Our Review
Thanksgiving is tomorrow, which means Christmastime is nigh. Just in time for peak Christmas season comes Seasonal Favorites, Double Crown Records' great new reissue of 16 tracks by surf and garage bands originally released in 2000, along with three totally new bonus tracks. I don't know how I managed to miss this one the first time it came out, but I'm enjoying listening to it now.
Some of these songs are old favorites, some are brand new. Some are recorded straight up, while others are mixed together in strange ways. For example, Sigue Sigue X-Mas features a surf rocking Jingle Bells, with lots of overdubs of Jimmy Stewart (from It's a Wonderful Life), Lorne Green and other postmodern weird stuff. I love postmodern weird stuff!
A number of retro rock styles are represented here, including surf rock, roots rock, rockabilly, hawaiian, and 60s. One of my favorite tracks was a sweet Beach Boys-inspired number entitled Christmas Is A Drag by The Tacoma Four. This tune is no drag at all. There's also a nice Dick Dale-ish rendition of Little Drummer Boy
In all honesty, I didn't hear anything I didn't enjoy on this release. Fans of early rock rock and roll forms (and who isn't a fan of early rock and roll forms?!) will enjoy this rare release. This is a baby boomer's delight.
--Richard Banks
(Reviewed in 2006)
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From the liner notes:
Art direction: Johnny Bartlett, Calif.
From the Double Crown Records MySpace site:
Double Crown Records got it's start in late 1996 as Continental Records in Bellingham, WA. After a few releases by The Penetrators, The Boss Martians and The Del-Vamps it was discovered that there are several other labels called Continental, so the name was changed to Double Crown. From that point on we've released 3-5 CD's/7"s per year and have a total of about 30 releases. Over the years we have also put out a fanzine called The Continental Magazine, which has 36-48 pages and a 20-30 track CD sampler.
Various Artists
Seasonal Favorites,
Vol. 1
Artist link
Label: Double Crown Records
Length: 49 minutes
Genre: Rock
Release: 2006
Track List
| Song Title | Artist |
|---|---|
| Sleigh Ride | Jon & The Nightriders |
| It's Christmas Time | The Boss Martians |
| Mistletoe Twist | The Neptunas |
| Sigue Sigue X-Mas | Girl Trouble |
| Carol Of The Bells | Death Valley |
| SIlent Night | Los Mel-Tones |
| We Wish You A Merry Xmas | The Aqualads |
| Santa Claus Go To The Ghetto | Frigg A Go Go |
| Have Yourself A Merry Little Xmas | Del Noah & The Finks |
| Rocknuts | The Lunatics |
| Living Doll | The Firebirds |
| Scrooge | The Heatscores |
| Christmas Is A Drag | The Tacoma Four |
| Kang On Rudolph | The Ebineezer Scrooge Appreciation Society |
| Little Drummer Boy | The Bonesharks |
| Christmas Island | The Space Cossacks |
| Jingle Bells | The Bitch Boys |
| We Three Kings | Urban Surf Kings |
| Santa Claus Goes Surfin' | The Surfites |