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Our Review

Most of the time you won't even think you're listening to a Christmas record when you take the time to hear Everett Bradley's Toy. It reads like R&B-flavored pop most of the time, with a jazzy duet thrown in here and there, along with some unforgettable beat-poet rap. But despite the non-seasonal ambience, most of Bradley's subject matter is Christmas. Featuring, toys, sugar cookies, mistletoe, and even a funky Santa, Bradley has arranged a dazzling tableau of holiday impressions. The result is an impressively original take on the holiday season, one that avoids cliché and overwrought renditions of music we've all heard, and cuts to the heart of the season with clever arrangements and contemporary idiom.

Although possibly a product of formal musical training, Bradley's lyricism has the look and feel of natural talent. His work obviously influenced by stints with Quincy Jones and Stevie Wonder, Bradley's own lyrical acuity--both as a writer and as a singer of his own lyrics--is uniquely entertaining. Particularly impressive is his stylistic versatility, as much at home with traditional Jazz scales (such as his sensual and sensuous duet, Sugar Cookies, with Ann Hampton Callaway) as with the almost Manilow-pop Over the Holidays.

But I am a Christmas purist, so my favorite on the record was the spoken word Xmas Into Christmas, a prescription for remembering the reason for the season. This wonderful verse was followed immediately by the undeniably catchy affirmation Then, with its unforgettable mantra "Then all the reindeer loved him…" Next, comes the haunting Mistletoe All Over, a pop anthem with real holiday hit potential.

There's more, a lot more, and plenty of room for any particular focus group to pick from a half-dozen stylish cuts to be the hit single, including the aforementioned Funky Santa, performed as a duet with Richie Sambora. There's something here for just about everyone, in other words.

--Richard Banks
(Reviewed in 2002)

More

From the liner notes:

Multi-talented Everett Bradley has made a name for himself on Broadway, and elsewhere, as an instrumentalist, actor, dancer, and songwriter. Here are a couple of a links concerning his many accomplishments, and to some of his other work.

Everett Bradley

Toy

Artist link

Track List