With eight days left before Christmas, I wanted to spend today looking at several new Christmas albums on the shelves this season - perhaps a last minute gift guide for those who love Christmas music.
This is review number eight today - my final one for Review Tuesday.
You've probably never heard of this gentlemen so let me take a moment to introduce you to him. Larry Pestor is well known throughout the music and advertising scene of my hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana. This is a man who wrote and sold a radio jingle to Saudi Arabian Airlines right after the Iraq war began! And Larry don't speak Arabic!
I first became aware of Larry when an article was published in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette back in April of this year. The line of the article that stood out was "Pester will even turn your 78 rpm records into digital files for you."
Armed with a small stack of 78s, Larry has helped me immensely this year; the transfer of the "Dragnet" Christmas LP was done at his studio.
Larry has always had a desire to do a Christmas album and he finally stopped procrastinating about it this year. Recording it was no problem considering he was not only playing on the album but producing it.
There are ten tracks of standard Christmas music on this album. Nothing overblown, nothing pretentious, nothing that sounds bad. Larry handles the piano beautifully and adds guitars and synthesizer just at the right moments.
My favorite tracks are "Away In A Manger" (I know it's synth but it sounds like the musical glasses), "Angels We Have Heard On High", and "Joy To The World" has some of the best piano work I've heard in quite a while on any Christmas album.
In short, this is a very good Christmas album that deserves to be heard. In this day and age of the same 50 songs being played on Christmas radio, I would love to hear music like Larry's on the radio now and then.
You can spend $10 on an album like Neil Sedaka and get totally blindsided. Or you can spend $10 on an album from an artist who's poured some time, effort, and sweat into his project.
If you're interested in this album, check out his website. Tell him the Captain sent you...
With eight days left before Christmas, I wanted to spend today looking at several new Christmas albums on the shelves this season - perhaps a last minute gift guide for those who love Christmas music.
This is review number seven today and the third that arrived at my P.O. Box. A big thank you to Glenn Holmes from On Target Media for sending us this.
My wife has been watching me come home as of late with packages from Kasio Kristmas and Verve Remixed and dozens of homemade Christmas comps from friends and others alike. Her quote was "When do you get the GOOD Christmas music?"
The look on her face when I opened this package and this brand new Christmas CD fell out was one of total astonishment, joy, and excitement. She's a HUGE Amy Grant fan and I knew this was going to get played early and often on the CD boombox at my house.
Amy Grant released her first Christmas album when she was the Queen of Christian radio back in 1983 with "A Christmas Album". Several years later when she went mainstream, she released "Home For Christmas" in 1992. Then in 1998, we were treated with "A Christmas To Remember".
Now a fourth Christmas collection?
To quote Amy in her liner notes: "In The Christmas Collection, I've chosen my favorite songs from my earlier projects and added four new recordings." Aha! Those four new songs are:
TRACK REVIEWS:
1.) Jingle Bells (Track 1) A remake of Barbra Streisand's classic arrangement right down to Bab's vocal inflections. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery never sounded so good.
2.) I Need A Silent Night (Track 3) A great Christmas song that asks pertinent questions about the lost message of Christmas (fast forward to 0:35):
3.) Baby It's Christmas (Track 5) Written with husband Vince Gill (who plays guitar = bonus), this is a perfect "end of a Christmas day" song, full of the exhaustion and wonderment only these weeks before Christmas can bring.
4.) Count Your Blessings (Track 7) With the London Session Orchestra behind her, Amy sings Bing's song from the 1954 Irving Berlin movie "White Christmas". Lush and majestic.
If you don't own anything Christmas related by Amy Grant, this CD is a great collection for your archives. The four new Christmas songs are definite highlights - especially "I Need A Silent Night".
This one got my wife's endorsement - what more do you need?
With eight days left before Christmas, I wanted to spend today looking at several new Christmas albums on the shelves this season - perhaps a last minute gift guide for those who love Christmas music.
This is review number seven today and one of several that arrived at my P.O. Box. Thanks to Guy McCain and Jen Onsum of Luck Media & Marketing, Inc for sending these to us.
I had never heard of this group before I received these. So I went to the bio notes sent to me and the paragraphs that caught my eye were these:
"Mega-popular Minnesota based four-piece vocal group sets the industry standard taking care of business completely DIY.
"Without any major label backing, they've earned sales of over a million albums (CAPT'S NOTE: Damn!), a popular annual PBS Christmas special, more than 100 tour dates annually, and an appearance on "The Today Show".
