A Very, Very Yellow Christmas, Yellowman (Ras)

Reggae and dancehall music fans know Yellowman, the albino DJ/toaster and recording artist who came out of Jamaica in 1979 and had released some 40 records in his homeland by 1982. This 1998 disc is a snapshot of the guy, but it's not much fun as Christmas music unless you know who he is. This is because he rewrites the lyrics of all the familiar tunes on here to make them self-referential, as in "Yellowman Is Coming To Town" or "Children Saw Mommy Kissing Yellowman." The lowlight in this regard is a halfhearted cover of Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas" that he "improves" in this manner without bothering to get the right chords for it. If you're down with the guy, be my guest, but most folks might be better served by somebody else's reggae Christmas music.