“Tijuana Christmas” by Torero Band - album review

features in: Album Chart of 1968Album Chart of the Decade: 1960s

TJR says

A zippy, brassy, affair; not to be taken too seriously and worth having for the odd festive mixtape drop. The sleeve notes describe the menu:

Christmas is the most joyful festival of the Christian year, when we celebrate at the same time the turning point of the winter and the new hope that was brought to men with the birth of Jesus. Christmas is a time when we make up for the bleakness of the weather outside with the warmth of our spirits, and it is no coincidence that the songs which have come to be particularly associated with Christmas should be carols, which have always been the most cheerful and often the most secular of Christian songs. On this record you find your favourite carols in an unfamiliar guise–we’ve called the album ‘Tijuana Christmas’, but you will find the mariachi sound taking on a richer and more varied flavour as the Toreo Band bring out the charms of our most beautiful carol tunes in imaginative brand new arrangements. ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ sets the pace with a bright, sparkling beat that even adds to the gaiety of one of our oldest and liveliest carols; ‘Silent Night’ a much more recent and a more devout carol, is given a quite contrasting treatment, slow and tender. ‘Hark, the Herald Angels Sing’ sets off again at a brisk, bouncy pace–and if you feel like dancing, why not? It may come as a surprise to you that our oldest carols used to be dances, and that the word itself described a form of circular dance. In the preface to the Oxford book of carols you will find carols described as songs with a religious impulse that are simple, joyful, popular and modern. You’ll never have heard them sounding more joyful, popular or modern than they do on this exciting and original L.P.

The Jukebox Rebel
05–Mar–2010

Tracklist
A1 [02:02] 5.5.png The Torero Band - The Holly And The Ivy (Traditional) Pop
A2 [02:44] 5.3.png The Torero Band - Silent Night (Franz Xaver Gruber) Pop Ballad
A3 [02:32] 4.6.png The Torero Band - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (Charles Wesley, Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy) Pop
A4 [02:27] 4.0.png The Torero Band - While Shepherds Watched (Traditional) Pop Ballad
A5 [02:23] 3.9.png The Torero Band - O Little Town O’ Bethlehem (Traditional) Pop
A6 [02:06] 5.0.png The Torero Band - Good King Wenceslas (Traditional) Pop
B1 [02:02] 4.8.png The Torero Band - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Traditional) Pop
B2 [02:40] 3.6.png The Torero Band - Away In A Manger (Traditional) Pop Ballad
B3 [02:07] 5.0.png The Torero Band - The First Nowell (Traditional) Pop
B4 [02:26] 3.6.png The Torero Band - Christians Awake (Traditional) Pop Ballad
B5 [02:33] 2.6.png The Torero Band - Once In Royal David’s City (Henry Gauntlett) Pop Ballad
B6 [02:19] 4.3.png The Torero Band - O Come All Ye Faithful (John Francis Wade) Pop

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