Tonic Sōl-Fa began with Mark McGowan (baritone) and lead vocalist Shaun Johnson, who both attended St. John's University in 1996. Shortly after forming, the two auditioned for a local entertainment agency which helped jump-start the group's performance and appearance schedule. Greg Bannwarth (tenor) and Jared Dove (bass) joined soon after, completing the group.
They've released several Christmas CDs, the first being "Carol" in 1997. Their second Christmas album came in 2002 with the release of "Sugarüe" - click on the link to hear samples of the entire album.
Featuring eight standards and two original songs ("Joseph's Song" and "Snō" - wow!), this a great accapella album and Christmas to boot!
All their hard work led them to 2006 when they taped their PBS special and began to get some well-deserved recognition, garnering write-ups in Newsweek and MediaStyle magazine.
Thanks in large part to this special, a new companion CD entitled "Christmas" is available this season. I must admit I've never seen the special on my local PBS station but after hearing the crystal clear melodies and hearing the audience worked up into a frenzy, I'm checking the local listings.
I have hardly any accapella Christmas music in my collection. I now own these and I can't think of a better start.
With eight days left before Christmas, I wanted to spend today looking at several new Christmas albums on the shelves this season - perhaps a last minute gift guide for those who love Christmas music.
This is review number six today and the second that arrived at my P.O. Box. This one came from someone within the music industry who is a faithful reader and wished to remain anonymous. Thanks for thinking of me.
Verve Records was founded in 1956 by Norman Granz as a jazz label. Over the years it has been the home for jazz legends and young up-and-comers who became legends.
However, by the early 1970s, the label nearly folded completely, reduced to re-releasing older jazz albums and being sold off to one musical conglomerate to the next.
That changed in the mid-1980s when Verve was revived and began reissuing its back catalogue. The "Verve By Request" label began to reissue many original Verve bossa nova titles on CD in the late 1990s, and the Elite series revived many obscure albums which had languished for many years.
In 2002, we were introduced to the "Verve Remixed" compilation discs. Classic tracks by Verve artists are remixed by contemporary electronic music DJs. Seven releases later, they decided to put the "Verve Remixed" treatment to their Christmas catalog.
The end result is a mix of both good and bad. Hearing artists like Ella Fitzgerald made to sound like a pop princess, Louis Armstrong with a thumping bass behind him, and the legendary Billie Holiday to sound like a reggae queen is just plain wrong.
But... I listen nonetheless. I admire the new takes on the old classics. Anything that takes the same songs you've heard 50,000 times and gives it a new spin is worth a listen (although several remixes go on far too long).
Try to get your 10 or 15 year old to listen to the originals and you probably won't get far. Let them listen to this album and they just might get into it. Maybe they'll discover Ella, Louis, and the rest down the road like we did.
If that's what Verve's intentions were with this series, then I applaud them for trying to introduce the younger generations to the past. Then I flip the coin and think Verve is just recycling the catalog to squeeze more money out their cash cow - two years ago this December, they laid off 85% of their staff in a cost-cutting move.
In any case, you might want to listen to see if you want to buy this first. There is not one but two videos at YouTube to give you a feel for this album.
With eight days left before Christmas, I wanted to spend today looking at several new Christmas albums on the shelves this season - perhaps a last minute gift guide for those who love Christmas music.
This is my fifth review of today and the first CD that was sent to our P.O. Box earlier this month.
It arrived in a bubble mailer with very sloppy handwriting for the addresses which I found odd. When I opened it up, out slid an entirely black CD with this very cryptic message:
Since then, there's been an oversized white truck parked outside my house from time to time. What have I gotten myself into here?
The inside cover tells us only Casio instruments were used in this recording. For those technical people reading, their arsenal includes the SK-5, SK-1, VA-10, VL-Tone, Rapman, EP-10, PT-87, CZ-1, SA-21, TA-10, DH-100, Turbo Drive Calculator, Karate Fight, CG-610, DG-20, and PG-380 (no relation to PG-13 at the theaters - throwing out my bad pun book).
The 8-bit Peoples released a Christmas album a few years back that used old computer systems to produce Christmas music. However, the Kasio guys really improved on that theme with this album. The end result is a Christmas album that must be heard to be believed.
To that end, I found several YouTube videos that give you snippets of what their music is like. The visuals are something out of "Yo Gabba Gabba" that I watch with my kids now and then.
Some things just can't be explained...
Amazon.com is reporting at present that this CD is out of stock but you can still download the full album. You might want to check Kasio Kristmas' MySpace page for more info and extended listens.
Thanks for sending us the CD fellas and in the future, you might want to put a full return address on ... excuse me, there's a knock at the door...
