For those of you not down with "Family Guy," Cleveland is Peter's black friend, now the star of his very own spinoff half-hour on the Fox network. I'm guessing there's no need to explain who Earth Wind and Fire are, though this song is more from the "Family Guy" world than EWF's. I doubt there's much explanation needed of the title or lyrics to this song, but as obvious as it is it's also fairly entertaining, which now that I think of it is the appeal of the two TV shows mentioned here.Recently in Soul/R&B Category
For those of you not down with "Family Guy," Cleveland is Peter's black friend, now the star of his very own spinoff half-hour on the Fox network. I'm guessing there's no need to explain who Earth Wind and Fire are, though this song is more from the "Family Guy" world than EWF's. I doubt there's much explanation needed of the title or lyrics to this song, but as obvious as it is it's also fairly entertaining, which now that I think of it is the appeal of the two TV shows mentioned here.
As near as I can tell, this 2009 EP is this artist's first-ever musical release, and it's pretty entertaining; an r'nb-funk look at the holidays by a sexy, and sex-obsessed, singer. Hanukkah actually takes the lead here, if the single "My Menorah" is anything to go by. Plenty of single-entendres -- "I'll hot-oil you up and dance like a hora" -- and the chorus "My menorah, light me up for eight nights at a time," all done in a slow-jams tempo. "Single Bells" takes things to the dance floor, when she hangs "a disco ball on the Christmas tree," then she announces "I Hung a Mistletoe" in her cleavage. Topping off the collection is "Ball Drop," a New Year's tune with a bit of Cameo's "Word Up" in the tempo and a lot of exhibitionism in the lyrics. At her website, her bio namechecks Betty Davis as an influence, and you'll note I didn't link to the famous actress there -- the Betty referenced here was a former wife of Miles Davis who recorded risque tunes in the 70s. Check out "My Menorah" here:
Old-school soul music is beloved of so many folks that it's hard to believe there's much in the way of anything from that era that hasn't found its way into the marketplace. And yet, the good folks at Strut Records tell us they have unearthed a bunch of obscure gems, all soul and funk, all Christmas-oriented. Not being a collector's scene expert, I'll let their claim stand, though the comments are available for those who have something to add on the topic. I will say the only people on this album I even recognize are bluesman Jimmy Reed and the Harlem Children's Choir. The 13 tunes on this collection are all from the 60s and 70s, and it doesn't take a recording expert to tell these tunes were put down quite a while ago. I won't claim these are indispensable classics, but they sure are fun to listen to. Electric Jungle's "Funky Funky Christmas" has a bit of War's "Me and Baby Brother" in it, and "Let's Get It Together For Christmas" by the Harvey Averne Band has quite the slinky beat itself. "Gettin' Down For X-mas" by Milly and Silly (really!) features wah-wah rhythm guitar of a kind that might remind you of porn soundtracks if not for the Christmas melodies played on bells. The Soul Saints Orchestra come to tell us that "Santa's Got a Bag of Soul," in an arrangement that wouldn't sound out of place on a James Brown disc. The Funk Machine imagines a "Soul Santa" "with black kinky hair," while J.D. McDonald tells us about "Boogaloo Santa Claus." The Jimmy Reed tune, "Christmas Present Blues," is a take on the funky blues, and the Harlem Children's Choir offers a ballad, "Black Christmas," about a holiday among the poor. The album doubles up on New Year's bonuses with Jimmy Jules going all Barry White on "New Year," followed by The Black On White Affair doing a big band jam on "Auld Lang Syne." All told, an interesting collection for those who like to delve into pop music history. You may want the physical disc, as I downloaded this only to discover I did myself out of what are supposed to be extensive liner notes.
Mishon, last name Ratlif, is one of the stars of ABC Family's "Lincoln Heights," and he's intent on parlaying his TV audience into a musical following. He's offering this modern r'nb hit for 2009, a midtempo soul ballad. He sneaks a little overt auto-tune in there, despite the current vogue for bad-mouthing that technique. This is a good tune, and it bodes well for a wider music career.
