Mitch Ryder
Christmas (Take A Ride)
(Cleopatra Records)

Rules are meant to be broken.

It's long been a personal rule of mine to avoid Christmas song collections. Many of the tunes are like cherished friends who remind of halcyon times and seem to have been around forever. Reinventions are unnecessary. They often pale in comparison to the originals. And such efforts can indicate artistic decline and unbecoming dollar-consciousness.

But (and this can't be asserted too loudly) rock'n'roll legend Mitch Ryder is exceptional. The freshness, bold affection, and unfeigned enthusiasm with which the Detroit master supercharges beloved seasonal chestnuts make them well worth eager attention.

And the wonderousness of Ryder's gold-standard vocal talent comes across not only when the pace is hot-rodded, but intriguingly so during more pensive turns. 

That he reached deeply within himself and produced this top-drawer reiteration merits a great big, late night houseful of hand claps.

Rules are meant to be broken.

Recommended: "Santa Claus," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "What Christmas Means To Me," "Put a Little Love In Your Heart," "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," "Let It Snow," "Sleigh Ride" 

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https://www.facebook.com/therealmitchryder?ref=br_rs

https://cleorecs.com/store/shop/mitch-ryder-christmas-take-a-ride-cd/


https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Take-Ride-Mitch-Ryder/dp/B07GJ4FSC8

Neal Smith
Killsmith Halloween 
(Neal Smith Music / Kachina Records)

1970s classic rock has a wonderful secret: The riff-heavy monster-style that, as perpetrated eminently in shell-shocked arenas by Smith's Alice Cooper Group, remains today as immediate, loudly formidable, and jaw-high defiant as when pre-Watergate RMN first broached Chinese shores.

The beat. The hooks. The snarl.

Recommended: "Strychnine," "Squeeze Like a Python," "The Killsmith Overture," "Dynasty of Darkness," "Monsters In the Attic," "Die For the Night," "Pandemonium," "How Do You Bleed"

Video "Strychnine"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaE_wG0M4o0&index=10&list=OLAK5uy_kvBseEiQgHMM0nCI6NitHQmpXV0EUAWoM


http://nealsmithrocks.com/

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/killsmith

Walter Lure and the Waldos
Wacka Lacka Loom Bop a Loom Bop Boo
(Cleopatra Records)

Coolness that gives no fucks announces itself with swagger in early days. Sometimes, it is so beyond the planet it implodes. But once in a lucky while, it hangs around to tell of a better life possible.

And when it gets its meat-hooks on an instrument, it's every man for himself.

Recommended: "Crazy Kids," "Where Were You (On Our Wedding Day?," "You Talk Too Much," "Bye Bye Baby," "Damn Your Soul," "She Doesn't Love You Anymore," "Lazy Day," "Wham Bam Boo," "Little Black Book"

Video: "Crazy Kids"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU1o3cC2RRU&index=1&list=PL4bD5PX2R6ALhCSXNkPShHh6jtVFItsDc



https://www.facebook.com/theWALDOS/


https://cleorecs.com/store/shop/walter-lure-the-waldos-wacka-lacka-boom-bop-a-loom-bam-boo-cd/

https://www.amazon.com/Wacka-Lacka-Boom-Bop-Loom/dp/B07DKWJWZS

(photo credit: Alan Rand)

Hitmen DTK
Hitmen Kill Elvis 
(Alchemy Music Group)

It's acknowledged going in that no one can equal The King. But these songs are of imperial class, far too clever and engaging to let languish. Hitmen DTK punch them up with such confident, blast-storm forcefulness that to thrill to them so recast is to fall hard all over again.

Recommended: "Burning Love," "Return To Sender," "Can't Help Falling In Love," "Come On Everybody," "Edge of Reality"

Video: "Burning Love"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjaF1rVlMus&list=PL2kjuqwLAq_Bfl1hAVmrNNNMxc5Fmjaz2&index=1



https://www.facebook.com/johnnykannis

https://www.facebook.com/zeusentertainmentgroup/


https://www.amazon.com/Hitmen-Kill-Elvis-DTK/dp/B07GBNP7PJ