With eight days left before Christmas, I wanted to spend today looking at several new Christmas albums on the shelves this season - perhaps a last minute gift guide for those who love Christmas music.
"Double Crown doesn't have a "Seasonal Favorites V3" for this Christmas (think 2009). However, a band on their label named King of Hawaii released a Christmas EP just in time for 2008. At $6, this might be the bargain of the season."
Recorded at the House of Rock in October, 2006, this EP has five tracks which allows me to do...
TRACK REVIEWS:
1.) Greensleeves Hawaiian surf flavored version of this traditional Christmas carol. Where's my sunblock?
2.) Feliz Navidad Surf guitarish with Latin flavor throughout... not bad from a group called "King of Hawaii"!
3.) Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy WOW! I'm not sure Tchaikovsky envisioned this song to be played by a rock group in creepy Groovy Ghoulies style-surf guitar but it works!
4.) Our Favorite (Christmas) Martian I thought this was the Ventures at first (something off their "Ventures In Space" album). Not heavy on Christmas but I don't mind one bit.
5.) Road Kill Christmas The ghost of Jerry Reed lives! Honky tonk surf guitar never sounded so goooooood!
This Christmas EP is flat out amazing - well worth the $6 and then some. I'm torn between "Feliz Navidad" and "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" as best tracks on the CD. Since I'm pressed for time today, I'll simply call them "co-winners".
According to the U.S. Post Office, Saturday December 20th is the final day to ship anything first class to get it to your home before Christmas. Head over the the Double Crown website and order your copy today!
This arrived at P.O. Box a week before our last yuleblog entry. When I retrieved this, the glow from the shiny metallic green bubble mailer greeted me. I stopped in the lobby of the post office to check my other mail and began to get people staring at me.
As I walked out of the post office, most of the eyes were transfixed on the bubble mailer. It was like watching the audience at a tennis match - every movement in sync, all eyes glued on the action.
The topper of it all was embossed on the shimmering green mailer. Next to the mailing address was an impressive wax seal with the band logo of Substance W!
Inside was the album you're looking at, a poster for the album, and a cover letter from one of its creators - Todd van Bronkhorst:
"I'm a 38 yr-old cubicle drone who's a musician in his spare time, who deprived himself of sleep for two years in order to produce a CD and take care of a new baby simultaneously. Got my friends to sing on it for me so I wouldn't have to. My goal was to make the most ridiculous and unexpected interpretations of these songs, and I think I succeeded."
Self-released on his Worst Kitchen Records label (I'm assured the website is coming), this album is available right now at Amazon.com either in CD or download form. By previewing one of the samples at Amazon, we could be in for quite a ride...
TRACK REVIEWS:
1.) O Xmas Tree (Hooked On Xmas Mix) What the..? It's 45 seconds long, electronica, add some Hanna-Barbera sound effects, ghastly tongue-in-cheek singing! Wow...
2.) Little Drummer Boy Hears Drums One of the singers does his best Elmo impersonation. Is that Pee-Wee Herman Christmas special music back there? Wayyy cool jazzy break! It's all over the place...
3.) Switched On Bethlehem Moooooooooooooog! Fake moog? Performed by Farty Gold's Casiophonic Orskaduh (?). Regardless, it's a great sounding track!
4.) O Xmas Tree (Midnight Martini Mix) This one's 36 seconds long... a swanky lounge reprise to track 1.
5.) Good King Wenceslas Starts off techno... then goes baroque... slides into country banjo... repeat and mix up those styles until the end. I'm getting a contact high just listening to what they were smoking!
6.) Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer A hip jazzy bongo beat makes way for Little Brenna Watson on the vocals. A super cool home recording, ya dig?
7.) O Xmas Tree (Dead Kringles Mix) Dead Kennedys... dead kringles... coincidence? 35 second long.
8.) Gloria In Excelsis Deo Roger Moore / James Bond background music sung by someone with a bad Indian accent? I'm gettin' dizzy...
9.) Jingle Jingle Jingle Holy hannah... a country beat with Leonard Cohen-style vocals. I'm a 1/3 of the way into this album and drunk from all these sounds-n-styles.
10.) God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen One singer keeps up with a madman armed with a runaway Casio keyboard.
11.) O Xmas Tree (Slap My Bass Mix) Funky, funky, FUNKY reprise... 40 seconds long. That bass sounds awfully "Seinfeld"-ish.
12.) We Three Kings Ambient instrumental track from The Audreyland Studio Orchestra which slides into klezmer style music, then hard rock - I'm not making this up!
13.) O Xmas Tree (A Purpler Shade of Plum Mix) Electric harpsichord reprise... 36 seconds long. Where can this go now? Dare I ask?
