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Happy Birthday Baby Jesus

Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus (1995) is the CD reissue of two 10-inch vinyl LP's released in 1993 and 1994 by uber indie label Sympathy For The Record Industry - plus, as the CD booklet states, "some stuff that's new." Captured at the height of post-modern, alt-rock mania, the Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus bands fairly ooze irony and drip sarcasm. Nary a single cut has a sincerely festive perspective on the high Christian holiday. Now, that's hardly a bad thing - I love a good piss take, and the Christmas holiday is worthy target - but pointedly out-of-tune caterwauling can wear a bit thin after an hour-and-a-half.

The thing is, I really want to like this album better. I mean, the song titles alone are pretty entertaining. "Little Drummer Bitch" (Red Aunts), "Last On Santa's List" (Fireworks), "Christmastime Is For Sinners" (Mono Men), and especially "Merry Christmas Fuck You" (Jet Boys) merit a belly laugh before needle ever touches vinyl (or laser strikes aluminum, or electrons speed through cyberspace, or whatever). But, well, many of those songs aren't very good. Alternative music, particularly the sort that Sympathy For The Record Industry trafficked in, is often as much about posture as it is about craft. But, musicality has to count for something, and a large slice of Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus borders on unlistenable.

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus

But, lest I damn with faint praise, the highlights are unique, memorable, and plentiful - I rated more than half the tracks as essential. And, strangely enough, they tend to be the songs played well, or enthusiastically, or both - not shrugged off with post-modern ennui. A number of notable alternative bands turn in solid - if less than spectacular - performances, including the Muffs ("Nothing For Me"), Rocket From The Crypt ("Cancel Christmas"), and the Supersuckers ("We'll Call It Christmastime"). There's even a couple of rip-roaring traditional instrumentals by Man Or Astroman ("Frosty The Snowman") and the Bomboras ("Little Drummer Boy").

Hands down, though, the two very best tracks are El Vez's wacky "Feliz Navi-Nada" and an ebullient, if profane, take on "Christmas Is A-Comin' (May God Bless You)" by the Shitbirds. In the forrmer, El Vez - who specializes in comically mashing up Elvis songs with unexpected rock classics - fuses Jose Feliciano's hispanic classic, "Feliz Navidad," with Sex Pistol John Lydon's solo debut, "Public Image." It's one of his best-ever concepts, and it's a distorted remix of a track that appeared the same year on his album "Merry MeX-mas." "Christmas Is A-Comin'" is just a hoot, really, and it features a young Elinor Blake who, as April March, would go on to create an impressive catalog of indie rock and neo-lounge music - much of it inspired by classic French pop, believe it or not.

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus

Indeed, it's moments like that make the Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus releases far more than an artifacts of the mordant 90's - if less than the unqualified post-punk Christmas classics I wish they were. In the years following their release, music and technology changed immensely, and weird-ass Christmas records by disaffected youth became commonplace - meaning, it's hard to imagine what an unusual thing these records were in their day. Back then, punks and alt-rock geeks rarely took the time to do a piss take on Christmas, let alone cobble together a whole double album of the things. That they did is a good thing, even when it hurts my ears to listen.

Trivia fans, no doubt, will want to know what vintage LP covers were employed (parodied, ripped off, whatever) by Sympathy for the Record Industry to create the cover art for Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus. The three editions, respectively, are derived from Lawrence Welk's Jingle Bells (Coral, 1957), Christmas With Patti Page (Mercury, 1956), and Christmas With the Mexicali Brass (Crown, 1967). Pooping all over history is just part of the fun, I guess. [top of page]

Albums Albums

SongsEssential Songs

  • Bob Kringle (Creamers, 1990)
  • Brand New Bike (Junkyard Dogs, 1993)
  • Cancel Christmas (Rocket From The Crypt, 1993)
  • Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) (New Bomb Turks,1993 )
  • Christmas Is A-Comin' (May God Bless You) (Shitbirds, 1993)
  • Christmas Will Be Magic Again (International Language, 1995)
  • Christmastime Is For Sinners (Mono Men, 1994)
  • Feliz Navi-Nada (El Vez, 1994)
  • Frosty The Snowman (Man Or Astroman? 1994)
  • I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday (Devil Dogs, 1993)
  • Little Drummer Boy (Bomboras, 1994)
  • Nothing For Me (Muffs, 1994)
  • Run Rudolph Run (Humpers, 1993)
  • There's Nothing I Want More For Christmas This Year (Chubbies, 1995)
  • We'll Call It Christmastime (Supersuckers, 1994)

Further ListeningFurther Listening

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