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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lotsa goodies in this stocking, October 24, 2005
Well, somehow I picked up the Rev's first-ever Christmas album even before the two Brians' 2005 holiday discs (the sainted Wilson and the slick Setzer, that is). As Santa said of Rudolph's first jump at the Reindeer Games in that classic Rankin-Bass "Rudolph" special, not bad! Not baaaad!
There are a lot of cool and interesting goodies in this Christmas stocking, enough to please most of the Whos at your local Whoville. The disc has a chunk of Chuck Berry, and not just the album-closing "Run Rudolph Run" (with the Rev, aka guitarist Jim Heath, trading instruments with his bassist, Jimbo Wallace). It actually starts with track 1, the full-tilt boogie-woogie version of "Frosty the Snowman." The credits don't list the pianist, but "Winter Wonderland" also has a lot of that Berry/Johnnie Johnson interplay, straight out of "You Never Can Tell." There's also a bit of blazing Berry/Johnson boogie-woogie sharing space in the unlikeliest of places: alongside a mad-mod-surf "Batman" swirl on "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town."
Other yummy flavors in the Rev's holiday petit fours assortment include a slap-bass rockabilly hoedown instrumental of "Jingle Bells," a Ray Charles-type gospel-meets-country-ballad version of "Silver Bells," a snarky, dirty, bottom-heavy, finger-popping rockabilly swing through "Rudolph," a hoedown of "Santa on the Roof," and an instrumental of "What Child Is This" that tosses around country, surf, spaghetti western, even a little bit of Traffic and Hendrix. That's to go along with faithful versions of Elvis' "Santa Bring My Baby Back" and Buck Owens' "Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy."
The only soft spot is Heath's voice. The Rev's rasp is well suited for his patented rockaswingapunkabilly raveups, but certainly not smooth enough for the likes of "Silver Bells" and "Pretty Paper," or even "Santa Bring My Baby Back." But hey -- you know what? This album is such a high-spirited affair, and the Rev, Jimbo and Scott Churilla, the drummer, have been such good boys this year, that Santa can overlook that shortcoming. They should find a little something extra under their trees for spreading such cheer.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fabulous!, December 9, 2005
Tired of insipid, dull Christmas albums? Look no further. It swings, it rocks, it makes Christmas music not only bearable, but fun! You may actually find yourself listening to this gem even after Christmas is over (gasp!). This album also has a sort of universal listening appeal, your grandparents will enjoy the retro quality and you'll enjoy the fact that it rocks. Do yourself a favor and pick it up!
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Fun-Filled Rockin' Christmas Cd from the Rev, November 2, 2005
This was a great idea from the rev ro put out a christmas album. I really enjoyed this cd. It was better than all those slow kenny g christmas albums. This albums rocks and rolls. He picked out great songs to play such as an excellent version of "Jingle Bells". It had a wonderful guitar and an awesome bass. Overall i really liked this album. The only thing remotely negative about it is probably the pace, some of the songs would of sounded cooler if they were a little more fast but its not a big deal. I really liked this album.
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