14.) A Stranger Manger Clearly inspired by Tim Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas" (of which I'm not a fan of at all). Next...
15.) Greensleeves Oompah band beat with whistling that would make Muzzy Marcelino or Fred Lowery sit up and take notice.
16.) A Visit From St. Nicholas A retelling of "The Night Before Christmas" with great background music and Hanna-Barbera sound FX! I wouldn't be surprised if this song ends up on Cartoon Network with appropriate animation at Christmas time in the future!
17.) O Xmas Tree (Yussel Rabinovitch Mix) GREAT JUMPIN' ICEBERGS!!! Sung in the style of and named for the character Neil Diamond plays in his 1980 remake of "The Jazz Singer", this is hysterically funny! I had to stop and take a breather. LMAO!
18.) Silver And Gold Murry Wilson lives! After a three minute rambling rant (lots of yuks), we get a nice rendition... or do we?
19.) It Came Upon The Midnight Clear Our Leonard Cohen singer is back. Sung straight with plenty of feeling that you don't mind the tempo or musical changes.
20.) O Xmas Tree (Goldfish in the Heels Mix) Hip-hop / R&B reprise. 36 seconds long. Word to your other...
21.) Christmastime Is Here The first 2:30 is a mix of rock and electronica. The night shift comes in and jazzes it up to Vince Guaraldi levels - appropriate for one of his songs.
22.) We're A Couple Of Misfits What if Rudolph and Hermie the Elf went punk? It would sound like this...
23.) Silent Night Violin duo to start surrounded by a pond of croaking frogs. It wanders around experimentally then goes back to the violins. Haunting version.
24.) O Xmas Tree (Monkey Like Banana Mix) Exotica / reggae-ish reprise... 55 seconds long.
25.) O Come All Ye Faithful Someone pulled out a scratchy copy of Neil Diamond's first Christmas album... laffin uncontrollably here.
26.) Jingle Bells A group gathering with more musical styles crammed into 3:13 that's allowed by law. My sides ache...
27.) O Xmas Tree (Auf Deutsch Mix) OMG... who let Hasselhoff on this album? I demand my money back... wait, I got this free and it's 48 seconds long. Never mind.
28.) Auld Lang Syne (Bonus track) Secretly recorded at the album wrap party I'd wager. I feel like it's New Year's Eve, I've downed three bottles of champagne, and never brought to miiind... should old acquaintance...
In the nearly three years of writing at this blog, I have been guilty many times for being over exuberant in my praise of Christmas music. I would guess that about 95% of the reviews on this blog have been effusively positive, sometimes bordering on fanatical.
I'm guessing the average listener of Christmas music won't be as stimulated as Christmas music enthusiasts will be at the depth of this album. For many of us, we've heard "Jingle Bells" or "Rudolph" played ad nauseum in one style of music (rock, jazz, hip-hop, etc.). On occasion, we heard Christmas songs with two or three different styles within the same song.
This album changes styles on a whim - veering in many directions with the view outside the window a blur. Dark one moment, disgustingly cheerful the next, downright silly soon after, perhaps back to the beginning, or maybe not.
Like the weather in Chicago, if you don't like what you hear on this album, wait a moment. There are no rules, no format, no parameters - everything is written on an Etch-A-Sketch with the only requirement being a fun wild ride. This is the musical equivalent of a roller coaster ride and the effects of an hour ride are just wearing off.
This is one long, strange trip of a Christmas album... and man, it was FUN!
Thank you Todd for sending this. Congratulations on getting all those tunes and ideas from your dream stage to reality with this project. I will be hearing tracks from this album on dozens of homemade Christmas comps for the next 10 years.
This week I'm showcasing submissions that were sent to my P.O. Box and this CD landed there last Friday - talk about great timing.
Pop quiz: Who holds the record for most consecutive Billboard Club #1 hits?
Mariah Carey? Good guess but no. Christina Aguilera? Not even close. Janet Jackson? She once held the record. Madonna? She was tied with Janet (seven in a row). In 2004, the artist you are looking at tied both Madonna and Janet, then broke the record the following year with her club hit "The Wonder of It All".
Kristine W is a fourth generation entertainer originally from Pasco, Washington. She won several titles along the way - Miss Tri-Cities, Miss Washington (where she won first place in the all important talent competition at the Miss America pageant), and eventually ended up in Las Vegas.
She continued her education there, worked harder than anyone else there, and wowed everyone with her amazing singing talent there. This led to headlining her own show at the Las Vegas Hilton, winning several "Las Vegas Entertainer Of The Year" awards.
