There are so many Christmas albums recorded each year it's difficult to keep track. But when it comes to Hanukkah, the songs aren't as mainstream. "The Dreidel Song" and Adam Sandler's "The Chanukah Song," are well-known, but few others quickly come to mind.
That might change with an album produced by Grammy-winning music supervisor Randall Poster, and featuring Haim, the Flaming Lips and Jack Black.
“With the collision of these artists and songs, I tried to create a spiritual reflection of one of the three big Jewish holidays,” Poster said in a statement. “How do you make something where each song is part of a whole? I built it piece by piece, artist by artist.”
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"Hanukkah+" will be released Nov. 22 via Verve Forecast, Rolling Stone reported, with a vinyl release on Dec. 13.
Haim — sisters Este, Danielle and Alana — will sing Leonard Cohen's "If It Be Your Will." Black contributes two original songs: "Oh Hanukkah" and "Chad Gadya (Passover Bonus)."
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Also on the album are Loudon Wainwright III, Moldy Peaches’ Adam Green, Holy Ghost’s Alex Frankel, Craig Wedren and Yo La Tengo.
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The collection was inspired in part, Rolling Stone reported, by Yo La Tengo’s annual eight-night concert series “Hanukkah Run.”
“When our old friend Randy Poster asked us to contribute to an album of Hanukkah songs he was putting together, we were kind of stumped,” Yo La Tengo said in a statement. “As non-practicing Jews (and non-Jews), truthfully the holiday has little meaning for us (that’s the meta joke behind Yo La Tengo’s Hanukkah shows), but we were open to inspiration. We thought maybe another friend, Sam Elwitt, could crack the code, and we think he did a fantastic job with his composition ‘Eight Candles.'”
The album is available for preorder here.
The “Hanukkah+” tracklist:
- Oh Hanukkah – Jack Black
- Dreidels Of Fire – Adam Green
- Eight Candles – Yo La Tengo
- If It Be Your Will – HAIM
- Sing It Now, Sing It Somehow – The Flaming Lips
- Hanukkah In '96 – Alex Frankel
- Give You Everything – Buzzy Lee
- Dedication – Tommy Guerrero
- Eight Nights A Week – Loudon Wainwright III
- Hanukkah Dance – Watkins Family Hour
- Sanctuary – Craig Wedren
- Chad Gadya (Passover Bonus) – Jack Black
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