Billed as the Hometown Heroes in honor of the WSTW-FM radio show that plays local artists, this 2006 collection is the second outing from an ad hoc group of Wilmington, Del.-Philly suburban area bands and singers on behalf of Toys For Tots. Last time around the whole cast gathered for a Band Aid cover, and this time they doubled up with "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" with a modern crunchy percussion track, returning later in the CD for a hard-rock version of the Jackie DeShannon hit "Put a Little Love in Your Heart," which I guess became a Christmas song when Annie Lennox and Al Green dueted it for the Bill Murray flick "Scrooged." Also like the last time, a few originals sneak in among the covers, among them Gina Degnars' "With Light and Love," a piano ballad with just a hint of Tori Amos; Mary Arden Collins sings the folky "Christmas Dream," a finger-picked lilt about the guy she's missing; the also-folky "I Think I've Been Good This Year" by Erik Mitchell; Lori Citro brings us the waltz "Perpetually 25," about people who don't grow up at the same rate; and Otisunk performs the garage-rock "Shopping Wonderland (Egg Nog's Revenge)," with buried lyrics about the hell of Christmas shopping. Among the covers, notice Yes Virginia's faithful "I Believe in Father Christmas," The Autumn Affair's U2-ish "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" that closes the CD, and Lights Out's doo-wopped "Silver Bells." There's a bit of jazz on here as well, with Jabari's "Little Drummer Boy" and a fusion-sounding take on "Santa Baby" by Laura Cheadle. Good value for money if you know anyone in Delaware. UPDATE: Out of print, just a few samples posted to MySpace.
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Billed as the Hometown Heroes in honor of the WSTW-FM radio show that plays local artists, this 2006 collection is the second outing from an ad hoc group of Wilmington, Del.-Philly suburban area bands and singers on behalf of Toys For Tots. Last time around the whole cast gathered for a Band Aid cover, and this time they doubled up with "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" with a modern crunchy percussion track, returning later in the CD for a hard-rock version of the Jackie DeShannon hit "Put a Little Love in Your Heart," which I guess became a Christmas song when Annie Lennox and Al Green dueted it for the Bill Murray flick "Scrooged." Also like the last time, a few originals sneak in among the covers, among them Gina Degnars' "With Light and Love," a piano ballad with just a hint of Tori Amos; Mary Arden Collins sings the folky "Christmas Dream," a finger-picked lilt about the guy she's missing; the also-folky "I Think I've Been Good This Year" by Erik Mitchell; Lori Citro brings us the waltz "Perpetually 25," about people who don't grow up at the same rate; and Otisunk performs the garage-rock "Shopping Wonderland (Egg Nog's Revenge)," with buried lyrics about the hell of Christmas shopping. Among the covers, notice Yes Virginia's faithful "I Believe in Father Christmas," The Autumn Affair's U2-ish "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" that closes the CD, and Lights Out's doo-wopped "Silver Bells." There's a bit of jazz on here as well, with Jabari's "Little Drummer Boy" and a fusion-sounding take on "Santa Baby" by Laura Cheadle. Good value for money if you know anyone in Delaware. UPDATE: Out of print, just a few samples posted to MySpace.
This collection of tunes came from a group of musicians in the Wilmington, Del. area for Christmas 2004 as a benefit for Toys For Tots, in combination with WSTW-FM. Quality-wise it's right up there with most regional music compilations, a mix of mostly covers and traditional carols with a few originals thrown in by some of the more ambitious acts. Cover credits are inconsistent, but I'm guessing "A Day Like Christmas" by Cliff Hillis is an original. It's nice and hooky with jangly guitar, handclaps and toy piano to carry it along. Nik Everett's "No More War (At Christmas Time)" appears to be his own tune, a moderate rocker with an end to social strife on its mind. David Zumsteg's "Christmas Snow" is an instrumental in the Trans-Siberian Orchestra vein, as is Yes Virginia's version of "Silver Bells," and Lamont Penn's original "Christmas Is a Birthday" is a funk-jazz-soul ode to the title sentiment, and "The Day After Christmas" is a pop-folk original by John Pollard. Kicking off the CD is a full-cast version of "Do They Know It's Christmas," a little too on the nose and reverent of a cover, but This Year's Girl make up for it with the very next cut, a rocked-out "Here Comes Santa Claus." Seven On Sunday do a hard-rock "We Three Kings" and Smoky Greenwell and Johnny Neel knock out a harmonica-piano blues instrumental of "Away in a Manger." Appears to be out of print, although you can stream some tunes at the link in the first line of this review.
