From 2007, this is a two-disc bargain compilation of Christmas songs recorded by Latin and Spanish artists going back several decades. Salsa, Afro-Cuban, Latin jazz and soul, you name it, it's here. Yes, it's not quite rock, but it's great stuff to listen to. Whether this fits your conception of Christmas probably depends on whether you understand Spanish -- otherwise you might flip out your holiday guests with a full evening of south of the border dance music. Those of you who follow this music might recognize such performers as Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe -- in fact, those two combine for several tunes here -- plus Johnny Ventura, Cheo Feliciano, Ramito, Sonora Poncena, Ismael Rivera, Santitos Colon, and more.
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From 2007, this is a two-disc bargain compilation of Christmas songs recorded by Latin and Spanish artists going back several decades. Salsa, Afro-Cuban, Latin jazz and soul, you name it, it's here. Yes, it's not quite rock, but it's great stuff to listen to. Whether this fits your conception of Christmas probably depends on whether you understand Spanish -- otherwise you might flip out your holiday guests with a full evening of south of the border dance music. Those of you who follow this music might recognize such performers as Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe -- in fact, those two combine for several tunes here -- plus Johnny Ventura, Cheo Feliciano, Ramito, Sonora Poncena, Ismael Rivera, Santitos Colon, and more.
So how do people who've only ever seen snow on television, if then, celebrate Christmas? This 1992 compilation goes a long way toward answering that question. The songs here run from the early 1960s to the 90s and include some catchy numbers, like Lord Nelson's "A Party for Santa Claus" and Machel's "Soca Santa," probably the only song in which Santa trades his sleigh not for a Cadillac, but "a big time Toyota." Jacob Miller and Ray I do a reggae turn on "Deck the Halls" and Carlene Davis and Trinity change James Brown's demand into a question in "Santa Claus (Do You Ever Come to the Ghetto)." And James Spence's "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" sounds like an Alan Lomax field holler, but at least it isn't played in Phil Spector's arrangement yet again. A big chunk of the album is an 18-minute medley of Christmas songs in French by Eddy Gustave, which isn't bad but goes on way too long to suit me. Still worthwhile holiday listening, especially if your Christmases include lots of sand, sun and rum. Out of print, but the Amazon page (click album cover) still offers 30-second samples.
This now-out-of-print 2000 disc is subtitled "Christmas From the Latin Lounge," and that last word is key; better than half the stuff on here is basically lounge music, although the "mambo" part of the title does come into play as well. Some of the giants of that genre, such as Hugo Winterhalter and Esquivel, are here, and some 50s R&B pays a visit too, such as The Enchanters' "Mambo Santa Mambo" and "Rockin' 'J' Bells" by Little Bobby Rey, who returns later in the album with a Latin-flavored "Corrido de Auld Lang Syne." Bill Darnel and The Smith Brothers do a white-bread version of "We Wanna See Santa Do The Mambo," at least compared to Big John Greer's version, preserved on Rhino's Hipsters' Holiday CD. Steve Allen, the late great Steverino himself, contributes an original, "How Can Santa Come to Puerto Rico," performed by Ricky Vera. Jimmy Boyd, the 1950s pre-pubescent king of Christmas, is here with "I Saw Mommy Do the Mambo (With You Know Who)." An often-used Latin number, Augie Rios' "Donde Esta Santa Claus," makes another apperance here, and Pittsburgh's favorite sons The Flashcats treat us to the only modern-day track, "December Twenty 5," a parody of Lou Bega's "Mambo No. 5." Copious liner notes in the Rhino tradition are contributed by Eddie Gorodetsky, better known to Christmas collectors as Eddie G.