Swamp Dogg, aka Jerry Williams, may be best known for this album cover, but he's got a long career as a songwriter and producer for soul and country artists. His success is probably more due to his behind-the-scenes work, as his records under his nom-de-canine are quirky outings, too outre for soul fans, though some rock folks have unearthed tunes of his like "Total Destruction to Your Mind." This 2009 disc is right in the tradition of previous Swamp Dogg albums, in which he creates old-school soul songs with titles designed to grab attention. Like the title song, which goes on to be a fairly conventional lost-love lament about pursuing another man's wife unsuccessfully. Probably the most attention-grabbing title is "Santa's Just a Happy Fat Fart," a gospelly tribute to the man in red designed to make you laugh. "Santa Claus Has Fallen In Love" kicks things off nicely with the story of a randy old elf. "What Christmas Means To Me" is a Dogg original, not the Stevie Wonder song, and it's a slow ballad about holiday verities. Given the title, you may be surprised to find that most of the album is like this song, fairly straight 60s-70s soul takes on classics like "Jingle Bells," "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," "Silent Night" and "Away in a Manger," along with originals based mainly on familiar themes. But I'll give him credit for a fairly rocking take on "Silent Night," not the usual slow-tempo rendition. How you feel about old-school soul will probably color your reaction to this album, but it definitely has its moments.
Joe, who drops his surname Thomas for his recording career, has been around for quite a while, with a number of R'nB hits to his name like "Don't Want to Be a Player" and "All the Things Your Man Won't Do." He's dueted with Mariah Carey and he's also pals with the Wayans family, which has resulted in a number of his songs being placed in their movies. This EP, billed as a Target exclusive for 2009, features half a dozen tunes, including two Joe originals, "It Ain't Christmas" and the title tune. The approach throughout is balladry, with jazz-influenced arrangements, well done but with no real surprises and no uptempo interludes to liven things up. Along with Joe's originals we get his versions of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)" and David Foster's "Grown Up Christmas List." UPDATE: Apparently Joe's not sticking with Target this year; this same disc, extended to 10 songs, is being issued on iTunes as Home Is the Essence of Christmas. The additional songs are "Christmas in New York," "Christmas Time Here," "I'll Be Home For Christmas" and an instrumental of "Have Yourself."
Old-school soul music never goes away, does it? This 2008 single by this great ensemble from Brooklyn could have been on the original Atlantic Soul Christmas album from the 60s -- it would certainly fit better than say, Luther Vandross did on the CD-era reissue. A nice mid-tempo ballad about the joys of the holiday, and Tre sings the heck out of it.
This is a 2008 re-release of a 2006 EP with additional songs from the roster of this gospel and R'nB label. I'm just catching up to it this year, and well, this sucker just makes me smile. It's old-school soul music of the 60s variety, less like Motown and more like Stax. I got a little confused trying to identify the title song, as there are two versions of "It's Christmas" by Rick Lawson and O.B. Buchana, but the real title song is "It's Christmas Baby" by Ms. Jody, more of a big-band blues number in which we are invited to jingle the singer's bells. Yeah, we get a lot of those single-entendres here, but that's a feature, not a bug. Just check out "I Need a Man Down My Chimney" by Barbara Carr, Sheba Potts-Wright on "I Need a Lover For Christmas," or the return of Ms. Jody on "Humping Santa," the latter set to an Al Green beat. Lee Shot Williams also has only one thing on his mind when he sings "I Ate Too Much Over the Holidays." If a soul Christmas gets your Yule log burning (now there's a double-entendre), you need this collection.
