When this tasty little concoction was first released
by Mercury in 1999, the album was called 'I Wanna Be
Santa Claus,' the title of one of its best tunes. But
when it became part of Universal Music's "Christmas
Collection" series of CDs, it became simply "The
Christmas Collection," just like all the others. But
in a lot of ways, it's not like all the others, mainly
because it's by an ex-Beatle.

Ringo doesn't get the critical attention bestowed on
the other Beatles, probably because he's not the
songwriter the others were, and his "artistic
pretensions" are on a slightly lower scale. Ringo's
music is simply fun to listen to, and for some people,
that's just not enough to take him seriously as an
"artist." But I don't think Ringo cares about being
taken seriously; he just wants you to join him in
having some fun. And there are times when you just
want to put "Revolution" to one side and listen to
"Octopus' Garden" instead.

I have to admit that when I heard the opening of the
first tune, "Come On Christmas, Christmas Come On," my
first thought was, uh oh, this one's way over-produced
(by Ringo and Mark Hudson). But I kept listening and
eventually got into the spirit of the thing. It's
bombastic, yes, but once I started listening, I
couldn't stop. Once Ringo & Co. (including Aerosmith
guitarist Joe Perry on two songs) get under your skin,
you're hooked. Perry plays on "Christmas Time Is Here
Again," which was recorded by the Beatles for a
limited edition, which I believe was only for their
fan club, though airplay was naturally unavoidable.
Ringo's solo gig expands on the song quite a bit, with
Perry's guitar solo a nice centerpiece. His other
number is "Pax Um Biscum (Peace Be With You)," which
closes the album.

Highlights in between include 'Winter Wonderland,"
with a wonderful Huey Smith-style piano intro; "The
Little Drummer Boy," which is not like any recording
of this song you've heard in the past; "Rudolph the
Red-Nosed Reindeer," guaranteed to get anyone's toes
a-tappin'; the one slow ballad, "Christmas Eve," has
some corny lyrics ("It's Christmas Eve and you're not
here/The snow is falling down like my tears"), but
before it's over, you want Ringo's baby to come back,
too; and "Dear Santa," a medium-tempo charmer that
would have would have been a big doowop hit if it had
been written in 1959 instead of 1999.

I've heard my share of Christmas albums, and some have
given me the impression that the artist(s) involved
simply walked through the whole thing, just going
through the motions. That's definitely not the case
here. From beginning to end, you can hear the effort
that Ringo and Mark Hudson put into this album. And
for my money, their effort paid off very nicely.

Lewis

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