This is what Christmas albums whould be like. A free album, consisting of 19 tracks, created by a group of friends all having fun. For a compilation album, the tracks all work together with surprising ease. The general theme seems to be cutting and sampling Christmas songs of years gone by.
There's a genuine sense of mystery about this album. I was given it at a gig, and there is hardly any information on the cd, only a website address. Only on visiting that did you realise that this was the work of a group of people, and not just one bloke in his bedroom.
Not all the album consist of sampling though. The second track Christmas Lights, after an answerphone message, turns into a magical instrumental piece with twinkly keyboard bits, a bit like tracks by Lemon Jelly. More electro joy comes from Xmas 123. It manages to change from something that sounds 80s-ish, with drum machines etc, to something that sounds almost like Japanese noise/music. All in the space of 3 minutes, to the tune of Let it Snow. Trademark's Tight Leather Christmas is a Christmas song that sounds like Tainted Love.
Then there are those tracks that are the artists' own interpretation of Christmas carols. A dramatic Perfect Day version of In the Bleak Midwinter. A death-rock version of Good King Wenceslas. A version of O Come All Ye Faithful that cuts up the whole carol, so all you hear is a wonderful wall of gentle organ, and fading vocals from a choir. And of course, in best school boy fashion, you have to have a carol with naughty lyrics, here it is We freakin' soverean tar.
Christmas is a time for giving, so there are tracks here to tug at our heart strings. An almost instrumental version of Feed the World with and electronic voice to tell us to Feed the Christmas Jef (that would be Jef from Goldrush then). And a charity style singalong called Give Steve a Quid for Christmas. Hmm I wonder what's the aim of that one?
This album shows the true spirit of Christmas. None of those money grabbing compilations, just friends, family and love. Awwwwwwwwww. 4.5/5