If Darlene never did anything but sing on Phil Spector's A Christmas Gift To You she'd still be Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame material. Though she's popped up occasionally over the years doing everything from duetting with Ronnie Spector for A Very Special Christmas to acting in the "Lethal Weapon" movies, from singing the "Saturday Night Live" comedy short "Christmastime For the Jews" to performing a Christmas song with the E Street Band, she's been way overdue for a sequel to the Spector album. Well folks, this 2007 set is it. All props to producers Shawn Amos and Kevin Killen for showcasing her historic voice against a strong and eclectic selection of contemporary Christmas tunes. You could pick any record producer out of the phone book who would take one look at Darlene and drop a bunch of strictly R'nB covers on her along with gospelized versions of classic carols -- and face it folks, we'd probably be grateful for that. But Amos and Killen give us a more imaginative selection. Obvious soul covers like "Please Come Home for Christmas" and "What Christmas Means to Me" join with less obvious ones like the Staple Singers' "Who Took the Merry Out of Christmas?" and James Brown's "Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto" to play against Christmas tunes from the rock world like Tom Petty's "Christmas All Over Again," the Band's "Christmas Must Be Tonight," Billy Squier's "Christmas is the Time to Say I Love You" and John and Yoko's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)." Darlene, of course, has the talent to pull this off. She takes XTC's "Thanks For Christmas" to church, adds some soul to NRBQ's "Christmas Wish" and remakes the Pretenders' stately "2,000 Miles" with just a hint of jazz. The whole thing wraps up with an original ballad, "Night of Peace."
The R'nB Christmas sector has been pretty assembly-line to my ears in recent years, so it's way past time a true original in the field stepped up to the eggnog ladle. Bootsy Collins, formerly leader of Bootsy's Rubber Band, teamed up with boutique label Shout! Factory to bring us his vision of a funky Christmas for 2006, getting together with former members of the Rubber Band and P-Funk, plus Bobby Womack, his brother Catfish, Roger Troutman, Snoop Dogg (on "Happy Holidaze") and Charlie Daniels (really, fiddle on "Sleigh Ride"). It's like he never left, with his unique voice, "space bass" and cast of thousands putting the beat to a collection of popular carols and originals. The dozens of Merry Christmas shout-outs between and during songs do get a little old, but it's worth having just for Bootsy re-imagining his big smash "I'd Rather Be With You" as a Christmas song with Troutman's help. Other originals include "N-Yo-City," "Happy Holidaze" with Snoop's rapping and the title song, which is a bit of a muddle. An imaginative take on "Merry Christmas Baby" is a highlight, and of course no R'nB artist is allowed to make a Christmas CD unless one of the songs is "This Christmas," which here is a fine performance of a classic tune. The old-school carols also get unique names, like "Chestnutz" for "The Christmas Song," "Boot-Off" for "Rudolph," and "Jingle Belz" for, oh, you know. Definitely a season highlight.
The self-professed king of the slow jams gets on the Christmas tip for 2007 with this nine-song CD full of, wait for it, slow-jam Christmas songs. Only the evergreen "The Christmas Song" is a traditional carol, the rest are originals, three of which Sweat co-wrote. Not surprisingly, there's not a lot of variability in tempo or approach -- "Party Christmas" and "Once a Year" are just slightly more uptempo than the rest -- but Sweat does a pretty good job of selling this material. "Point of Christmas" is the "reason for the season" track on this CD, and "Under the Tree" is the makeout song. Near as I can tell, the breakout cut is "Be Your Santa Claus," at least if single-track popularity at iTunes is anything to go by.
The R'nB crooner of "Thong Song" let this slip out for Christmas 2006, a by-the-book modern holiday tune in the current style, complete with spoken intro and full of romantic allusions to the holiday. It's nice work; I wonder if he's testing the waters for a full CD. Apparently he let people download this free from his MySpace page, but it wasn't there at the time I posted this. I found it on iTunes, but at the moment it appears to have vanished from the marketplace.
When older artists from the classic soul era step into the Christmas genre, the results tend to be more easy listening than R'nB, and the Isleys, now featuring just Ronald and Ernie, fall right into that description, even with the production assistance of 80s whizzes Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis on this 2007 disc. The originals on here, "I'm In Love" and "What Can I Buy You," are closest to R'nB, the former in a 70s ballad vein and the latter resembling a Jam/Lewis trademark ballad production. The rest is pop with a bit of jazz and soul, and they put together an "Isleys Christmas Medley" of classic carols that is strictly 1970s variety show in execution. If you can download the originals, you'll be ahead of the game.
