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Reggae Christmas, various artists (Tassa)

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regxm2.jpgFrom 1991, not a lot of surprises here. All the tunes are covers, with the possible exception of "Christmas Time is Here" by the Heptones; at least I didn't recognize it, anyway. The backing for Desi Roots' version of "The Christmas Song" is recycled for an instrumental version featuring saxophonist Dean Fraser. The soulful reggae takes of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" by Tiger and "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" by White Mice are interesting, and Judy Mowatt does a nice job with "Do You Hear What I Hear." A Christmas medley by the 809 Band kicks off the album and is kind of dull, but the group appears elsewhere on the album backing the vocalists.

reggae.jpgThe compilation is from 1992, but it's certain these performances are from the 1960s, the time when ska evolved into reggae. Among the artists are "The Wailers featuring Bob Marley," before the billing was turned around, along with The Heptones, Freddie McGregor, Alton Ellis, Tennessee Brown and the Silvertones and others. Most are traditional Christmas songs, but there are originals like "High Fashion Christmas," "Christmas Stylee," "Christmas in Jamaica" and "Irie Christmas." The sound quality is dated and the original tunes aren't that interesting, but the performances are good, and the album is a great capsule of musical history in the making.

A Reggae Christmas, various artists (Ras)

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rasxmas.jpgFrom 1988, this is a fairly straightforward grouping of artists from the Ras label doing Christmas songs. It's all classics and no originals, but there are a few imaginative takes on things. Eek-A-Mouse's "The Night Before Christmas," for example, uses the melody of "We Three Kings" to tell the popular story, and Peter Broggs deconstructs "Twelve Days of Christmas" into something a little more appropriate to the Jamaican worldview, complete with "roots and seeds." "Drummer Boy" is turned into a toasting vehicle by Michigan and Smiley, and all the artists on the record combine for the opener "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," contributing original lyrics to the familiar song. Freddie McGregor does an interesting take of "Feliz Navidad," although his "Come All Ye Faithful," along with "Jingle Bells" by Don Carlos and Glenice Spenser and "Joy to the World" by June Lodge, all have that "hypnotic" beat thing going, which can make them seem to drag. A short album, but not without its highlights.

taxixmas.jpgReggae fiends recognize the genre's premiere rhythm section, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, and producers going forward from the 70s and 80s, and Taxi is their imprint. They bring together a bunch of folks like The Tamlins, Nadine, Beres Hammond, Karen Smith and Junior Trinity Brammer to get right with the holiday. This gives a 1991 copyright date, but I'm guessing it's a little older than that. The album kicks off with a 22-minute medley of carols including "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," "I Saw Mammy Kissing Santa Claus," "Little Drummer Boy," "Rudolph," "Mary's Boy Child," "Sleigh Ride, "Deck the Halls," "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and "Everybody Loves Christmas," which is just toasting over "Jingle Bells." The Tamllins cover Wham's "Last Christmas," the Jackson Five's "Give Love on Christmas Day" with those 80s synth orchestra hits for rhythm and a swinging "White Christmas." Beres Hammond does a lilting "Christmas Song (Chestnuts)" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." The sound of the whole CD taken together is a little samey-samey despite the varied cast of characters, but this will keep the party going.

Natty and Nice, Various Artists (Rhino)

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natty.gifAnother Caribbean Christmas compilation, this one's from Rhino, the acknowledged leader in the field of holiday compilations. Selections included in this 1998 album cover 30 years' worth of music, from the ska era of the 60s to the ska era of the '90s. Oh, yeah, with reggae in between, of course. Famous names rub elbows with the less well-known, from Lee Perry and Toots & The Maytals to John Holt, the Trojans, Frankie Paul and Heavy Beat Crew. Gotta love the idea that "Santa Claus Is Skaing To Town" with the Granville Williams Orchestra and Bolivar's "Rudolf The Reggae Reindeer," and Holt reggaes up John and Yoko's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)." Can't have too much reggae and ska for Christmas, can we? This is way the hell out of print, as the third-party sale prices at Amazon will underline for you.
regxmas.jpgHere's another collection of 1960s reggae/ska Christmas tunes from 2001. Fewer than half of the tunes on this collection are classic carols, the rest are originals. There are no liner notes and no evidence of this CD's existence at the labels' websites, so I'm guessing these tunes were recorded in the 60s and possibly early 70s. An initial tip on this CD suggested some tunes were recently recorded, but I don't buy that. Anyway, there is some fairly entertaining stuff here. "Christmas Time Again" by Rueben Anderson, with its vibes and R&B rhythm, has the feeling of an American soul record of the Sixties. "Jingle Bells" by Studio Three is a more traditional Caribbean beat, "Christmas Parade" by Rupie Edwards wafts along on the then-emerging reggae beat, and the Granville Williams Orchestra asserts that "Santa Claus Is Ska-ing To Town." Alton Ellis and the Lipsticks kick off "Merry Merry Christmas" by arguing about the rent, Neville Willoughby whistles about "Christmas in J.A.," Desmond Dekker and the Aces do "Christmas Day" as a slow soul ballad, and you hear bits of dub technique on Johnny Clarke's "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," followed by the real thing when the Aggrovators take off on the exact same recording. John Holt reggaes up "Blue Christmas" real nice, but "White Christmas" by Jackie Edwards is a cheesy attempt at the Irving Berlin classic. It's a bit of a stretch to say that you'll want to hear all 21 tunes together, as the recording quality of a lot of these tunes was chintzy even for the time, but there are enough hits here that you won't mind the misses.
trojanbox.jpgThe folks at Sanctuary have been busy beavers since they acquired the rights to the Trojan catalog; if you have a full-service record store near you, you've probably seen a couple dozen different box sets from Trojan in your reggae section. (UPDATE: Sanctuary was absorbed by Universal in 2007, so I guess Universal holds the rights to Trojan now.) Naturally, there had to be one dedicated to Christmas reggae, and this 2003 collection is it. There aren't a lot of surprises here, though; a fair proportion of the 50 songs on this three-CD set have already been mentioned elsewhere on this site, an indication that these songs have been compiled and re-compiled over the years. "Santa Claus Is Ska-ing to Town" by the Granville Williams Orchestra, for example, turns up pretty often. Still, fans will recognize a lot of folks on here, like Desmond Dekker and the Aces, Eek-A-Mouse, The Ethiopians and Lee "Scratch" Perry, not to mention The Maytals, presumably including Toots. The collection fills itself out in part by giving several artists multiple entries, among them Yellowman, John Holt, Jacob Miller and Ray I and The Tamlins. This set stands out because of its informative liner notes, which place the recordings between the mid-60s and late 70s and give some background to the individual artists. Like previous compilations, the recording quality of individual songs is all over the map, although it sounds as if it has been remastered, at least to my ears. If you don't have a lot of reggae Christmas music, this might just fill that hole in your collection. Still downloadable, but the hardcopy version is out of print.
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