This Delaware band issued a rock 'n roll Christmas disc every year covered in the title, taking a 70s mainstream rock approach to tunes from the Christmas canon, both popular and obscure. They also throw in two non-Christmas tunes that are frequently passed off as holiday tunes, "My Favorite Things" (separate vocal and instrumental versions) and "Put a Little Love in Your Heart," no doubt because that song featured in the Bill Murray movie "Scrooged." Mainstream 70s stuff was never my favorite genre, but these guys do a great job. Out of print, though the band does stream some stuff on their MySpace page, linked above. By the way, there's a North Jersey band that works under the name Yes Virginia but doesn't appear to have any Christmas songs, just so you're aware if you're trying to chase these guys down.
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Billed as the Hometown Heroes in honor of the WSTW-FM radio show that plays local artists, this 2006 collection is the second outing from an ad hoc group of Wilmington, Del.-Philly suburban area bands and singers on behalf of Toys For Tots. Last time around the whole cast gathered for a Band Aid cover, and this time they doubled up with "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" with a modern crunchy percussion track, returning later in the CD for a hard-rock version of the Jackie DeShannon hit "Put a Little Love in Your Heart," which I guess became a Christmas song when Annie Lennox and Al Green dueted it for the Bill Murray flick "Scrooged." Also like the last time, a few originals sneak in among the covers, among them Gina Degnars' "With Light and Love," a piano ballad with just a hint of Tori Amos; Mary Arden Collins sings the folky "Christmas Dream," a finger-picked lilt about the guy she's missing; the also-folky "I Think I've Been Good This Year" by Erik Mitchell; Lori Citro brings us the waltz "Perpetually 25," about people who don't grow up at the same rate; and Otisunk performs the garage-rock "Shopping Wonderland (Egg Nog's Revenge)," with buried lyrics about the hell of Christmas shopping. Among the covers, notice Yes Virginia's faithful "I Believe in Father Christmas," The Autumn Affair's U2-ish "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" that closes the CD, and Lights Out's doo-wopped "Silver Bells." There's a bit of jazz on here as well, with Jabari's "Little Drummer Boy" and a fusion-sounding take on "Santa Baby" by Laura Cheadle. Good value for money if you know anyone in Delaware. UPDATE: Out of print, just a few samples posted to MySpace.
This collection of tunes came from a group of musicians in the Wilmington, Del. area for Christmas 2004 as a benefit for Toys For Tots, in combination with WSTW-FM. Quality-wise it's right up there with most regional music compilations, a mix of mostly covers and traditional carols with a few originals thrown in by some of the more ambitious acts. Cover credits are inconsistent, but I'm guessing "A Day Like Christmas" by Cliff Hillis is an original. It's nice and hooky with jangly guitar, handclaps and toy piano to carry it along. Nik Everett's "No More War (At Christmas Time)" appears to be his own tune, a moderate rocker with an end to social strife on its mind. David Zumsteg's "Christmas Snow" is an instrumental in the Trans-Siberian Orchestra vein, as is Yes Virginia's version of "Silver Bells," and Lamont Penn's original "Christmas Is a Birthday" is a funk-jazz-soul ode to the title sentiment, and "The Day After Christmas" is a pop-folk original by John Pollard. Kicking off the CD is a full-cast version of "Do They Know It's Christmas," a little too on the nose and reverent of a cover, but This Year's Girl make up for it with the very next cut, a rocked-out "Here Comes Santa Claus." Seven On Sunday do a hard-rock "We Three Kings" and Smoky Greenwell and Johnny Neel knock out a harmonica-piano blues instrumental of "Away in a Manger." Appears to be out of print, although you can stream some tunes at the link in the first line of this review.
This Delaware band issued a rock 'n roll Christmas disc every year covered in the title, taking a 70s mainstream rock approach to tunes from the Christmas canon, both popular and obscure. They also throw in two non-Christmas tunes that are frequently passed off as holiday tunes, "My Favorite Things" (separate vocal and instrumental versions) and "Put a Little Love in Your Heart," no doubt because that song featured in the Bill Murray movie "Scrooged." Mainstream 70s stuff was never my favorite genre, but these guys do a great job. Out of print, though the band does stream some stuff on their MySpace page, linked above. By the way, there's a North Jersey band that works under the name Yes Virginia but doesn't appear to have any Christmas songs, just so you're aware if you're trying to chase these guys down.
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