Ringo Starr I Wanna Be Santa Claus-Fun Listen

Every year, I try to listen to all my Christmas CD's. Ringo's cd seems to spend a little more time in the player cuz it's such a fun listen. The only real misstep for me is the pseudo-reggae White Christmas. I think this album is a mini gem in Ringo's catalog. Anybody else dig Ritchie's Christmas record?

 

Yes, it's cool. I wish he could get rid of his All-Starr band and repertory and make a mix of all his stuff. Including, Santa.

 

I too think it's a fun listen. I found an original Mercury copy in the used bins last month and gave it to my son. Anyone know if the reissue is a clone of the original?

 

My 4.5-year-old girls can't get enough of Rudolph, Drummer Boy, and Blue Christmas. They especially love the line "Rudolph the Red Nosed Ringo." And we're Jewish.

 

I love the version of Little Drummer Boy on here with the bagpipes and Beatles-esque drum fills.

 

I love this album too!

 

I've always been a fan of Ring's Christmas album. It's a good one!

Yes, It's identical except for the cover.

 

You know, I'm so sick of hearing Xmas music everywhere I go these past few weeks that I've held off on unpacking my own Xmas music stash. Maybe I'll do it tonight & start with Ringo's CD. Thanks for the reminder. Always liked this one, almost like a Fabs Xmas album surfacing 30 years after the fact.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS to our gracious host, posters & lurkers...and to all, a good night!!!

 

I like this one, too, his voice is in fine form, and the songs are great. I first found this in a used record store as a promo CD.

 

Sweet promo, I've never seen that one before.

 

I agree that Ringo's Christmas album is cool. Any fan of Ringo's solo output would enjoy this disc.

 

I've been playing this, and Bob Dylan's Xmas album, in my car all this week.

 

Sorry - I can't resist chiming in with a dissenting opinion. Here's some thoughts on the album that I wrote shortly after it's release. A dozen years on, I don't think I'd change a word:

I'll give you the negative buzz on it (which would appear to put me in the minority, judging from recent discussions about it here), and I'm sure someone else can tell you how wonderful it is.

First off, let me say I LOVED Vertical Man. I thought it was far
better than anything he'd done in recent years (aside from the awful
(IMO) version of Love Me Do). So I had reasonably high hopes that
Mark Hudson could produce another winning album. That said, I was
really astounded by how bad I thought the new album was. Whereas VMan
had at least 5 songs I'd consider putting on a "various" tape for
friends, I find none here. It's incredibly "cutesy" with spoken-word
bits, overly sweet backing vocals, including that most tiresome
cliche, a "children's choir" (gag!) on one song. And the original
songs lack all of the spark of the VM songs. A quick rundown:

Come on Christmas, Christmas Come On--the title sums up virtually all
of the lyrics to this tuneless wonder. It's loud, it rocks, but it
doesn't have a melody, and it doesn't have anything to say (other than
the title about 49 times).

Winter Wonderland--this one almost worked for me. At the end, they
segue into "I Was Walkin'" which is either clever, or shamelessly
self-promoting (I haven't quite decided yet). Still, the overkill of
backing vocals and sound effects that Mark Hudson lays on just makes
it too sweet to handle. And the "merry christmas, merry christmas,
merry christmas to you" ending is totally unnecessary.

I Wanna Be Santa Claus--this is the one where two kids join in on the
backing vocals (along with more of Hudson's sugary sweet overkill).
It almost makes his "Where Did Our Love Go" cover from Bad Boy seem
tolerable...

The Little Drummer Boy--the mock Back Off Boogaloo intro is amusing,
but Ringo's sings it so straight, it's just painful. I like the IDEA
of using bagpipes on this song, but I don't think they got it quite
right. More excessive harmonies from Mr. Hudson, too...

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer--Cutesy, cutesy, cutesy. Especially
the bit at the end where they start singing "Ringo the red nosed
reindeer." Oh, and Hudson's backing vocals echo damn near every line
that Ringo sings. And then there's Ringo's spoken-word middle. Need
I say more?

