Customer Reviews

Ho Ho Hoey 2

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

 

 

Gary Hoey's second Christmas cd is as good, as varied and as much fun as his first one was. There's the heavy metal "Deck the Halls", the Chuck Berry-ish "Rockin' Around the X-mas Tree", the jazzy "The Christmas Song", the appropriately aggressive "Mr. Grinch", John Lennon's "Happy Xmas/Give Peace a Chance" and many more fun takes on Christmas standards. The only knock might be trying to mix in an original tune among all the familiar melodies. But that's a minor detail. If you want to boost the energy level of your holiday cd collection, you can't do much better than this. Feliz Navidad!

This CD rocks! Hoey is an amazing guitarist, and this CD captures his range of playing. From rockabilly to metal to jazz, Hoey nails them all. His choice of style reflects the mood of the song. Could the menacing "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" be played in anything other than hard rock? "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" conjures images of a sock hop Christmas party. My teenagers wonder why I'm listening to Christmas music in July, but they don't complain when I crank up the volume.

Gary Hoey has carved himself out a great niche in the world of guitar-instrumentalists. It's a shame that his original material doesn't get as much attention, but, this stuff is definitely great. And as much as I HATE christmas music, I can listen to this disc! That's saying something right there! If you [dislike the] Xmas music that's out there, this is a great alternative for you.

There are millions of Christmas albums out there--why would I get this one?

The only reason I can think of would be for the novelty. I'd heard a couple of Hoey's more intense Christmas songs (Grinsch, and Joy to the World) via "illegal" file sharing and thought it would be cool to make my parents listen to my Christmas music after listening to their lifeless drivel all those years growing up. I purchased "Ho Ho Hoey" 2 and 3 from amazon. Unfortunately this CD seems to have more than it's fair share of lifeless drivel. I guess I'll have to make a compilation CD of the few good songs and be happy with that.

I guess it depends on what your expectation for the CD are. I'll probably buy one of Hoey's real CD's one of these days because he is a fantastic guitar player. This just strikes me as a novelty disc with a staggering lack of novelty.

finally,some christmas music for us rock fans who have had only the moldy, oldies to listen to during the holidays!