So, I bought this album, our 2023 sharing debut, for a buck at a used record store this past Summer. Why, you may ask? Take a look at the cover, and at the track list. Notice anything a little unusual for a Christmas record? What the heck? My interest was piqued, so I forked over the buck, foregoing one fifth of a venti latte to be sipped later.
To quote Jack Benny, Well.
There is no "When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide". No stopping and turning and going for a ride. No blistahs on my fingas.
It turns out the Peppermint Kandy Kids version of "Helter Skelter" is some other song. Semi-intelligible, like every other song on the record, because they are all sung by a children's choir. I might double-quotate "choir", but that might be mean, so I won't.
If you're fond of children's choir recordings, maybe this share will make your day, because every song is by the same bunch of kids. If you're fond of children's choirs singing a handful of songs you've probably never heard before and probably won't hear again, like "Ho Ho It's Christmas", "Twinkle the Tiniest Reindeer", and "The Reindeer They Left Behind", then by all means download away. If you're looking for the perfect album to clear the house of the stay-too-long folks at your Christmas party, here it is. If you have hard drive space that you need to use up, that's another good reason to download this.
An alternative would be to go to your local elementary school's Christmas program and listen to the kids choirs live. Probably more enjoyable, and there's a good chance you could buy some Christmas cookies at the post-concert bake sale. (Word of Warning [based on a true story]: If they start singing Go Where I Send Thee, you're locked in to all eight verses for what seems like an hour).
Now, I seem all curmudgeonly here, so let me wrap up with some positive things. The artwork is pretty cool - very kids-oriented, but still pretty neat. Rudolph on the cover folds out, although there's just blue behind it. And I'm sure the Peppermint Kandy Kids had a good time when they were singing for the record. They do sing with energy, for sure. Not quite the energy of the kids on Petula Clark's "Where Did My Snowman Go?", but that energy could power Wyoming for 3 weeks. And finally, I never say "that music is bad", because someone out there likes it. It just may not be for me. And that's the case here - Peppermint Kandy Kids is just not my thing.
So, download and enjoy, or not :-) I guarantee that the rest of the shares this year will be more enjoyable.
I kind of like the PKK.
ReplyDeleteSo, this is interesting. I have two other copies of this title (one mono, one stereo) and they have an ENTIRELY different track listing... Not surprised, with these budget records. But it goes to show you can't assume you have the same music even though you have the "same" record.
ReplyDelete