Rhythm & Blues Christmas: 20 Songs (CD - )

Despite its poor sound quality and shoddy packaging, Hollywood's Rhythm & Blues Christmas is an entertaining 20-track collection of familiar R&B Christmas numbers, including Charles Brown's "Merry Christmas Baby," Freddie King's "Christmas Tears," Bill Doggett's "Joy to the World" and Hank Ballard's "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town." It's not perfect, but it's quite enjoyable and worth its budget price. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Among the 20 tracks included here are two from Hank Ballard And The Midnighters that alone would be worth the price of admission: "Christmas Time for Everybody But Me" rivals the most testifyin' pleas of King labelmate James Brown, and Ballard turns in another outstanding performance with "Santa Claus Is Coming." While there is some duplication with other in-print collections (especially Merry Christmas Baby, on Starday/King), this marks the only CD appearance of many holiday classics from the King vaults. Recommended highly. ~ Dennis MacDonald, Roundup newsletter minimize