With a more contemporary sound than a 1920s jug band, the CJB is more of a bluesy/jazzy/rock & roll collective. Dan Hicks and Paul Rogers are the biggest names here, but followers of the California roots scene will recognize other players.

This CD is 100% fun (or maybe 92% fun...see below.) In addition to the usual folk rock instruments, they throw in kazoos, xylophone, whistles, accordion and all sorts of fun percussion.

My favorite songs are the ones that play with the Santa Claus myth.

"Santa's Workshop" is about an elf named McGurkin whose job it is to see that none of the other elves are a-shirkin'. "Come on boys/we got to make about a million toys/we got to paint some red/paint some blue/paint that one over there blue too." It's a lighthearted song and you can imagine that when "on Christmas day/we'll get our pay," they will spend half that pay on PBR.

"Hey Santa" is a sung conversation between the elves and Santa. They ask a bunch of questions he doesn't want to answer at first. Eventually, he says he and Mrs. Claus are going to go down to Florida.

"Santa Lost A Ho" might bother some people. The "ho" Santa lost is a female "doll." Those who don't find sexism funny no matter how creative it is can buy the CD and make a copy that skips this track. (That's legal as long as you keep the copy and the original CD.) Howard Stern fans will enjoy the song and wonder what the fuss is all about. Fans of "The Diceman" will need the jokes explained to them.

This is almost as secular as you can get and still be a Christmas CD. Christ is only referred to once, in Silent Night, which is the last track on the CD.

This was recorded in the 1980s, so it will not kick your ass like Charles' work in the 60s. Still, it's really good. Ray is in great voice and that's about all you need to know.

This CD is full of Christmas standards mostly done in soul or big band jazz arrangements. Some tracks feature strings and one even has pedal steel.

And you get the original version of "Baby, It's Cold Ouside" with Betty Carter. This song belongs in every record collection.

Rev. Horton Heat are one of the top modern 60's-influenced rockabilly bands. If you're not familiar with that style, imagine the Batman theme done with a slightly swinging beat.

In fact, the Batman theme is on this CD, incorporated into "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town."

The whole CD is uptempo and lots of fun. It would be great for a party, especially if your friends have sideburns.

I swear this is a great CD. Most people wrote Ringo off around 1974. In the late '80s, he sobered up, found a good producer, and started making decent albums again.

It's charming, occasionally funny, rocks once in a while.

This CD was originally titled "I Wanna Be Santa Claus." One spine said "Ringo Starr - I Wanna Be Santa Claus." The other spine read "Santa Claus -I Wanna Be Ringo Starr." That kind of dare-to-be-dumb humor is one of the things that makes the disc so special.

If you are a parent who overdoes Christmas and wraps presents all night, put on the first track "Come On Christmas" while your partner is making coffee. Sure, it's a dumb song. Don't worry about it.

He couldn't NOT do "The Little Drummer Boy," right? The arrangement is kept interesting by adding an instrument that belongs in Bethlehem as much as sonw does. It makes sense if you think about it though. I won't spoil the surprise by telling you what it is. (I will send a free copy to the first person who guesses the mystery instrument. Click on contact the lensmaster near my picture.)

"Christmastime Is Here Again" from the Beatles 1967 fan club record isn't much of a song, but if someone should cover it, it ought to be Ringo.

"Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" is a perfect song for Ringo and this is a great version. (It definitely beats Paul's version on the b-side of "Wonderful Christmastime.") During recording, Ringo screwed up the lyrics and laughed. It's a nice moment and we are lucky the left it on the master. Near the end of the song, he sings "Ringo the red-nosed reindeer."

"The Christmas Dance" is just a plain catch up-tempo love song.

I guess they thought it would be funny to put steel drums in "Winter Wonderland."

This CD isn't going to impress your friend who keeps asking you if you read yesterday's Times, but it's a lot of fun. If you are one of the generation that got a Beatles album every Christmas, you ought to own this.

***Disclaimer: Don't belive a word I say. I saw Caveman three times - IN THE THEATER. That's my son at the top of the page, listening to Ringo's 2005 CD with headphones.***

This CD covers a lot of ground, but so has Jorma throughout his career.

The opening track is a finger-style folk/blues instrumental.

Next up is "Christmas Rule," which is a story Jorma tells over more fingerpicking (like "Alice's Restaurant" but with more complicated music.) Jorma's fire was too high so Santa's sleigh catches fire and crashes in his yard. Santa commandeers Jorma and his pickup to help him deliver toys that night. It's a charming story and would fit really well on the Christmas Jug Band CD on shuffle. Warning: the word "pissed" as in "boy was he pissed" is used several times in this song.

There are a couple mellow tunes and two long electric jams.

This is another good party CD because a lot of it is instrumental. The mellow moments act as nice contrast to the rest of the CD and they aren't long enough to put your guests to sleep.

Jethro Tull - Jethro Tull Christmas Album

What an original title. Tull has aged pretty well compared to other bands who peaked in the 70s--they can still make good music. This CD reminds one of "Songs From The Wood," not just because of the presence of two songs from that album, but because of the dominance of acoustic instruments plus synth. There is nothing like "Locomotive Breath" here. The tracks fans will recongnize from earlier Tull albums are all re-recordings.

Singer Ian Anderson has always been pretty critical of organized Christianity, so why is he making a Christmas album? I don't know. Ask Barbara Streisand. (Actually, read the liner notes. Anderson's notes are always entertaining and he goes into that a bit here.)

Moody Blues - December

I haven't heard this one. As much as I love The Moodies, I don't think I have bought any of their albums since "The Other Side Of Life" from 1986. It's easy enough to imagine them doing a decent job. Maybe someone will get it for me so I can write a review.

December People - Sounds Like Christmas

This is billed as a prog rock Christmas album. If you haven't listened to prog since Peter Gabriel left Genesis, the only name you might recognize is Robert Berry from Three, a Greg Lake-less version of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. (In fact, one of the synth sounds in "Little Drummer Boy" sounds just like the trumpet from the opening of Emerson, Lake & Powell's "Touch & Go.")

Since this isn't the "Let's argue about what prog rock is" lens, I'll just say that the people who will like CD the most probably like Queen and Kansas in addition to whatever else they like. It has what you would expect: complex arrangements, flashy playing, and pretension (remember that's a good thing in art rock.)

Fans of the Soft Machine strain of prog might find this overproduced and miss the lack of improvisation.