20. The Roches – We Three Kings
album as velvety-smooth as eggnog. The highlight: Claudine Longet’s delicate confection of strings, acoustic guitar and breathy vocals, Snow.That most improbable of things: a post-punk Christmas album, that features Aztec Camera doing a Django Reinhardt-inspired instrumental, a selection of Factory Records alumni and San Franciscan oddballs Tuxedomoon. The Durutti Column’s implausibly beautiful Snowflakes is a standout.
This compilation earned its place in history by featuring the first track ever released by OutKast, Player’s Ball. The track, an ultra-funky saga of a harassed drug dealer’s Christmas Day, is undoubtedly the highlight, but TLC’s All I Want for Christmas and Toni Braxton’s classy take on The Christmas Song run it surprisingly close.A 42-track compilation that charts Stevens’ progress from shambolic folk-rocker to baroque pop mastermind.