Christmas Album

Ah, this is jingle bell rock the way it's supposed to be, with driving guitars, splashy drums, and full stereo separation. The Ventures' Christmas Album just might be the best rock & roll holiday record ever made. The instrumental twang kings deliver pretty much what you'd expect--note-for-note renditions of standards, all dressed up with ubiquitous sleigh bells as well as the requisite reverb. What really makes this disc a blast though is the way the quartet weaves 1960s pop signatures into every tune; warping "Woolly Bully" into "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," "I Feel Fine" into "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," and so on. Spin this and let your party guests have fun guessing which hit single will morph into a Christmas classic. --Michael Ruby