Blue Yule
Blue Yuleis without question one of the hippest collections of rhythm & blues Christmas music ever assembled. The disc boasts the likes ofLouis Jordan,John Lee Hooker, the gospel-poweredPilgrim Travelers, andJohnnyandEdgar Winter, as well as the likes of Detroit Junior ("Christmas Day") andCanned Heat("Christmas Blues"). Lengthy even by contemporary CD standards, this 18-tracker also includesCharles Brown,Big Jack Johnson,Roy Milton, and the inscrutableLightnin' Hopkinswishing you both "Merry Christmas" and "Happy New Year." But perhaps the set's greatest gift is also it's strangest--Sonny Boy Williamson's "Santa Claus," a rousing midtempo blues-rocker with a biting harp break and weird, funky lyrics about Sonny Boy going through his wife's drawers.--Martin Keller