I'm including this more for historical purposes, though some of us are big on authenticity as well. The Staples were always first and foremost a gospel group, but most of us recall them for their secular hits like "I'll Take You There." Similarly, their best-known Christmas tune among us pop-rock Christmas fans would be "Who Took the Merry Out of Christmas," a more secular tune that isn't on this 1962 collection. This is a straight gospel workout featuring songs mainly taken from the gospel repertoire like the title song, "Go Tell It on the Mountain," "Sweet Little Jesus Boy," "No Room at the Inn" and so on. A few more popular carols like "Joy to the World," "Silent Night, and "O Little Town of Bethlehem," songs that emphasize the religious aspect, are also here. Notable for making its CD debut in 2007, and also because at least some of our readers are interested in the roots of our obsession with popular Christmas music. UPDATE: Bob Bailey notes that this album was on CD before, in 1993, as A Gospel Christmas Card, but with several additional tracks by other gospel artists added.
There are no dates for the performances on this 1989 compilation, but I'm guessing they are all from the late 60s and early 70s. Little Johnny Taylor does "Please Come Home for Christmas," Rance Allen Group takes on "White Christmas," The Temprees do "The Christmas Song" and Albert King tries "Christmas Comes but Once a Year." There are some originals, too. Isaac Hayes (Chef!) does his Hot Buttered Soul routine on "The Mistletoe and Me" and "Winter Snow," Rufus Thomas comes up with an answer record to Eartha Kitt, "I'll Be Your Santa, Baby," and Albert King and Mack Rice each do versions of Rice's great "Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin'." And the Staple Singers' "Who Took the Merry out of Christmas" is here too; it also appears on the album Bummed Out Christmas. Almost as good as Soul Christmas. Update: Reissued for 2007 as Christmas in Soulsville with three additional songs, "That Makes Christmas Baby" by Rufus Thomas, "Merry Christmas Baby" by Otis Redding, and Booker T & the MGs' "Winter Wonderland."
Evans is popularly known as a hip hop diva, but that's just a function of the time she has come up; she could have been a blues, jazz or soul star if she had come up in different eras. This 2005 album is typical in execution for an R'nB singer, with 11 songs, mostly standard carols and pop holiday songs, with a few hip hop moves on most of them to make them sound contemporary. "Mistletoe and Holly" sticks out because it's the only one that takes the pop/show tune approach; the rest are soulful jams of various tempos. "Soulful Christmas" is a faster number that will get you out on the dance floor, and her "Santa Baby" is a worthy performance, giving Eartha Kitt a run for her money. She swings over to blues with the now-standard "Merry Christmas Baby," and hits a traditional note with "White Christmas," "Christmas Song," and "O Come All Ye Faithful." I'm beginning to think there's a law somewhere that states no R'nB artist can do a Christmas album without covering Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas," but Evans' version is just as good as anybody else's.
This is a pretty solid collection of modern R'nB from the early 80s ("Christmas in Hollis" by Run D.M.C., the only rap tune on the CD) up through the present day. Fans probably have a lot of these tunes, but if you're short on latter-day soul you might find this 2004 collection a sweet change of pace. Among the selections are "Happy Holidays to You" by New Edition, "Snowy Nights" by En Vogue, "Let It Snow" by Boyz II Men, "Comin' For X-Mas" by Usher, "Do You Hear What I Hear" by Whitney Houston, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" by Babyface, and we get gospel from Kirk Franklin, Bebe and Cece Winans, along with appearances by Dru Hill, Yolanda Adams, TLC and Xscape.