Christmas Eve--This is the tender lost love ballad on the album.
Perhaps it was George Martin's orchestration, but I actually thought
"I'm Yours" worked reasonably well on VM. So, I'm not averse to
Ritchie doing ballads, but this is abysmal. The opening verse is
nearly as horrible as "Husbands and Wives" from '74, but sadly, it
never acheives that level of unintentional humor/entertainment. It's
just bad, and it goes on too long, with a decidedly amateurish string
arrangement, to boot...

The Christmas Dance--sort of a rockabilly thing, here (kind of like
the VM outtake "Good News"). And this one almost works, too. There's
some nice understated sax work here, and it's a bouncy little number,
where Hudson doesn't go over the top till the last 15 seconds or so.
Probably my favorite on the album.

Christmas Time is Here Again--Here's a relatively faithful remake of
the Fabs "song" (though Ringo sings "Been around since you know when"
as opposed to "Ain't been round since you know when"--a grammar
crusade, perhaps?). But why bother to record this one? Four minutes
and five seconds of something that should be a throwaway is just
simply ... overkill, once again. Oh, and there's more spoken-word
stuff from Ringo ("Peace & Love, everybody," etc.). I just hope he's
kidding when he yells out "Sing it for Jesus! Jesus Loves Ya!"...

Blue Christmas--Lots of pedal steel guitar on this very country-esque
version of the Presley number. Again, lots of layered "oohs" and
"ahhs" from the Mark Hudson Tabernacle Choir here too. Reminds me a
bit of Ringo's version of Sure to Fall from many years ago (which
isn't a real personal favorite).

Dear Santa--A 50's sounding original, with cranky sax, and a tempo not
dissimilar to "Bad Boy." If it were about half as long (it runs an
excruciating 5:11), it might be tolerable.

White Christmas--this one brought a genuine smile to my lips. A
Caribbean/Reggae version of "White Christmas." Now, that's fairly
clever. However, the spoken-word middle isn't funny (AGAIN!), Ringo,
and it kills what might have made for an enjoyable tune.

Pax Um Biscum (Peace Be With You)--this one's a true surprise. A
droning, Eastern-influenced thing that you might have expected George
to produce, circa '69. However, that doesn't make it good. Ringo
wails "Merry Christmas" whilst the Hudson backing vocals chant-sing
Xmas wishes in different languages. Oh, and Barbara and "Ritchie"
tell each other they love each other (over what sounds like a bad
cell-phone connection). Pretty damn strange...

I listened to it twice the week it came out, and haven't touched it
since (aside from listening to bits as I wrote this). Oh, and please
don't anyone tell me I need to "give it time." If anything, I should
"give it away." But I'd never do something so cruel during the
Christmas season ;-) ​

 

Apart from the first and last tracks, I love it!

 

Ringo's take on Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer appeared on BBC TV's University Challenge earlier in the week! Nobody recognised him!

 

Regarding the Xmas Time Is Here Again remake, its quite good and faithful to the original, with really good fidelity and clarity. There is a mash up by some beatles fan, and in effect you get another reunion recording, its fantastic, because you get a mostly Ringo Lead vocal in immpecable fidelity, but you also have all the Beatles singing and playing, and its like a gift, the two recordings are so similar, I wonder if they pulled the Beatles version up on the cans and played to it when they cut the remake

 

I just enjoy the album for what it is, and don't take it too seriously.

 

I love it too.. pretty much all of it. just wish it wasn't BRICKWALLED!!!

 

Thanks for posting this, as I'd forgotten about it, and haven't spun it all season.

 

I love it and play it every year at some point. I love the fact that there are several originals and his drumming is great throughout. He really captures the spirit of Joy that Christmas is supposed to be about.

 

A funny Ringo/Paul xmas parody.......

 

Love it.


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