Earlier this year, Kristine was officially sanctioned as the entertainer who has performed more live shows than anyone in the entire history of the Las Vegas Hilton - this includes Elvis Presley, who called the Hilton home during the 1970s.
This past summer, while recording her new "Power Of Music" album, Kristine wanted to record a Christmas album. She teamed up with Love to Infinity, a noted UK award-winning songwriting and production team, to help record two original Christmas songs written by Kristine ("Everyday's A Holiday" and the title track). She shut down production on her other album to devote all of her energies to this album.
That's what the notes that accompanied this album wanted me to share.
I must admit I am not a huge club / dance type of guy - never have been. Until this arrived in my mailbox, I had absolutely no clue who Kristine W was. I went online to see some of Kristine's videos to get a feel for her type of music:
Flashy, pulsating, quick-cuts. Great vocal quality. I had to shut this down after about 1 minute in.
Still, I haven't heard the CD - which is what I usually try to do whenever I review an album here. Many times as I type, I listen to the album for the first time. It's the only way I can stay objective after writing paragraphs of back story on the person or group I'm reviewing. Soooo...
TRACK REVIEWS:
1.) Mr. Christmas "Hey Mr. Christmas? Where's my baby?" Cue the massive dance-beat and we're off and running. Despite the lyrics, this is more club than Christmas.
2.) Everyday's A Holiday I had to check twice to see if this was track one - they almost sound identical. I can envision the club lights and the dance floor - where's the snow? The tinsel? The Christmas?
3.) Hard Candy Christmas A club version of Dolly Parton's signature Christmas song? Believe it or not, this works!
4.) Oh Holy Night I was skeptical at first - but Kristine pulls it off. This might be the best track on the album.
5.) Mary, Did You Know? This standard could have lost something in the translation but the message stays intact - holds up after repeated listenings.
6.) Favorite Things "Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens..." I don't consider this a Christmas song (while many others do). It's a jazzy version nonetheless.
7.) Wonder Of It All (featuring Jim Brickman) This is an unplugged remake of one of Kristine's dance hits. Brickman is great (as usual) but Kristine's voice fills the vacated spaces usually filled in by pulsating beats.
I want to like this album and there are several songs that I will to listen to again. There's a lot of energy in this album - most of which comes from the club beats and the multi-layered vocals. Kristine puts every ounce of her soul into these tracks and it comes across like a spotlight in a darkened room.
However, most of the album doesn't work for me - I want a Christmas album to radiate that special spirit that only Christmas songs emote. Most of the spirit found on "O Holy Night" and "Hard Candy Christmas" doesn't come through on the remaining tracks.
This is a club album with a Christmas theme, not a Christmas album with a club theme - big difference.
If you are into club music, then this might be the perfect album to take to your upcoming holiday raves and club nights. This album is available exclusively at Borders Books & Music and will drop on iTunes on Tuesday, December 2nd.
Thanks Kristine for sending the album, congrats on the career, and being a leukemia survivor for five years!
This was another CD that was sent to my P.O. Box last Christmas that I never found the time to review and as a result, I probably will never get into "the Happiest Place On Earth" in my lifetime. With Christmas, 2008 five weeks off, this is good a time as any to review it for people on the lookout for overlooked Christmas CDs.
The Double Down Saloon in Las Vegas has been voted one of America's top "dive bars" by Playboy Magazine and has been featured on televisions shows like Dave Attell's "Insomniac" and Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations". Last year, they teamed up with Wood Shampoo Records (also of Las Vegas) to release this comp at Christmas time.
According to the accompanying notes that came with this CD:
"On any given hour at the Double Down, you are as likely to find business types unwinding as you are jaded hipsters downing shots. 'Merry X-Mas Dammit' is much like the saloon itself, a genre blending a mix of punk, lounge, honky-tonk, noise, and more."
As Casey Kasem would say... "On with the countdown!"
TRACK REVIEWS:
1.) Murphy's Law - Sock It To Me Santa Shades of Fishbone! A funky throwback song that grabs your attention right out of the gate!
2.) The Objex - Pastramikah The band keeps it foot on the throttle and never lets up - all about a new end of the year holiday.
3.) Lonesome Spurs - Jingle Bells A simple yet hardly plain rockabilly version - great singing and amazing guitar work throughout!
4.) Richard Cheese - Christmas In Las Vegas "Rudolph sold the sled, now he's betting on red..." Loungey, Christmasey original from RC. Check out my review of his "Silent Nightclub" album!
5.) The Dirty Panties - Santa Baby A punk version of Eartha Kitt's famous Christmas song? With an all-girl punk/garage band, it not only works but it plain kicks ass. Early vote for favorite song on the album.
