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Our Review

Whoa, are those horses' hooves or bongos I hear? (Those are bongos, and they belong to Louie Appel.) Wow, I may never think about Sleigh Ride in quite the same way again. And that's just for openers. Jon Graboff's arrangement of Brian Wilson's Merry Christmas Baby is one of the finest songs I've heard this year.

Graboff's own Christmas Shopping deserves mention. A jazzy tribute to Vince Guaraldi's Skating it adopts just the right mixture of melancholy and anticipation that goes with last-minute Christmas shopping.

Stylistically eclectic and pleasing to the ear, this is exactly what a Christmas record should be: taking a few liberties, having some fun, stepping out. Taking the most liberties was the Laura Cantrell tune Bombay Noel (Too Late for Tonight), with its electric sitar its pedal steel, and its pop country sound. Honorable mention goes to Andy Partridge's Thanks for Christmas. Both of these are the kind of uniqifiers that make for a memorable holiday record (or any other kind of record, for that matter).

--Richard Banks
(Reviewed in 2002)

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From the liner notes:

Jon Graboff gets a lot of work as a pedal steel and guitar player with other well-known artists, artists such as Kelly Willis, Laura Cantrell, and Bobby Bare, Jr., among others. He is also formerly a member of the legendary '80s band, Beat Rodeo.

Artists appearing on For Christ's Sake are Louie Appel, bongos, drums, percussion; Dennis Diken, drums, percussion; Steve Alcott, acoustic bass; Dave Amels, piano, Hammond organ; Andrew Carillo, electric guitar, acoustic guitar; Rick Tiven, violins; Jeremy Chatzky, Fender bass; Paul Scher, tenor and baritone saxophones; and Steve Lobmeier, tambourines.

Jon Graboff

For Christ's Sake

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Track List