Party town New Orleans (pace Katrina) is always a good place to go for your holiday grooves, and this 2004 compilation carries on the tradition. Songwriter/producers Greg Barnhill and Will Robinson (not the "Lost In Space" kid) had the idea to write a whole CD's worth of fresh Christmas tunes and then recruit some hometown talent to perform them. So we get Beausoleil and their trademark zydeco on "Papa St. Nick," the legendary Allen Toussaint doing a Fats Domino groove on "The Day It Snows On Christmas," Art Neville of the famous Brothers on the title song, brother Aaron showing off his balladeer chops on "Christmas Prayer," Irma Thomas taking it slow on "Christmas Without the Creole," and the Subdudes singing about "Peace in the World." John Hiatt fans will recognize Sonny Landreth's guitar chops, if not his voice, on "Got To Get You Under My Tree," with the help of the Dixie Cups on background vocals. And just in case you thought there was anything dated about a New Orleans Christmas, Houseman funks things up on "Pimp My Sleigh," taking off on the car customizing trend. The final cut is the only tune not written by Barnhill and Robinson, Ingrid Lucia's version of "Zat You, Santa Claus?" Serious holiday party music here, folks.
The young R'nB singer swings into the holiday with a short 10-song set for 2003. She picks between standards and some new tunes like "Hey Santa," "Christmas Time Again," "Time of Year" and "Sharing Christmas." The approach is not unlike other singers of her generation, somewhere between pop and R'nB, although the overall effect is much closer to contemporary easy listening. Many of the arrangements are straight pop, with only "Sharing Christmas" veering toward the slow-jam style and "Silent Night getting the gospel treatment. Add points for her overall restraint -- very few diva moments on this CD.
If you're not from the Washington, D.C., area, Chuck Brown could be anybody (except holiday bluesman Charles Brown, of course). But if you are, or you're an aficionado of soul music of the 1980s, you know Chuck is the godfather of go-go, a funk-soul offshoot that was regionally popular for its danceability. Chuck gigs fairly regularly to this day, and this 1999 CD is his move into holiday music. He sticks close to what made him popular on this CD, mid-to uptempo funky grooves laid over a selection of well-known covers. If you need a "Silent Night" you can fast-dance to, and a lot of us do, Chuck's your go-to guy. He takes a similar tack on "Merry Christmas Baby," "White Christmas," "This Christmas" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," although the latter is between slow and fast, splitting the difference with the slow-dancers on this nine-cut album. The ballad treatment is given to "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "The Christmas Song" and "That Spirit of Christmas," the last two being duets with the late Eva Cassidy. Chuck has a nice baritone somewhere between Isaac Hayes and Barry White, and the band provides solid support, leading me to believe that the ultimate Chuck Brown experience really is live in front of a crowded dancefloor.
I stumbled onto these guys the same time I did Relient K, discovering their 2004 holiday CD, but although they share a Christian market heritage, they're a different kettle of fish altogether. Where Relient K is a kind of pop-punk band, The Katinas are more a modern R'nB vocal group. Like other R'nB holiday collections, there's lots of gospel and jazz inflections on top of the beats, lots of close harmony singing. They work this combination well on an uptempo "Joy to the World" and turn "O Come All Ye Faithful" into a slow jam. "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow" is a vocal workout with handclaps, and they go completely a capella on "O Little Town of Bethlehem." Their own original "Christmas Is Here" is a 70's uptempo funk sound, very nice. They also cover Michael W. Smith's "Emmanuel" in more of a rock arrangement, another change of pace. R'nB fans should like this a lot, and there's a fair number of cuts that will appeal to a lot of different people.
The superstars of the Motown stable, recognizable not only in the 60s variation of the "hood" but on Main Street as well, nursed along a secret affinity for schlock and schmaltz during their whole existence. Remember such albums as The Supremes Sing Rogers and Hart? Remember their single of "The Happening?" You can therefore guess how this 1965 holiday album turned out -- sappy. Although all the Motown Christmas albums exhibit a certain amount of excessive wholesomeness, you'd never guess this album had anything at all to do with Motown if you heard it in a vacuum. Liner notes of the 1999 reissue make it clear this is Berry Gordy's fault, as he was obsessed with "crossing over" from a black audience to a general audience and felt the Supremes had the best chance of doing so. I'm guessing the notion that "My Favorite Things" was a Christmas song started with this album, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Me" is the fabled star singing about itself (gag), the "Children's Christmas Song" works in the mandatory kid-singing number (the last two songs were actually a single back in the day) and the rest is mostly failed nightclubbery, 60s style. Only "Little Bright Star" and "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" incorporate much of the Motown sound. Collectors will note the reissue adds four bonus cuts, including an unreleased "Noel" and a remix of Florence Ballard taking the only lead on the album away from Diana Ross on "Silent Night." Update: Re-released in 2004 as part of the Christmas Collection: 20th Century Masters series.
