The Great Christmas Record Odyssey, Ep. III

Alright, here we go again. . .

Album Title:  Christmas with

Album Artist:  Chet Atkins

Mr. Chet Atkins, ladies and gentlemen.  Gotta tell ya, I was looking forward to this one.  I love old country and rock and roll, and this dude walks among some of that era's greatest.

*hiccup*

 Unfortunately, his Christmas album sucks.

Weird how that works, isn't it?  You take an artist whom you like, a collection of renowned Holiday favorites, and whip up an album that. . . well. . . makes you want to blow your brains out.  Super disappointing.

Chet Atkins is at his best when he's boogying with that hollow-body of his, but on this album his guitar-work does this bizarre, drunken tip-toe thing through the Christmas standards.  It's like him and the guitar went out for a night on the town, and the guitar - who had recently broken up with his girlfriend - got all loaded and ended up going home with a blown out tube amp.  Who was really a stripper.  Addicted to Meth.  The next morning, back in the Studio, the guitar trembled uncomfortably as it tried to record even the simplest of holiday carols, in a cold sweat, trying not to vomit all over the sheet music.

Way to ruin Christmas, guitar.

I'd rate this a 3, but it gets an additional point on the scale for the campy 'from our house to yours'-ish message about Chet Atkins and the Holidays.  Check it out:

Aww. . . thanks, People That Never Met Me.  And are probably all dead by now.

To top it off, the jacket's falling apart.  Thanks, Chet.

VERDICT:  4/10 - Borophyll 

- SHELVED -

- Brian

The Great Christmas Record Odyssey, Ep. II

Alright, I've got another record today for ya - Remembering Christmas with the Big Bands (RCA, 1981.)  Johnny Mathis is no longer with us, having been 'shelved' in the last Episode, and now sits alongside my non-Christmas albums for the remainder of the Holiday Season.  In shame.

Without further ado, here we go. . .

Album Title:  Remembering Christmas with the Big Bands

Album Artist:  Various Artists

Alright all you zoot suit daddies, let's pretend it's the Summer of 1998 and get some swingin' Yule goin' on in here. . .

Thanks, Granny.

No idea where this one came from, but if I had to put money on it, I'd probably wager it came from my Dad's mom, Granny Hough.  My reasoning for this?  A solitary '1981,' scrawled in her trademark calligraphy, right on the front cover of the outer record sleeve.

Only a Hough, with their infamous OCD, would deem it necessary to scrawl the date of an album right across the front cover (despite the fact that the date can easily be found on the back cover, along with the usual record company copyright information.)

Anyway.

This one isn't bad - good sound quality for the record itself, the outer sleeve is in VG condition (not that I have an audiophile's super-anal rating scale to heart or anything.)  This album is exactly what you would come to expect from a compilation of Big Bands doing an assortment of Christmas standards.  Hopping horn sections, snappy rhythm sections - not too bad at all. When vocalists come on - as they do with Big Band numbers, about a minute or so into the song - they're recorded way too loud, as it usually the case with most Big Band recordings.

I have really nothing to complain about - Glenn Miller, Sammy Kaye, Fats Waller. . . what's not to like?  Well, as a Christmas album, it's a little too much on the 'jazz' side for my tastes.  If I'm in the mood for swinging band jazz, these are the guys I look for, no doubt about it.  They're the best in the business.  That being said, I think as a Christmas album the melodies of familiar Holiday tunes gets drowned out in that Big Band swing.  The variations on these tunes don't stay as centric to the normal arrangements, which forces you to sometimes work at finding out what, exactly, you're listening to.

And I hate work, America.

VERDICT:  6/10 - Decent (good jazz. . . just maybe not for Christmas.)

- SHELVED -

- Brian