Rockabilly Xmas
This is the real deal, original 50s rockabilly Christmas singles, not a single re-creation in the bunch. The liner notes aren't real comprehensive, but they do list the original label and serial number of every one of the 30 songs, along with photographs of some of the actual labels. In some cases, both sides of the same single appear here, like Johnny Preston's(I Want a) Rock 'n Roll Guitar, which takes off fromNight Before Christmas, andNew Baby For Christmas. If you don't know much about original rockabilly, you'll hear the many influences of rockabilly, some more country, some swing, others more rock, still others pop and novelty records. Not to mention a few borrowed licks from some non-Christmas tunes of the period and a few imitations of more famous artists. The period recording quality and tape hiss on some of these might put off the young'uns, but there are lots of great candidates for a Christmas mix on here. An interesting artifact is the Outlaws' version ofRun Rudolph Runwith a writing credit to Chuck Berry shown on a picture of the original label.Rock Around the Christmas Treeby Big Bud is not the familiar song, but it's just as good. The Cadillac fixation lives on with The Four Imperials'Santa's Got a Coupe de Villeand Little Joey Farr'sBig White Cadillac. Barry Richards'Baby Sittin' Santaand Marlene Paul'sI Wanna Spend Christmas With Elvisare probably the best-known tunes here. Oldies fans will snarf this up, but everybody's likely to find something they like on this collection. - Mistletunes