6.) The Las Vegas All-Stars - X-Mess Medley Hard-rocking garage medley of "Deck The Halls", "Jingle Bells", "Joy To The World", "O Christmas Tree", "O Come All Ye Faithful", "Silent Night", a snippet of "The Twelve Days of Christmas", and "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" - this is epic!
7.) Peccadilloes - Nuttin' For Christmas Forget Smash Mouth - this is the meanest, gnarliest, and most savage version of this song out there! Wow!
8.) Evil Beaver - Blue Christmas Originally from Chicago, IL (now based in L.A.), this hip version soon turns edgy and rockin'... Be sure to check out their excellent 2001 Christmas album.
9.) Bomboras - The Little Drummer Boy GREAT JUMPIN' ICEBERGS! This instrumental ranks up there with Dick Dale and The Ventures! Man, o man!
10.) The Vermin - Santa Was A Cross Dressing Nazi That's the beautiful thing about punk - you can't match its attitude! This is angry at 100 MPH and I loved every second of it!
11.) 1/2 Ast - Gay Christmas The spirit of The Descendents is alive and well with this band. Exactly 1 minute and 1 second long, it's a musical rant from start to finish.
12.) The Clydesdale - Imo Shoot Me A Reindeer "Hey look, up there in the sky! It's Santa Claus!" "WHERE?" =gunshot= This semi-rockabilly song had me chortling from that opening line until the ending... what a tune!
13.) Sparkler Dims - Xmas Time At The Double Down Celebrating the holidays at "The Happiest Place On Earth"... good rocking song with lots of DD references!
14.) 2 Cents Worth - I'll Be Home For Christmas A good garage version of this one. This was the only band I couldn't find a MySpace page for... are they still together?
15.) Suite 666 - Santa Blow Me Another great Christmas punk original showcasing their displeasure with Santa. Fabulous punk sound.
16.) The Real Shames - Santa Claus A great garage cover of The Sonics' great garage Christmas song.
17.) Thee Swank Bastards - Carol Of The Bells / God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Another great instrumental - heavy on the mood with the right touch of guitars!
After hearing this again, I must make an appointment with my family doctor to have my head examined. I must have a brain tumor or something that forced me not to listen to this last year. This is one damn good comp!
Fear not, this comp is still available to download at Amazon.com. Or you can get an actual CD copy from CDBaby. This collection of Christmas tunes will make any Christmas music lover sit up and take notice.
There's not one song that I didn't like in the entire bunch and I can listen to this repeatedly without getting bored - the true mark of a great Christmas CD. Thanks for sending it to us and I hope I won't get shanked if I ever visit the Double Down.
Last year around this time, this CD found its way to me via my PO Box. Regrettably, my schedule last Christmas prevented me from giving it a proper review before last Christmas. So I decided to review it now and point the spotlight their way before this Christmas (you can never go wrong buying a Christmas music aficionado a Christmas punk album).
This isn't the first time with these Punx (and I say that in the nicest possible way). Back in January of 2007, I reviewed their smashingly good "It's What I Got In My Sack" album. I concluded at that time that "every Christmas music collection should have at least one punk Christmas CD to shake things up now and then (or to purposely annoy that neighbor with the obnoxious Christmas display)."
Well, there's no Christmas lights up next door (yet) and I do like our neighbors. So it must be time to shake things up.
Recorded and released in 2007, this album (according to the release that accompanied the CD) is an exercise in variations of styles; from Butt Rock to Garage to PsychoBilly. It also captures for posterity their very first live concert ever in the form of 27 bonus tracks!
These guys are great with the studio tracks (1-6) and raucous, extreme, and even charming live on stage (8-33). They grab ahold of your favorite Christmas songs and give it the full punk treatment. The end result is a loud, listenable new take on Christmas - and it's all good!
I especially enjoyed hearing their onstage banter (see the video above) and their original Christmas song (It's What I Got In My Sack") played live. They also had a wonderful poem written by Angela Yesson before the concert tracks that detailed how the Punx prepped for their first gig.
I hope the Punx continue appearing live and make more albums. Any band that has Santa give out gifts at a gig then jump into a mosh pit is uniquely special:
I'm pushing the other Jingle Punx albums higher on my Santa wish list. Here's hoping St. Nick will be in a punk music sort of mood when he fills my sack this Christmas!
Sorry this took a year to review Doug, Steve O., Rico, Eric, and D.K. - I promise next time I won't make you wait so long.
This is the last of four Christmas CDs that I received at our P.O. Box by someone in the music industry.
