Various Artists / Strut: In The Christmas Groove
Album: Strut: In The Christmas Groove   Collection:Blues
Artist:Various Artists   Added:Jan 2010
Label:Strut  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2010-01-31 Pull Date: 2010-04-04
Week Ending: Feb 7
Airplays: 3

Recent Airplay
1. Dec 22, 2023: soul street
Christmas Present Blues, Funky Funky Christmas, The New Year, Let's Get It Together This Christmas, Soul Santa
4. Oct 30, 2021: Music Casserole (rebroadcast from Dec 26, 2015)
Christmas Present Blues, Boogaloo Santa Claus
2. Dec 16, 2023: Music Casserole
Boogaloo Santa Claus, Black Christmas, Christmas Morning
5. Dec 25, 2019: christmas rhythm 7 blues special
Boogaloo Santa Claus, Let's Get It Together This Christmas, Christmas Morning, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Christmas Present Blues
3. Dec 23, 2022: soul street
Auld Lang Syne, Soul Santa, Let's Get It Together This Christmas, Funky Funky Christmas
6. Dec 25, 2018: blues with an x-mas feelin
Boogaloo Santa Claus, Black Christmas, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Christmas Present Blues

Album Review
Sadie O.
Reviewed 2010-01-24
Strut: In the Christmas Groove
Reviewed by Sadie O., 1/24/10
Delicious collection of obscure funk and soul Christmas songs from the late 60’s and 70’s. OK, it’s probably more fun when it’s actually Christmas, but funk and soul from the golden age is always on time, dammit! That said, they’re scraping the bottle of the gin and juice barrel by the end of the platter…
1. 2:34 ****midtempo funk bounce with harmonica, gnarly blues vocals. Great fun.
2. 3:08 ***jingle bells and bit of pah rum pump um, then classic 70’s funk – goofy, but super funky, so what the heck!
3. 3:21 ***jingle bells and more jingle bells, then huge soul horn section and way uptempo funk groove. Ain’t nothing but a party! I think the incredibly spastic guitar solo adds another dimension…
4. 3:34 *****more jingle bells! Lots and lots of jingle bells… Then downtempo superfunky drum strut and wah wah guitar. Produced by Nawlins legend Eddie Bo, and it shows. Glockenspiel!
5. 2:34 *relaxed swingy sway, children’s chorus sing a sad song of Christmas in the Ghetto. Tugs forcefully at the heartstrings.
6. 2:48 downbeat soul with full orchestra, big harmonies, high female voices, overproduced… Incredibly bad. So bad, you’ll play it a million times.
7. 2:32 ***yay! Back to funk. Downbeat but with a lot of growl in the instrumentation. Gospel vocals with some unlikely elements in the music.
8. 2:35 **midtempo funk, high vocal harmonies – a bit commercial, but with a funky strut.
9. 2:52 ***slow, totally offkey, has a definite pathetic aspect to it, in the sort of heavily stoned Caribbean way we’ve come to love. Merry Christmas! Who died?
10. 3:14 *is this Barry White? He and his chorus and band are really hoping it is.
11. 4:25 ****jingle bells, midtempo offkilter funk, and your friendly neighborhood James Brown impersonator and spoken storytelling. I ain’t knockin it – what’s not to love? In fact, this is NUTS!
12. 4:02 **terrible keyboard intro… And it gets worse! Endearingly spirited, however. When they say “Happy New Year” they are NOT kidding around.

Track Listing
 ArtistTrack Name
1. Jimmy Reed Christmas Present Blues
2. Electric Jungle Funky Funky Christmas
3. Funk Machine Soul Santa
4. Isaac Clarke Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
5. Harlem Children's Chorus, The Black Christmas
6. Wild Honey Angel's Christmas
7. Zebra Christmas Morning
8. Harvey Arlene Band Let's Get It Together This Christmas
9. Captain Elmo Mckenzie & The Roosters Home On Christmas Day
10. Jimmy Jules The New Year
11. J.D. Mcdonald Boogaloo Santa Claus
12. Black On White Affair Auld Lang Syne