Jingle Bell Rock: An Oldies Rock & Roll Christmas

Various Artists (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 7, 2001)
• Original Release Date: August 7, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: EMI Special Products
• ASIN: B00005Y7Q3
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,019 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Track Listings

1. Little Saint Nick - The Beach Boys

2. Jingle Bell Rock - Bill Haley, Bill Haley & His Comets,

3. Frosty the Snowman - Jan & Dean

4. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Dion

5. Jingle Bells - Rick Nelson

6. I Told Santa Claus - Fats Domino

7. Blue Christmas - Bobby Vee

8. Please Come Home for Christmas - Charles Brown

9. Sleigh Ride - The Ventures

10. Merry Christmas, Baby - The Beach Boys

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Holiday Quickie, November 30, 2002

By	Kendal B. Hunter (Provo, UT United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I think the album cover caught me-the cherry red '57 Chevy with the frosted Christmas tree conveys an image of another time and another place. And that is part of the Christmas Spirit. We need to get pulled out of our humdrum complacency, and to remind ourselves of our ideals, and to have fun in the process.

This is a fun CD. It is a mulligan stew of the classic 1950's-1960's rock classics that celebrate Christmas. The beginning and ending bookend tracks come from the classic "Beach Boy's Christmas Album." If you like these two tracks, I recommend the full Beach Boys album. Their version of "We Three Kings" is absolutely perfect, and their rendition of the Lord's Prayer taps into something holy.

The rest of the album is full of similar tracks. The second track is the kingpin of all Christmas rock anthems, "Jingle Bell Rock." Jan and Deans "Frosty the Snowman" serves as a pseudo-reprise of the Beach Boys So-Cal harmonies.

There are two surprise gems. "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)" took my breath away. I have heard the U2 cover, but I think Dion shines in his version. The second surprise was Ricky Nelson's cover of "Jingle Bells." You don't think that anyone could do something interesting with this old standard, but he brings life and breath into this rockabilly cover.

The Fats Domino track has some transfer problems, but I imagine that it comes from the condition of the original source recoding. It has to be about 45 years old, so it is probably as best as could be expected.

"Blue Christmas" and "Please Come home for Christmas" help round out the collection. However, I must make special note of the Ventures' "Sleigh Ride." It is done in their idiom, and begins and ends with riffs that remind me of "Walk, Don't Run." But it works! It is energetic and in a weird sense, a funny juxtaposition of rock and fun.

And that is what the holiday is all about.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Is Fun, January 9, 2007

By	Roba D. Piller "Seth E. Piller" (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Brings Back Lots of good Memories of the holidays. It lifted our family's spirits. It was really nice and fun. We rocked our way through Christmas and the New Year!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars 4 for the songs, 1 for the presentation, December 14, 2006

By	Mister Charlie (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

To me it's a bit of an insult that labels still manufacture and sell cds this short. 10 songs from the '50s and '60s? Come on, that's less than 30 minutes! This isn't a reissue of a classic album, is it? If it was, that would make some sense. But it's not, it's a compilation of some great holiday oldies that should be at least 30 minutes longer. I say even though this is a fairly inexpensive item, save your money for a more thoughtful and beefier compilation. That's what I always tell myself, and then I try to find one and they don't seem to exist. There ARE (at least) 3 decent DIFFERENT cds with the same title, from different labels, all with 10-12 songs of oldies/rock and roll Christmas songs. Someone should combine all 3 on to one 80 minute cd and we could have ourselves a time.