Just Say Noel

Good cheer is in limited supply among alt-rockers, but Just Say Noel is a small, charming garland with a couple of solidly terrific originals: Beck's long, loony "The Little Drum Machine Boy" takes a few well-known lines and spirals off into a groovy stream of consciousness, and Elastica's "Gloria" is one of their finest rockers. There are some unexpected cover choices, too: the Roots do De La Soul's grim "Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa," and Sonic Youth dig up Martin Mull's "Santa Doesn't Cop Out on Dope." Beyond that, the disc is split between warm renditions of well-known numbers and overproduced goop, but Ted Hawkins's deep, wrenching solo version of "Amazing Grace" shouldn't be missed. --Douglas Wolk Amazon.com

Merry Christmas, David Geffen!

This is another Christmas compilation album. It is an odd mixture of tunes. There are a couple of great songs; those being "Christmastime" by Aimee Mann & Michael Penn and "Thanks For Christmas" by XTC. Also notable is "The Little Drum Machine Boy" by Beck, which starts off well but runs too long at seven minutes length. The rest of the songs are not really anything special. Particularly bad is Wendy & Lisa's awful song from that awful movie Toys. But the good songs I mentioned save it from being a complete disaster. December 7, 2007

Worst than a skiing holiday, better than socks

This was recommended to me by a friend with unusual taste in music and, given that, I wasn't suprised by the truly bizarre mix of tracks here. Its not consistently festive, conistently alternative, consistently good, or consistently anything else to be honest, but there are some gems buried here. The Beck opener is a solid track, not one of his best but no embaressment. The Sonic Youth track (a cover) is...interesting. Not one of their most tuneful, and thats saying something. The rest vary between cheesy 70s-style pop (XTC), mournful wrist-slitters (Remy Zero) and some delicately beautiful melodies (especially the dated but brilliant Posies number). Definitely worth a look if you can get it cheap, and a nice alternative to the usual Christmas suspects - just don't expect any miracles. December 12, 2005

com"YULE"ation Cleric : Just Say Ohhh~Welll

Like the indispensable fruitcake this com"YULE"ation of late 9o`s alt-minstrels will remain fresh long after the Tannebaum turns brown. Modern-millennial-mirth-makers may even refer to these recordings as time-honored classics for many have such originalty. As it stands now, this disc is anchored by the Top Ten cross-genra track "Thanks for Christmas" from XTC, which also receives multiple inclusion elsewhere. But by no means is that the only starlight, as these songs grow on ya. If the listener enjoys a smorgasbord of stylings they`ll thrill with this discovery under the tree. Merrily Mix tracks 1,2,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,and 12. Post Script: I would like to thank the elfxecutive producers for "LAYing YOUR HANDS ON ME" by packaging songs from so many labels that benfit~ "A camera in the Right Hands at the Right Time at the Right Place can be more powerful than tanks and guns. Let the truth do the fighting." - Peter Gabriel. Posted Script: While riding this seasonal sleigh I`ve noted that paid rock critics and rock industry mucky-mucks tend to lack sincerity more so than thier contemporaries. In a true new millennium there would be more than just a handful of offerings each year.***buyit*saveit*sharemost*giveit*donateit*** June 28, 2001

Get only if you are a Beck fanatic

The Xmas tunes on this compilation are weak. The Beck tune is cool, but the other tunes are passable. November 14, 2000

Much better than it sounds

Better than it has any right to be, this collection of unusual Xmas songs by Beck, Sonic Youth, Xtc and others puts the SPECIAL CHRISTMAS cd's for Special Olypmics to shame. Be forewarned, though--you need a sense of humor to appreciate these sometimes twisted Christmas songs. December 19, 1998

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