When this arrived in early December, my first thought was "Wow! That's some impressive homemade compilation!" It came attached with a handwritten note that read:
"Hey Capt - Thanks for giving "Snowflake" props! I love that record! DBryk"
During the mad rush of the 2006 downloading season, this CD regrettably got lost in the shuffle and I didn't give it the full attention it deserves until now.
Dan Bryk is an "indie-rock" singer slash songwriter originally from Toronto, Canada, and currently based in the sprawling Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill (“Triangle”) North Carolina music scene.
Growing up, Dan's musical influences were Elvis Costello, Burt Bacharach, and Randy Newman (I thought I sensed a Newman connection). He's been recording for nearly 12 years since his first album "Dan Bryk - Asshole" was released in 1995. He's released two other full-length albums, two EPs, and a handful of singles on various compilations. For the past five years, he's been recording out of his home studio cleverly called Flabby Road.
The inspiration for his album came last year when he recorded an original Christmas tune entitled "Love Me For Christmas" for his MySpace site (included on the album). The song has several Raleigh, NC references and the recording engineer who mastered the song noticed and the idea for a Raleigh artist-based Christmas CD to benefit local Raleigh schools was born.
Bryk went back into the studio to rerecord the song (can't have them swear words in there so the high school kids could hear, now can we?) and planned on releasing the new song on iTunes for the out of towners. However, Bryk thought one song wasn't enough and soon he had enough material for a Christmas EP.
"And as I started recording," Bryk told to me in an e-mail, "I realized I had some more original Christmas songs to record, and things just kind of snowballed into this weird little Christmas record."
To paraphrase Linus in 'A Charlie Brown Christmas', "it's not such a bad little [record]".
TRACK REVIEWS:
1.) Love Came Down For Christmas A new take on the old theme of being lonely at Christmas - never can have too many of those.
2.) Cozy Evenings "I'm six weeks overdue... and I'm already over you, dear" - Now that's a lyric you'll never hear in a Christmas song - until now! With some help from Erin McGinn on vocals, this is perhaps the best track on the album (also Dan's fave).
3.) Great Adventure A catchy tune about a road trip that's extremely long... Not sure what it has to do with Christmas.
4.) Hard Candy Christmas I'd normally associate this song with Dolly Parton... Dan picked a good song and made it better!
5.) Winter Sad A song about the melancholy that winter inevitably brings after Christmas ends - an excellent song!
6.) Simple Stupid Song Very Newmanesque song about reaching the plateau of age 30. Not Christmas but still good!
7.) Christmas Ballad A talk between Dan and Jesus in a 6:04 song... Quite revealing.
8.) Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow A great arrangement on an old standard. Great help from Erin again.
9.) Cozy Evenings (alternate take/dance mix?) / Love Came Down For Christmas (alternate take?) Two different versions on this 10 minute track. The "Cozy Evenings" track takes on a whole new life with the uptempo back beat! "Love Came Down" sounds more concise in this version - edited maybe?
10.) Nine seconds of silence... unless Dan took a hint from Paul McCartney and recorded something for dogs on this track!
Be sure to check out the official Dan Bryk web site, the old "lazy-ass" (his words) Dan Bryk web site, and the official Dan Bryk MySpace page (see link above to hear "Cozy Evenings").
Something else you should know about Dan that he confided in me - he has an expensive Japanese iced coffee fetish, plays a mean game of Scattergories, and is 5'9" after a good night of sleep.
A pretty solid album with some good Christmas tunes to boot! Thanks for sending us the CD Dan!
UP NEXT: 22 new Christmas CDs I either bought or received as a gift! We look at gift number one!
This was the third Christmas CD sent to our P.O. Box by someone in the music industry.
Sean of Double Crown Records contacted us here at the yuleblog on November 3rd in a comment page:
"My label, Double Crown Records, has just reissued a Christmas CD that I put out 6 years ago. Do you ever do CD reviews? If so, I'd love to send a copy to you."
He left a long description of the album and where to buy it at which I felt was using my site to help sell his album. I removed the comment from the yuleblog, e-mailed my reasons for doing so stating "that I would give a fair, objective review" upon receiving the CD.
Sean agreed and sent the CD to us... It arrived and I promptly reviewed it at FaLaLaLaLa last year:
"Back in 2000, Double Crown Records released this CD that featured sixteen Christmas songs done by various surf n’ garage bands. The CD proved so popular that it sold out its entire first pressing. Six years later, it’s back! The folks at Double Crown Records have reissued this gem and added three BONUS tracks - fourteen instrumentals and five vocal tracks in total!
