Various Artists - "The Broken Christmas"

Various Artists - The Broken Christmas

1988, Broken

1. "The First Noel" - Riki Michelle

2. "O Come All Ye Faithful" - Undercover

3. "Born in a Stable" - Level Heads

4. "Rudy Red" - J.C. & the Boyz
5. "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" - Ojo

6. "What Child is This?" - 4*1*1*

7. "Angels We Have Heard On High" - Adam Again

8. "O Holy Night" - The Reign

9. "Silent Night" - The Holidays

10. "Follow the Star" - House Party

11. "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" - Gene Eugene, Riki Michelle, Ojo

Uvulapie's comment about The Broken Christmas reminded me that I do actually have this! Granted, I don't have the actual CD, sadly, because they're about $100 on amazon and I'm just not going to pay that much for a CD (someone reissue this will ya?!). Anyway, I heard that this had some Adam Again Christmas songs on it so that's why I checked it out. Both the tunes featuring Gene are really cool. Definitely a different spin on those holiday classics. I'm kind of ambivalent about the rest of the songs though. I'm sure if I had heard 4*1*1*, Level Heads, The Reign, etc. I might be more excited but when this CD came out I had just gotten into Christian metal and my fondness for alt rock wouldn't develop for another five years or so. Still, I do like the album and it's definitely different from anything you would hear anywhere else. Ojo's take on "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" almost reminds me of Mannheim Steamroller. "Rudy Red" is no "Christmas in Hollis" but it's fairly amusing - kind of bizarre in the fact that it makes Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer a strung out junkie that finds Jesus. I think one of the sites on my link list has this available for download. Don't feel too bad... it's long out of print and I don't think anyone plans to rerelease it anytime soon.

Useless Fact: Not a fact, a request. The cover art looks like a Mike Knott creation. Can anyone confirm?