A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector [Import]

The Crystals, famous for Then he kissed me and Da doo ron ron, sing brilliant, energetic versions of Santa Claus is coming to town, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer and Parade of the wooden soldiers. The Ronettes, famous for Be my baby, are equally brilliant on Frosty the snowman, Sleigh ride and I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus. Bob B Soxx and the blue jeans, famous for Zip-a-de-doo-da, also excel on Bells of St Mary's and Here comes Santa Claus.

Darlene Love, whose biggest success was as lead singer of the Crystals on He's a rebel, sings four songs here, a rare chance for her to be credited as a solo performer. Christmas (Baby please come home) is the only original song here. White Christmas includes the rarely heard verse about being in Beverley Hills. The other two, Marshmallow world and Winter wonderland, are also outstanding.

The closing Silent night is just a series of spoken acknowledgements set to a backing track. Don't worry about that - the twelve songs that go before set the standard for Christmas rock albums when it was first recorded and still do, because nobody has bettered it in the forty years since.

Darlene Love was never really a success as a solo artist, although she did the lead vocals on "She's a Rebel." But she gets to make or break this album by singing the opening track, "White Christmas," and making it clear the song can work if not being crooned by Der Bingle. "Marshmallow World" is fun but a trifle, while her "Winter Wonderland" may be the best track on the album, with "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" a soulful plea not to be separated for the holidays. No wonder Love got the most tracks on the album. The Ronettes were sisters Veronica (Ronnie) and Estelle Bennett and their cousin Nedra Talley rock a bit more than usual with their version of "Frosty the Snowman" and keep the spirit going with "Sleigh Ride" and "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus."

The change of pace offering on the album would definitely be Bob B. Soxx and The Blue Jeans doing "The Bells of St. Mary," although "Here Comes Santa Claus" is certainly more in keeping with the rest of the record. This was Spector's studio group and compared to the rest of the album you can understand why they only got two tracks. The best effort by the Crystals is obviously "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," which surely was the model for the better known rocking version by the Boss. Their version of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" does not work nearly as well (it is one of those songs where you would swear it is really one of Spector's Top 10 hits with different words, which simply shows the producer was creating the effect he wanted here). "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers" is in the same mode, but there is a sense in which the "Wall of Sound" is just effective.

Spector comes out to wish everybody the very merriest of Christmases and happiest of New Years for "Silent Night," which is a reminder of when music groups used to talk directly to their fans on records. That seems a bit strange now, but what stands out more is how the simple musical arrangement at the end is such a complete change of pace from the rest of the album, so that "A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector" ends on a much quieter note. But up to that point this is certainly one of the high energy Christmas albums of all time and if you need a burst of musical energy to get you through decorating, cooking, or whatever, this one fits the bill.