Search - Asylum Street Spankers :: A Christmas Spanking

A Christmas album unlike any other!

All Access Customer | Chicago, IL United States | 11/27/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Leave it to the Spankers to cash in on Christmas in a way that doesn't pile on the warm and fuzzies or insult our intelligence. Though I was initially suspicious of the band's motives, I now think that this album deserved to be made. Not only is it more musically adventurous and more varied than anything the Spankers have done before, it also confronts and accepts the ambivalence most of us feel about the holiday season, while still imparting loads of warmth and joy. It's great that they didn't just go the silly route or the sappy route. Instead, the Spankers managed to make a holiday album that 's both a lot of fun and rewarding to a careful listener. And Christina's "Blue Christmas" is devastating."

One of my new favorite Christmas CDs

Eric | St. Louis | 01/27/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I found a copy of this CD in a used CD store and had to listen to it because of the name. I was VERY pleasantly surprised. This is NOT your typical Christmas album, but it is A LOT of fun. I played it at work and it became a hit there as well. From a rousing rendition of "grinch" to a very catchy version of the Peanuts christmas tune, you'll be very entertained. And if you've ever wondered where to get "Silent Night" played on the saw, well here it is."

Makes the old sound new

John Sloan | right there | 11/21/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A Christmas Spanking is a refreshingly original Christmas album. It's not original in the sense of creating new Christmas songs; just some new interpretations of songs that you probably already know. The one original song, "12.25.61", is just a silly song by the lead singer (who simply goes by the name of Whammo) about having his birthday fall on Christmas day. The album was recorded live at a Christmas concert, so the recording quality tends to be a little muddy and the audience is occasionally distracting, but this just adds to the off-the-cuff feeling of the album.
Some of the highlights include "Mr. Grinch" which switches musical styles several times during the song, a bluesy version of "Rudolph", the Charlie Brown classic "Linus and Lucy" where the piano is replaced by a harmonica, and a ukulele version of "Blue Christmas" (it sounds strange, but it really works). Not everything works that well; their "Zat You, Santa Claus?" just can't come close to the Louis Armstrong original, and "Silent Night" on the musical saw sounds like it's about a baby born in a haunted house, not a manger. But overall, this is a fun record by a talented band that makes old-fashioned music sound good today."