Review: 'Stax Christmas'

If Halloween is the super-cool kid sitting in the back row scowling and painting its nails black, Christmas is the one with the billion-watt smile, eager for everyone to be its friend. And because its lights and ornaments and aggressively cheery songs can come off as a bit desperate, not everyone necessarily wants to be Christmas' friend. Some people actively hate it and flick into kill-mode whenever they hear "Jingle Bells" or that Mariah Carey song.

But those people are just looking in the wrong stockings. Christmas can be super cool. John Waters loves it! And the holiday's songs aren't all cheesy. Would Otis Redding recorded a cheesy song? Would Carla Thomas? Would Isaac-Fucking-Hayes?

So even if the sound of Burl Ives grinning away on "Holly Jolly Christmas" sends you running to the commode to expel your lunch, the new compilation Stax Christmas should help you keep it down and get your spirits up. 

Although many Stax artists recorded Christmas tunes, the label never went over-the-top to exploit them (unlike Motown, which ran a veritable holiday-themed side industry), especially on vinyl. Booker T. & the MG's put out a Christmas record in 1967, and Stax compiled a skimpy various artists assortment that didn't even include anything by superstars Otis or Carla 1982. So this year's Stax Christmas is the first set that takes the job fairly seriously. 

I say "fairly" because with a mere dozen tracks, it does kind of scrape the surface. Each artist is only represented by one track (at least if we count "Rufus & Carla Thomas" as an act distinct from "Rufus" and "Carla Thomas"), and some of the choices are a little surprising. Carla's number isn't the classic "Gee Whiz, It's Christmas", but the somber "Blue Christmas". "White Christmas" is an overly slick rendition by The Rance Allen Group and not Otis's rougher and funkier version. His "Merry Christmas, Baby" appears in an alternate mix that brings up the horns a lot but mutes Booker T. & the MG's rhythm section. That group is represented by "Winter Wonderland" instead of the single "Jingle Bells". Overall, the emphasis is on funky seventies tracks with little from the sixties.

However, you can't really say that most of what's included doesn't deserve its spot, and if I'm totally honest, even a group as cool as the MG's can't completely rescue a song as uncool as "Jingle Bells" from Squaresville, so the less obvious track is welcome. And the fact that there are some fairly glaring omissions means that maybe we'll be able to put Stax Christmas Vol. II on our Santa Claus next year.

As for this year, Stax Christmas arrives on typically well mastered and manufactured vinyl from Craft Recordings. The wax is quiet, well centered, and perfectly flat.