We're not kidding - here's a whole album of BRAVE
COMBO performing their uniquely mutated versions of your favorite
and soon-to-be-favorite holiday songs! Originally recorded for a Japanese
label, the album was so much fun that Rounder Records couldn't help
but release it in the states. Brave Combo's ingenious musical juxtapositions
capture the holiday spirit at its merriest - imagine a ska arrangement
of "The Christmas Song," or "O, Christmas Tree"
as a samba.
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah everybody -
we hope you enjoy singing and dancing along.
1. Must Be Santa
POLKA (Moore/Fredericks)
2. 0, Christmas
Tree SAMBA (Trad. German
folk song/Amsco Music Publishing)
3. It's Christmas
CHA CHA (Finch/No Class
Music, BMI)
4. Corrido Navideño
RANCHERA (Hernandez/Don
Cenobio Music, BMI)
5. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts) SKA
(Torme and Wells/Edwin H. Morris)
6. Christmas In
July (Hernandez and Barnes/Don Cenobio Music,
BMI)
7. Please Come Home For Christmas (Brown
and Red/Fort Knox Music, BMI)
8. Hanukkah, Hanukkah HORA
(Trad.)
9. Frosty the Snowman (Trad.)
10. The Little Drummer Boy GUAGUANCO (Davis,
Onorati, Simeone/Mills Music, Inc.)
11. Santa's
Polka POLKA (Hernandez
and Barnes/Don Cenobio Music, BMI)
12. Feliz Navidad CUMBIA (Feliciano/J
& H Publishing Co.)
13. Ave Maria (Shubert/Carl
Fisher, Ind.)
14. Buon Natale
WALTZ (Saffer and Linale/Ivan
Mogull)
15. Jingle Bells (Trad.)
We never considered recording a Christmas album before. Everyone had
already heard most of the famous songs enough for a lifetime and the
challenge to make them fresh would be immense. Plus, Brave Combo walks
a pretty thin line between novelty and serious anyway. A Christmas
album would just never have Crossed our minds. However, in early 1991,
during our second trip to Japan, a man from P-Vine Records asked us
if we would be interested in the idea. "What, an album of Japanese
Christmas music?" I asked. "No, there are no Japanese Christmas
songs," he replied, which meant to me that he wanted an album
of standard melodies and songs that Americans hear and sing every
winter. It seems that Christmas is a big holiday in Japan as well,
stripped of all religious significance: a time of indulgent buying
and gift-giving (a Japanese art) when Jesus Christ is acknowledged,
but no more important an icon than Frosty, the Snowman. The idea was
definitely interesting. We could choose a bunch of our favorite Christmas
songs, mutate them into new shapes and release them in Japan only.
Plus P-Vine had big plans. They would re-release it every year and
perhaps it would become a classic. If the album came out too corny
for jaded western ears, it wouldn't matter. No one in the U.S. would
even have to know about it.
We decided to do it! It was strange recording
Christmas music in the early summer and working out arrangements for
sunburned audiences. But Brave Combo thrives on bizarre juxtapositions.
Upon its release in December, 1991, we toured Japan again and played
songs mainly from this album, and even shared the stage with a fully-decorated
Christmas tree. Watching the efficient road crew carefully pack up
that tree and load it into the equipment truck every night was worth
the whole experience. The project had become the perfect Brave Combo
thing to do after all, so we offered it to Rounder. They wanted to
release it and suggested an addition: A Hanukkah song. This was no
problem; horas are one of our specialties.
So, all year I've been anticipating this moment.
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah everybody! We've assembled a fine
assortment of holiday standards and even composed four brand new Christmas
songs. This is Brave Combo at its seasonal best. We hope you enjoy
dancing and singing along.
It's
Christmas, Man!