The Ventures' Christmas Album

The Ventures

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 17, 1995)
• Original Release Date: November 1965
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Razor & Tie
• ASIN: B000002Z9K
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #64,883 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Ah, this is jingle bell rock the way it's supposed to be, with driving guitars, splashy drums, and full stereo separation. The Ventures' Christmas Album just might be the best rock & roll holiday record ever made. The instrumental twang kings deliver pretty much what you'd expect--note-for-note renditions of standards, all dressed up with ubiquitous sleigh bells as well as the requisite reverb. What really makes this disc a blast though is the way the quartet weaves 1960s pop signatures into every tune; warping "Woolly Bully" into "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," "I Feel Fine" into "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," and so on. Spin this and let your party guests have fun guessing which hit single will morph into a Christmas classic. --Michael Ruby

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great, hilarious ... just a wee bit short, December 11, 2004

By	mark harlan "http://www.RedsDeal.com" (silicon valley, california) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

i ordered this from amazon and am just now giving it my second listen through ... nothing quite puts you in that xmas spirit like "walk, don't run," blending into "sleigh bells." (unless it's james brown's, "santa claus, go straight to the ghetto.")

everything that every reviewer said here is on the mark. if you're familiar with instrumental surf, this album is simply a *must*. if you're intimate with the ventures, i challenge to listen to this album and not laugh out loud at least once.

the ONLY reason i ding it a star is it clocks in at 27 minutes. say what? even in the vinyl days this would be considered a short board on the big wave of music.

so yeah, maybe the original was just that long, but hey, the publisher could've put *something* else on that space ... other ventures, other surf band xmas songs, a 2-fer with something cool, dick dale's "hava nagila," SOMEthin' ...

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A True Christmas Classic, November 21, 2004

By	Danno (NY, NY) - See all my reviews

This is one of the few must-own Christmas discs of the rock era. The Ventures (probably the most creative of all the 1960s instrumental bands) took a handful of Xmas chestnuts and blended them with mid-1960s riffs and licks. The result, while probably dreamed up by an executive to squeeze some cash from those 60s teenyboppers, definitely stands the test of time a lot better than most subsequent Xmas albums by other artists. Why? No matter what material the Ventures recorded in the 1960s, they approached the task with fuzzed out Mosrite guitars, nimble drumming, generous reverb, and no-nonsense bare-knuckled gusto. The result is one of the few holiday CDs you might play once the holidays are over. I can't recommend this one enough. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Blue Christmas" are the standouts.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rockin' Christmas with a sense of humor, November 12, 1999

By A Customer

I have my original copy of the vinyl LP (my version is in mono, not stereo) and I am glad to see it has now been issued on CD (and in stereo--WOW! ). The Ventures start most every song with a riff from a popular 60's song before seguing into the Christmas tune. I didn't know this when I originally bought the album, so it came as quite a shock to hear "Walk Don't Run" segue into "Sleigh Ride". But it's all pretty cool and it brings a smile to the face of everyone I've every played my worn LP for.

I've always wanted these songs in stereo, but the stereo LP is hard to find and pricey, and you have to deal with those annoying pops and scratches. Look for this great album in stereo AND on CD with little or no surface noise looks like a good deal to me!