Customer Reviews

A Lump of Coal

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

 

 

This is a very good Christmas album. It features alternative rock acts (circa 1991). Almost all of the performances are good. The Crash Test Dummies version of "The First Noel" is the best version of that song that I ever heard. The Hoodoo Gurus do a great instrumental version of "Little Drummer Boy". Henry Rollins does the creepiest reading of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" ever. Every other performance is good, with the exception of "Blue X-mas" by Drunken Boat, which stinks. This CD is long out of print, but if you can find a used copy of it, it is worth getting.

I first heard Lump of Coal when I was a college DJ back in the early 1990s. Like Judy Collins these artists make perfectly executed skill lift the meanest images of desperation into praise of that which is beyond, above, and within us all. It is easy to feel there is some grand art in vaulted cathedrals and back-lit stained glass windows echoing with well seasoned choirs near towering altars. The magnificent earthy tones of this album help one see the altars in the hearts of those the songs describe - those who feel forgotten by high ritual and better fortune; Those whom He came to heal.

I had this CD about 16 or 17 years ago and had given it as a gift to my sweetie at the time...It is a very interesting mix and ends with a bang.

Little Drummer boy on speed and Henry Rollins doing Twas a Night before Christmas. I first heard this album in our promo pile at the record store I worked at in High School. It was a cassette tape that got burned out due to over play, every other album had to be a Christmas album. Nice to find this on CD. If you aren't into the traditional boring Christmas music, but like to hear a new twist on some of the classic songs this is for you.

This is a fantastic CD if for no other reason than Drunken Boat's cover of Bob Dorrough's (remember "Schoolhouse Rock?") "Blue X-mas." It really rocks and is timely even now. Or especially now. I was surprised to see that I could still by other (very rare) Drunken Boat discs on this site. Happy listening.