems to you throughout the month, we want to say a hearty and heartfelt thank you for your support going on six years now…six years! I still can’t believe it. We’re becoming as much a holiday tradition as fruitcake is.
Ok ok, I know you want me to just shut up already and get on with the tunes, but just one more second! The full sets to the right represent the ground we’ve covered in years past; there are no individual song links in old posts beyond links to the artists’ Amazon or iTunes respective stores or sites where applicable. All should be up to date, but as always, if you find something odd or weird in the sets or our numbering, please let us know! Here we go!
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At the end of last season, we got the tip on Element of Crime’s slow, easy going take on “Last Christmas.” I honestly can’t think of anything better than starting with a German band’s cover. It sounds optimistic, hopeful and jaunty. It’s as if over the course of the song, we’re traveling with them, away from the heartbreak of last Christmas toward a new year, the wailing guitar at the end crying as if to say “Don’t go! Sorry about being a jerk!” Tough shiz guitar, we’re moving on.
Element of Crime – Last Christmas
This comes from their Fremde Ferden album that has a bunch of other great covers. You can find more on the German Amazon MP3 store or iTunes store.
Now listen and listen good…there is no such thing as too many 8-bit versions of “Last Christmas!” you hear me world?! Every time I hear one, I picture an old NES Christmas game of some sort, with Santa trying to save Christmas or something, this song being the level 4 background jam. And like all old NES games, the enemies are all ridiculous. Like evil chomping gift-wrapped presents or reindeer possessed, and when Santa hits them with a candy cane they snap-to-it and you get points and stuff. Someone make that please.
Active Knowledge – Last Christmas
Well I’ll be. If Clare and her Reasons aren’t the cutest sack of stocking stuffers this side of the Mississippi. While this cover is great, I don’t think it’s representative of how great they really are! While researching them, I came across their album, Arrow, great stuff! Cute lady singing her heart out and a Genesis cover. Can’t go wrong there. This track is good though; she’s pretty endearing, oh that Clare. This track was part of a free download their label Frog Stand offered last year, which if anyone knows how to find, please comment!
Clare and the Reasons – Last Christmas
Find them on Amazon
Pop Noir fancy themselves stars already I think. It’s a little off putting, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. They’re apparently a couple of uber-talented brothers who not only have an up and coming band, but are award-winning illustrators whose father did album covers for Joy Division! So of course it stands to reason that in their rise to the top, covering LC can only help. It did wonders for 
