Sugar Beats Christmas
Kids under 10 can take only so muchBing Crosbyat Christmastime, so the Sugar Beats, like a tuneful troop of Santa's elves, have set up shop and assembled a sleighful of their trademark retro-pop good cheer.A Sugar Beats Christmasfinds Sherry Goffin Kondor's precocious cast, last heard banishing the backseat blahs onCar Tunes, taking the straightforward approach to Yuletide bopping on standards like "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," "Silver Bells," and "Everyone's a Kid at Christmas Time." But on other familiar tracks they cut loose: "Jingle Bell Rock" mimics monster hit "Mambo No. 5"; "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" takes a spin on the dance floor, kicked up with a techno beat; and "Chipmunks Christmas Song" subs singer Jonathan for Alvin as the slacker of the hopped-up-on-helium bunch. The "Up on the Rooftop/Jingle Bells Medley" and "Christmas Tree Song" play like private Sugar Beats parties, but what really puts the partridge in the pear tree on this set is a deliciously naughty knockoff of "I'll Be a Little Angel"--it trumps even obvious Sugar Beats selections like "Little Saint Nick" and "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." Jack Frost himself couldn't have concocted a breezier, more Santa-boot-stomping holiday CD.--Tammy La Gorce