This album was originally released for Christmas 1967, which means Stevie was still 16 and still taking orders from Berry Gordy as to what and when to record. Which explains why this album has more in common with the other Motown holiday albums than it does with Stevie's later, history-making work. It's a full-orchestra pop album for the most part, pretty sappy across the board, with "Andy Willams Christmas Special" styled versions of "Silver Bells," "Ave Maria, "The Christmas Song," "The Little Drummer Boy," and so on. There are some originals from Motown's staff writers, the nadir of which is "Twinkle Twinkle Little Me," which was bad enough on the Supremes' album without making Stevie do it too. Of course, as long as Stevie's singing, how bad can this album be, right? Fortunately, this album contributes to the canon "What Christmas Means to Me," the only straight-up Motown-style tune on the album and enough to justify the rest, although I wouldn't mind hearing a more muscular version of "One Little Christmas Tree" sometime from someone, too. The title song is rendered in a fairly middle-of-the-road arrangement, but it's a good holiday tune anyway. UPDATE: The 20th Century Masters edition of this album released in 2004 adds two additional cuts, "The Miracles of Christmas" and "Everyone's a Kid at Christmas Time."
It would be enough if this group were simply the long-running hitmakers they were, from the 1950s right into the 80s. But Smokey Robinson was one of America's greatest singers, songwriters and producers, responsible not only for much of the Miracles' output but many other Motown records on which you needed a reading glass to find his name. This 1999 compilation pulls cuts from two holiday albums, 1963's Christmas With the Miracles (likely the first Motown Christmas album) and 1970's The Season For Miracles. The first six cuts on the compilation are almost proto-Motown, featuring the more ensemble-based sound of the earlier Miracles with just a few hints of what was to come. Star cut from this grouping is quite obviously "Christmas Everyday," widely covered by dozens of artists since then. The rest, from the later album, are produced by a rotating cast of personalities. Some, like Smokey's production of his own "I Believe in Christmas," are obviously mature Motown, while "I Can Tell When Christmas Is Near" and "It's Christmas Time," both written and produced by Stevie Wonder, push the Miracles in the direction his own music was then taking. Whether talking about the individual albums or the recent compilation, however, there is some inconsistency, with the group ranging widely between classic soul sounds and sugary pop confections -- but that's nothing new for Motown in general.
This 2001 compilation does an excellent job of melding this premier vocal group's two Christmas albums into a single CD, and the liner notes help us sort it all out. The Temps did The Temptations Christmas Card in 1970 and Give Love on Christmas in 1980, and they released "Silent Night" as a single several times in the mid-80s from the latter collection, with different B-sides. Different versions of "The Christmas Song" and "Silent Night" appear on both albums, but a changing lineup and changing times probably inspired the decision to record the second holiday album, which includes versions of Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas," Smokey Robinson's "Christmas Everyday" and The Corporation's "Give Love on Christmas Day," written originally for the Jackson 5ive. The bonus cut on Best of is a version of "Oh Holy Night" from the sessions for Give Love, soulful and snappy but just a little too long. Christmas Card is the classic Temps/Motown sound, although they downtempo some of the tunes a bit too much, but their versions of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" are the most like their classic singles. On Give Love, they revisit "The Christmas Song" with just a bit more snap and the later version of "Silent Night" is more of a slow jams workout than the straight reading on Christmas Card. The lengthy lead-in to "This Christmas" makes you almost think they're singing it to the late Donny Hathaway before they swing into the uptempo version. And though they don't make you forget Smokey on "Christmas Everyday," bass man Melvin Franklin does a great job of selling it. Columnist Leonard Pitts Jr.'s liner notes to Best Of assert that every Christmas needs a little Temptations in it -- a point that's impossible to argue.
