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Traditional? No. Fun? You bet!
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This review first appeared in Turbula in December 2006.
Southern power-pop pioneers the dB's recorded an album of Christmas music with some of their friends two decades ago, releasing it on a small, independent label. On vinyl. And it quickly disappeared.
The band has taken those original tracks, added some new ones, added some new friends, and reissued the whole thing on CD. The result is a fun, low-key alt-Christmas album, as quirky as it isn't traditional.
From the urgent reading of "I Saw Three Ships" by Don Dixon (R.E.M.'s producer) to Alex Chilton's original "Jesus Christ" to the dB's "Christmas Time," the theme of the album is Christmas music for those who aren't much for egg nog and Dickens. The music is often beautiful and occasionally challenging, but consistenly fun.