"The music is tip-top-notch - not a clunker to be heard in this set! Several of the groups listed here (The Boss Martians, The Firebirds, The Ebineezer Scrooge Appreciation Society) are in fine form and you’ll find yourself tapping your toes or riding a wave in your mind when you listen! If you’re a fan of surf, garage, or Christmas, this compilation is for you!
"This CD (with some great artwork from the one and only Johnny Bartlett) would make a great double bill along side your copies of "The Ventures Christmas Album" or "A Christmas Gift To You From Phil Spector".
"Give this one as a Christmas present - either to someone who loves Christmas music or to yourself. Don’t wait another six years!"
There's something that I haven't said about this CD since I first reviewed it. What Sean and the rest of you don't know is that surf guitar music is a guilty pleasure for me. This goes back to one of my first purchases ever on compact disc in 1991 - the legendary "Ventures Christmas Album".
I've practically worn this CD out. Thank goodness I can still order another copy!
UP NEXT: Let me take you down cause I'm going to... Flabby Road?
This was the second Christmas CD sent to our P.O. Box by someone in the music industry.
The Jingle Punx started out as a joke between friends that quickly became a under the radar band that has released FIVE full Christmas punk albums.
This led to a cult following on the web via their own website and their MySpace site, having their music played on MTV's "Laguna Beach", FX's "Nip/Tuck", and a recent blast over the German TV airwaves!
I reviewed this CD over at FaLaLaLaLa last year and to quote:
"From the first notes of their bodyslamming version of "Joy To The World" to the gritty voice of Ana Isabel (of the band Goodbye Gadget) singing "Santa Baby" to a remarkable cover of Run DMC’s classic "Christmas In Hollis", the Punx never forget rule number one: have fun while rocking it out.
"That rule comes blaring across your speakers in full throttle!
"Every Christmas music collection should have at least one punk Christmas CD to shake things up now and then (or to purposely annoy that neighbor with the obnoxious Christmas display). You can’t go wrong with this album on that front."
Whenever I sit here to write a review - usually in the mornings as my three year old daughter sleeps in - I usually pop the CD into the computer and listen to it as I type. When the Punx CD went in, I had to lower the volume. I was not just afraid of awakening my daughter but the whole neighborhood in general!
I'm listening to the second song on their CD: a cover of the Beach Boys insipid Christmas song "The Man With All The Toys". In their hands, the Punx have created a version of the song not only that I actually like but plain kicks ass while doing it!
Found the title track on YouTube:
Thanks to Steve, Eric, Doug, D.K., and Rico for sending me a fun, fantastic, rockin' Christmas CD! I've already added your other four CDs to my Santa list!
UP NEXT: Double your pleasure, double your fun with Doublemint... no, Double Crown!
For the remainder of this holiday week, I will be featuring CDs that I received at my P.O. Box from professionals in the music industry. This was the very first to arrive - back in early November of last year.
A staff member (whose name I shall protect like Bob Woodward did for Deep Throat) for Filter Magazine decided to send me a promo copy of this CD - thank you for your generosity!
I had already purchased this CD when it arrived on shelves last October (my wife willingly gave me money to buy this one - WOW!). Upon seeing the second CD arrive in the mail, my wife claimed her very own copy.
This was also one of the CDs I had a chance to review over at FaLaLaLaLa a few weeks ago. To quote:
"She waited three years to record a new album. Thankfully for all of us, it was a Christmas album!
"The twelve Christmas songs get the full McLachlan / Pierre Marchand treatment - ambient echoes, soft distortion, folk & tribal elements, the piano and astounding voice of Sarah’s. McLachlan’s version of Joni Mitchell’s "River" might be the best version out there. And Vince Guaraldi’s "Christmas Time Is Here" with Diana Krall on piano is a must listen.
"My wife has played this one constantly since I purchased this in October. I keep hearing new elements and it gets better with every playing."
One of my new year's resolutions is to get better with the fact checking:
My wife pointed out to me that this is Sarah's first STUDIO album in three years. She's released two live albums - "Afterglow Live" (2004) and the recently released "Mirrorball - The Complete Concert" (2006) which also came from our secret friend from Filter (thanks again)! I still don't know what "Mirrorball" looks like but all the reports from my wife's place of business tell me it's good!
My wife also informs me that "Song For A Winter's Night" - Sarah's first holiday related song from 1994 - is on the album as well. If you're looking for her duet of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen + We Three Kings" with the Barenaked Ladies, it's not on this album (although Jim Creegan from BNL plays double bass throughout the album).
How can I close this out? Well, my wife is still listening to this one and I'm still not tired of it yet. Sarah has made a great Christmas album.
UP NEXT: Who invited these Punx over for Christmas?
