Customer Reviews

Blue Yule

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I tracked this down during this Christmas season after hearing Canned Heat's "Christmas Baby" on a Heineken commercial of all places. Immediately hooked, I sent off an e-mail asking Heineken for the name of the song and to my surprise, they responded. Searching on Amazon, I found it on this CD and purchased it. What was bought for one song soon became my favorite Christmas compilation complete with Big Jack Johnson, Louis Jordan, John Lee Hooker and Sonny Boy Williamson. Even the lesser known Poppa Hop and The Pilgrim Travelers make notable contributions on this disc.
A good pick for this upcoming Christmas holiday.

Well, let's see. As I write this review, the date is December 8th, 2004, and it's another two weeks and three days till Christmas finally arrives on the 25th. Since virtually every place in Creation started playing Christmas music on November 1st, you've had 38 days to become thoroughly SICK of the same dozen songs played over and over again from every radio station and retail establishment. Want some relief? How about an album chock-full of great Christmas BLUES music, that truly sounds more like blues that like standard, overplayed holiday ditties? Well, folks, get this CD!! It's nice and long (18 tracks) and only one or two numbers are overly familiar (and one of those, Charles Brown's immortal "Merry Christmas Baby," is usually considered the top Christmas blues recording of all time!) Standouts include Canned Heat (Their song is straightforward blues, not the novelty track they spun with ALvin and the Chipmunks), Detroit Junior with his hard-driving boogie "Christmas Day", the Pilgrim Travelers and their delightful, close-harmony doo-wop gospel classic, "I'll Be Home for Christmas," and the always-irrepresible Louis Jordan with "Santa Claus, Santa Claus." There's not a bad number in the bunch, but the pick of this holiday litter must go to Edddie Campbell and his delicious take on the Junior Wells masterpiece, here titled "Santa's Messin' With the Kid". So don't delay! Order today, there's still time to get it rushed to you by Christmas. Do it, and the best yuletide blues and r and b will be home to you, if not by Christmas, then by New Years night.

Blues musicians don't record Christmas songs that often, but Rhino Records managed to find 18 Christmas blues songs for this CD. Charles Brown's definitive recording of "Merry Christmas Baby" is well known, but the rest of the tracks are pretty obscure. There are a lot of good songs here, with my personal favorites being the ones by Eddie C. Campbell and Canned Heat. If you have any interest in the blues, this is the Christmas CD to get.

Score one more for Rhino. This label really does know how to find obscure cuts and bring them into standout various artist collections. The only gripe I could have is this disk sounds a bit monaural in a mix, but I'll still use it--it's fun to mix up a little blues with the typical sugary Christmas sentiment.

What can I say about this collection that has not been said? Just add Lightning Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Canned Heat and the rest of the crew in and you've got a mix that'll make your season funky.

if, like me, you make bizarre anthologies of Christmas music, this is a great addition to your library. Raucous and gutsy, a lot of these songs will shake up your celebration and possibly offend the people you want to bother. Some of them belong right alongside my long-time favorite, "Marry Christmas from the Family" by Robert Earl Keen, which is available on Tinsel Tunes, another excellent collection on Sugar Hill (which means it's mostly bluegrass/acoustic).

I've had this CD before. There are quite a few blues christmas albums out there. This is definately one of the better ones. Allot of older blues christmas tunes. If you love the blues, this one's for you

This is the best X-mas CD I've ever heard. Classic down home blues done with the Christmas season in mind. Santa's Messin' with the Kid and Santa Claus (Sonny Boy Williamson, are the highlights of this compilation.

my hands-down favorite christmas album since i bought it three or four years ago. not a weak song on the album.

This is an enjoyable album but when I ripped this to store on my computer, my disc was messed up. Did this happen to anyone else?

The manufacturer, Rhino, and Amazon need to note that the tracks play songs that don't match their titles. When you listen to samples on Amazon, for example, it plays "Please Come Home for Christmas" on the one that says "Jingle Bell Boogie," etc.

It took me quite some time tonight (3 hours) to figure this all out. I deserve a credit for a free CD or something, what a pain!

Here are the corrections:

"I'll Be Home For Christmas" should be "Happy New Year"
"Happy New Year" should be "Santa Claus"
"Santa Claus" should be "Santa Claus, Santa Claus"
"Santa Claus, Santa Claus" should be "Christmas Time Pt.1"
"Christmas Time Pt.1" should be "Jingle Bell Boogie"
"Jingle Bell Boogie" should be "Please Come Home for Christmas"
"Please Come Home for Christmas" should be "Merry Christmas, Baby"
"Merry Christmas, Baby" should be "Christmas Holidays"
"Christmas Holidays" should be "Merry Christmas Darling"
"Merry Christmas Darling" should be "Santa Claus, Baby"
"Santa Claus Baby" shoulde be "Blues For Christmas"
"Blues For Christmas" should be "I Want My Baby For Christmas"
"I Want My Baby For Christmas" should be "I'll Be Home For Christmas"

If I am not a very unique case, I am surprised no one else noticed this??? A the very least the order plays wrong on Amazon's listening sampler.

This is a great CD of Christmas music in the blues and soul style. If you enjoy blues music, you will love it. Many of the best blues artists on this CD, including Sonny Boy and John Lee Hooker.