Christmas Joy

The Ventures | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 15, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Varese Sarabande
• ASIN: B00006LHWK
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #159,038 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #62 in Music > Rock > Rock Guitarists > Surf Guitar

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: VENTURES
Title: CHRISTMAS JOY
Street Release Date: 10/15/2002
Domestic
Genre: XMAS VOCAL

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A contemporary Ventures Christmas album for guitar lovers, December 3, 2004

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Christmas Joy (Audio CD)

Tired of hearing the same Christmas songs over and over again? Well, here is your chance to hear those overly familiar songs again and again, but this time done by the Ventures in their signature sound of twangy electric guitar instrumentals (The Ventures unplugged? Get real, America). To be clear, this is not the classic "The Ventures' Christmas Album" that the group released in the 1960s at the (relative) height of their popularity, but a 2002 release.

We are talking nothing but Christmas standards here until you get to the final title track, both secular (e.g., "Jingle Bells," "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," "Winter Wonderland") and non-secular (e.g., "O Come All Ye Faithful," "Silent Night," "O Holy Night"). Don Wilson and Bob Bogle are still around from the original lineup of the Ventures, and guest keyboard player David Carr tries to bring the group's sound into the 21st century, which is actually counter productive when you remember the Ventures had one of the signature sounds of the Sixties. This is especially true since they work bits of their hits, such as "Walk Don't Run," into some of the songs.

The last two tracks, a cover of José Feliciano's "Feliz Navidad" and the group's original effort, "Christmas Joy," actually feature some vocals by the group. If you are thinking Marcel Marceau getting the one speaking line in Mel Brooks' "Silent Movie," then do not, because the vocals are on a par with what you would expect from guys in a Sixties group singing for the first time forty years later. Those were enough of a down note to have me round down on this one and to remind you again that there is a better Ventures Christmas album from the group from their heyday (see above).

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Christmas joy for you and me, December 16, 2007

By 

Johnny Heering "trivia buff" (Bethel, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Christmas Joy (Audio CD)

Almost 40 years after the Ventures released their classic Christmas album, they recorded this second Christmas album. On that first album, they grafted the intros of recent hit songs, like "I Feel Fine" and "Wooly Bully", onto the Christmas songs. This time around, they dispense with the intros, more or less, but several of the songs do include subtle echos of classic rock and roll songs. For example, "Joy to the World" is reminiscent of "Pipeline" and "Feliz Navidid" is reminiscent of "La Bamba". Anyway, the songs are all played in the classic Venures instrumental style, with one exception. That exception is the last song on the CD, which is not an instrumental. It is an original Christmas song written and sung by Ventures founding member Don Wilson, who turns out to have a decent singing voice. This is a very good Christmas album that upholds the standards set by their first Christmas album. And it's twice as long as that first album.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stands the test of time!, December 20, 2005

By 

M.Cherry "Cherry Mobile Notary" (North County San Diego Ca.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Christmas Joy (Audio CD)

I heard Sleigh Ride playing on my radio last week, then when my wife and I stopped at the Mall it was playing in one of the stores and I didn't know who the artist was. My wife suggested I go down to the record store and see if they could help. So I went in and told the clerk that a song on the album was Sleigh Ride and that it was in the 60's style with a guitar melody using the whammy bar at the end of some of the phrases and she said "I don't know about any whammy bar but it might be one of these" as she showed me a couple of hot sellers which didn't have Sleigh Ride on them. We left the mall without any Christmas music.The next day after about four hours of Google searching and Amazon sampling I found it through the "also recommended" feature of Amazon. I couldn't beleive it since originally I thought it sounded like The Ventures but the musicality sounded too new to be from the 60's.I bought a copy right away and highly recommend it as there are no vocalistic styles to offend anyone and the guitar work os soo good it may inspire one to ask for a Rickenbacker for Christmas with a nice little Princeton Reverb to go with it..