Review and More

Our Review

What is always the same about Gary Hoey's Christmas music is the energy, the thoughtful arrangements, and his mastery of ampflified rock and roll guitar. What's always different about it is everything else. Hoey has learned from the best rock guitarists of our generation and adds to the mix an electrified and electrifying sound that leaves no doubt you are listening to a great rocker.

This is Hoey's third Christmas visit and, based on my familiarity with his earlier titles, my expectations were quite high. He does not disappoint. Evoking a variety of moods, Hoey performs a mix of sacred and secular tunes, each so different from the last that I had to sit up and pay attention at the beginning of every song.

Highlights: I loved the sentimental, almost acoustic arrangement of The First Noel, featuring Hoey on both electric guitar and synthesizer. Later, the mood he achieves on We Wish You a Merry Christmas is perfectly mellow. Then, Hoey allows his imagination and his guitar to run amok on the final track, his own Cookies and Egg Nog. Hoey includes a brief homage to a different rock legend on every cut. Half the fun is listening for this and enjoying an "ah ha" moment when you get it.

It wouldn't be Christmas without Hoey in your stocking. And for the three-stocking home, there's also Ho! Ho! Hoey and Ho! Ho! Hoey II. Collect the entire set.

--Richard Banks
(Reviewed in 2000)

More

From the liner notes:

During the 1990s Gary Hoey established himself as one of the premier rock guitarists of his generation. Able to adopt the styles of all of the great rockers, he has established himself particularly in the "surf guitar" genre, so much so that he was chosen to score Bruce Brown's Endless Summer II in 1994. He also has made something of a cottage industry of rock Christmas recordings, having recorded Ho! Ho! Hoey (1995), Ho! Ho! Hoey II (1997), Ho! Ho! Hoey 3 (1999), and The Best of Ho! Ho! Hoey (2001).

Gary Hoey

Ho! Ho! Hoey 3

Artist link

Track List