An early collection compiled in 1968 by Atlantic Records from singles and Christmas albums recorded by its R&B roster, including the folks from Stax Records, which was distributed by Atlantic at the time. Most of the tunes are covers, Otis Redding being Otis on "White Christmas" and "Merry Christmas Baby," Booker T. and the MGs ringing out with "Silver Bells" and "Jingle Bells," King Curtis wailing on "The Christmas Song" and "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve." But there are some originals, like Solomon Burke doing "Presents For Christmas," William Bell with "Every Day Will Be Like a Holiday," Clarence Carter with "Back Door Santa," Joe Tex promising "I'll Make Every Day Christmas (For My Woman)" and Carla Thomas reprising her hit "Gee Whiz" as "Gee Whiz, It's Christmas." A top-notch collection. In recent years, it's been reissued in its original version on CD and in an extended version by Rhino Records, adding several cuts including Luther Vandross with "May Christmas Bring You Happiness" and The Drifters' version of "The Christmas Song."
Originally released for Christmas 1966, this is what the holiday sounds like when it's accompanied by one of rock and soul's most accomplished backup bands. Besides playing behind many of the Stax/Watt hits by Otis Redding, Sam & Dave and so many others, they had their own instrumental Top 40 hits like "Hip-Hug Her," a cover of the Rascals' "Groovin'," and "Green Onions." And of course, various members turned up in the Blues Brothers backing band over time. In the modern day this may sound tame, but it's all of a piece with the band's other recordings. Notice the bluesy playout on "White Christmas," the guitar that kicks it up a notch on "Jingle Bells," the slinky groove of "Silver Bells," and so on. The medley of "We Three Kings" with an unlisted "O Come All Ye Faithful" seems to go on forever, but it's followed by the funky album closer "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." One of the era's classics.
This 1993 German import is another collection of the famous Motown artists, only this one is heavy on items that are previously unreleased. This includes the only four known Christmas tunes by Marvin Gaye, including "Purple Snowflakes," with lots of carol quotes, although the track was later reused on "Pretty Little Baby." The other three are the collection's title song, an instrumental from 1972, his own "I Want To Come Home For Christmas" and a rendition of "The Christmas Song." A pair by Stevie Wonder, the unreleased "Everyone's a Kid at Christmas Time" and what must have once been on a single, "The Miracles of Christmas." Unreleased from Diana Ross and the Supremes are "Won't Be Long Before Christmas," "Silent Night" with Florence Ballard singing lead and "Just a Lonely Christmas" by Harvey Fuqua. Diana Ross solos Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas" sometime between 1974 and '78. The Miracles contribute "Christmas Lullaby," which was released in its time. Kim Weston's "Wish You a Merry Christmas" and session aces The Funk Brothers' instrumental "Winter Wonderland" round out the set. This isn't easily found, but at least some of these cuts have turned up on other Motown holiday albums since this import dropped.
Motown, being a factory label, put out Christmas albums on practically every one of its classic artists of the 60s, and Motown being Motown, a lot of times the backing tracks got recycled from artist to artist. For the best view of a Motown Christmas, an anthology album like this one is the best bet. Some of the renditions here are a little too serious to suit me, but there are quite a few original Christmas tunes with the Motown treatment, making a collection like this worthwhile. Stevie Wonder is the class of this outfit with "One Little Christmas Tree" and "What Christmas Means To Me." Also represented here are Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Temptations, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and the Jackson 5. The 1999 reissue of this album features among its additional cuts "I Want To Come Home For Christmas," one of the Marvin Gaye holiday cuts that seldom turn up anywhere. Note that there are numerous Motown holiday anthologies out there, and the songs on this one are certain to turn up on at least some of the others.
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