Customer Reviews

The Original Soul Christmas

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

How did I live without "Back Door Santa" for so long? Well, my life is complete now...mostly. Great, great song. You younger listeners might recognize it as the basis for the sample on Run D.M.C's "Christmas in Hollis," but trust me- you need the original. Otis Redding's "Merry Christmas Baby" is a would be classic that I can never get enough of, and even Carla Thomas' "Gee whiz..." though based on an earlier hit for her, is still a fun little tune. The Booker T instrumentals are all right, and while I'm not a big King Curtis fan there's nothing on this record that isn't worth hearing. What's missing? Well, Albert King's version of "Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin" and a James Brown tune would make it the be all and end all of Christmas soul, but this is by far one of my favorite Christmas albums ever.

Consider yourself lucky if you own a copy of this on CD. Because the foolishness that is so typical these days of record labels has struck again! Rhino Records issued this classic set on CD for the first time in 1994. But in the last few years, they somehow decided it's not worthy for sale any longer, and thus have put it out of print. Shame on them! A classic soul holiday album like this should never be put out of print!!!

The one CD that's still available as of this writing that comes closest to "Original Soul Christmas" is the 1991 Atlantic Records compilation "Soul Christmas". But even though that set has more tracks (20) than this one (14), there are five tracks from the "Original Soul Christmas" CD reissue that were not included on the 1991 "Soul Christmas":

- "The Christmas Song" by King Curtis
- "Jingle Bells" by Booker T. and The MG's
- "Every Day Will Be Like A Holiday" by William Bell (though the 1991 set contains a different version of the song by The Sweet Inspirations)
- "Christmas Time" by Ray Charles
- "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" by Booker T. and The MG's

However, it should be noted that the last two of the above five tracks were also not included on the original 1968 vinyl LP release of "Soul Christmas" by Atco Records.

Here's my suggestion to help give this set the respect it truly deserves: reissue "Soul Christmas" as a two-disc set fully remastered. Disc 1 would have the tracklisting of the 1968 original "Soul Christmas" LP in the same order as the original album release. Disc 2 would contain all the other tracks on the 1991 "Soul Christmas" CD, plus the two remaining tracks on the 1994 "Original Soul Christmas" CD that were not on the 1991 CD, plus a few other soul holiday classics not included on either the 1991 or 1994 CDs (in order to fill the second disc to the max). Also, the liner notes from both the 1991 "Soul Christmas" CD and the 1994 "Original Soul Christmas" CD should be included. Then, put the 1991 "Soul Christmas" CD out of print and charge a higher price for the 2-disc set. It makes so much sense, that I doubt Rhino Records (or any other label for that matter) would ever do it. And if they're not gonna do that, they should at minimum put the 1994 CD back into print.

Out of all the songs on this CD, King Curtis' WHAT ARE YOU DOING NEW YEAR'S EVE and THE CHRISTMAS SONG tops them all. These instrumentals that takes me back to a simpler time where black is black and white is white. Listening to it makes my eyes misty and my throat choked up and feeling all giddy inside. The King Curtis - Duane Allman combo captured the true meaning of devotion to their craft - making real beautiful music. Getting this CD is worth it if you want to listen to those majestic songs!

I remember that it was the year that we got our first stereo and my brothers, sister & I each got one album for Christmas and this one was mine. The song that I remember the most was "Back Door Santa".

Quite apart from the Phil Spector album, the sixties yielded a lot of great Christmas music and this collection of music from the Atlantic group of labels provides further evidence.

It begins with Back door Santa by Clarence Carter, which was later sampled by rappers Run D M C for their Christmas in Hollis. Even if you're not a rap fan, you may have come across this because it was included on the first volume of A very special Christmas. I much prefer Back door Santa in its original form.

There are two instrumentals by saxophonist King Curtis (Christmas song, What are you doing New Year's Eve) and three instrumentals by Booker T and the MG's (Silver bells, Jingle bells, Santa Claus is coming to town). Five instrumentals is more than I would ideally like but they are of a very high quality so I don't mind.

Perhaps the star of this collection is Otis Redding. He only ever recorded two Christmas songs and they are both featured here. He makes White Christmas sound like an extremely sad song. I've heard countless versions of this song and I don't remember hearing anybody else sing it like Otis. While I wouldn't like everybody to make it sound so sad, the Otis version is certainly more interesting than yet another standard cover. As a contrast, the other Otis track, Merry Christmas baby, is pure fun.

Carla Thomas contributes two songs while Joe Tex, Solomon Burke, William Bell and Ray Charles all feature on one song each. All these tracks are excellent and are typical of the performers.

One word review, indispensable! Play it loud.

Everytime this LP was playing at christmas or just putting up the tree my mother and my siblings as well as the grandchildren
would every song, i can't think of any lp on this ocassion other
than Nat King Cole is great!!!

(...)...This is a wonderful CD filled with songs that if you are a child of the 60's or 70's bring back fond memories of past holidays...I simply love it!!!