My Favourite Christmas Album: Bob Rivers and Twisted Radio- I Am Santa Claus

With the Christmas Holidays coming up fast and everyone posting about Christmas albums, I thought I would post my favourite Christmas album of all time. The winner for me is "I Am Santa Claus" by Bob Rivers and Twisted Radio. For those who have never heard of Bob Rivers, he is a radio personality famous for his parodies, especially around Christmas time. "I Am Santa Claus" is the second of three Christmas parody albums by him; the other two are "Twisted Christmas" and "More Twisted Christmas."

The majority of the tracks on the album, not all of them are songs, always make me hysterical even after all of these years and the ones that don't send me into hysterics at least bring a smile to my face. There is the track "Walking Round in Women's Underwear," not that I have ever done this, that is just hilarious. Then take the title cut, "I Am Santa Claus" sung to the tune of none other than the famous Black Sabbath song "Iron Man." I can't help thinking that Ozzy and the lads give a thumbs up to this one.

Black Sabbath

That isn't the only metallised song on the album. "Jingle Hells Bells" is sung in the form of AC//DC from the Bon Scott era and is a good funny metal song. There is one line from that song that I haven't ever done and still would love to do. I would love to be "Drinking Jack Daniels while getting a back rub." Maybe my wife will indulge me at Christmas.

AC/DC

Needless to say there many other amusing tracks which are parodies of Christmas carols like "I Came Upon a Roadkill Deer" and "Teddy the Red Nosed Senator" and although it's not a song, I do love the "Letter to Santa" in the theme of The Godfather. But the one song that I have always thought was genius was the carol "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem" sung to the tune of that famous Animals classic "House of the Rising Sun."

Track Listing:

1. There's Another Santa Claus

2. Walking Round in Women's Underwear

3. I Am Santa Claus

4. Manger 6

5. Oh Little Town of Bethlehem

6. I Came Upon a Roadkill Deer

7. Teddy the Red Nosed Senator

8. Grahbe Yehbalz

9. Letter to Santa Claus

10. Jingle Hells Bells

11. The Kids

12. The Magical Kingdom of Claus

13. What's It To Ya

14. Didn't I Get This Last Year

15. The Under the Tree World of Jacques Cousteau

16. Oh Christmas Tree

So if you want something different to listen to this holiday season, have a good listen to "I Am Santa Claus." I guarantee you will laugh your rear end off. I don't think I'll be able to get on here again before Christmas, they got me working a 48 hour shift from the 23rd to Christmas Day and then there's all the other pre- Christmas stuff that needs to be done. So, I would like to wish everybody reading this a very Merry Christmas and keep rocking on!

Next post: Meatload- Bat Out of Hell

To buy Rock And Roll Children, go to www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html

Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle and on sale at Foyles Book Shop in London

p.s. It makes a good Christmas present

Great Rock Albums of 1978: Joe Walsh- But Seriously Folks

Back in 1978, I only had a small AM clock radio that only had a range as for as I could throw a baseball. Therefore, I had to encounter a lot of disco tunes and other top 40 rubbish in order to hear the occasional good song. Then one night I heard the killer riffs from an electric guitar. Stunned, I had to turn up the volume of that clock radio and what I heard blew me away, the song "Life's Been Good" by Joe Walsh.

"But Seriously Folks" was the first solo album from Joe Walsh since he had joined the Eagles two years earlier when they put out the famous "Hotel California." This solo album was considered more melodic than Walsh's previous album but it is still a good rock album as it carries many of the traditional guitar licks he was known for.

Track Listing:

1. Over and Over

2. Second Hand Store

3. Indian Summer

4. At the Station

5. Tomorrow

6. Inner Tube

7. Theme from Boat Weirdoes

8. Life's Been Good

• Joe Walsh – vocals, guitars, bass guitar, keyboards, synthesizer
• Jody Boyer – backing vocals
• Don Felder – guitar, Steel guitar, backing vocals
• Glenn Frey – backing vocals
• Don Henley – backing vocals
• Timothy B. Schmit – backing vocals
• Jay Ferguson – keyboards, vocals.
• Joey Murcia – guitar
• Bill Szymczyk – tambourine, vocals, background vocals
• Joe Vitale – drums, percussion, keyboards, synthesizer, flute, vocals.
• Willie Weeks – bass guitar

This album was a welcome relief from the onlsaught of disco in the summer of 78. However, it is still probably one of the best albums by Joe Walsh and still a good listen these days.

Next post: My Favourite Christmas Album

To Buy Rock And Roll Children, go to www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html

Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle

Great Rock Albums of 1978: The Cars

Originally, I wasn't going to visit this album until I reached the end of 1978 because I didn't know of it until early 1979. It was sort of the same thing that happened to me in January 1978 with the "Out of the Blue" album by ELO. The first weekend in 1979, I was driving home from hockey practice (street hockey) and the song "My Best Friend's Girl" came on the radio. That became my first official song I liked for the year. So you may be asking why am I visiting this album now and there are still a lot of great 1978 albums left to see. Well the honest answer is, "I don't know." I just felt the urge to visit this album here and now.

Like in the case of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Patty Smith, some ill informed numpties branded The Cars a punk band. I remember back in the year, many disco lovers simply shrugged it off as such and The Cars were probably easy targets for the narrow minded. Their look was something I would definitely call unique for 1978 as was the sound on the album. It was definitely something I had never heard before, but what I did know was that I liked it. Ric Ocasek has a vocal that is truly unique and at the same time familiar. Definitely his talents are underrated.

Track Listing:

1. Good Times Roll

2. My Best Friends Girl

3. Just What I Needed

4. I'm In Touch With Your World

5. Don't Cha Stop

6. You're All I Got Tonight

7. Bye Bye Love

8. Moving In Stereo

9. All Mixed Up

The Cars

Ric Ocasek- rhythm guitar, lead vocals

Elliot Easton- lead guitar, backing vocals

Benjamin Orr- bass, lead vocals

Greg Hawkes- keyboards, saxophone, percussion, backing vocals

David Robinson- drums, electric percussion, backing vocals

As I continued writing this post, I remembered my incentive for posting this album now. A few days ago, I listened to their classic hit "Just What I Needed" on the car's CD player. Hearing that made me want to visit the album. Another song on the CD is also behind the next post. The debut album from The Cars established them as a serious act in the rock world. This is the first and arguably the best of many cool records from this memorable band.

Next post: Joe Walsh: But Seriously, Folks

To buy Rock And Roll Children go to www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html

Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle

Great Rock Albums of 1978: REO Speedwagon- You Can Tune a Piano But You Can't Tuna Fish

Forget about the ballads form the 1980s because back in the 70's REO Speedwagon were a true hard rock outfit. Their seventh album, "You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can't Tuna Fish" is a prime example of this. This album exudes rock all the way through with some great rocking tunes like "Roll With the Changes." In this song, Gary Richrath shows exactly why I included him as one of the great guitarists of the 70s and his talents are still under appreciated today. I dare any true rocker to listen to this song and not say that they had a rocking vibe throughout.

In my last post, I stated that "How You Gonna See Me Now" was the first true power ballad. If that's the case, then "Time for Me to Fly" would be the second. The problem was that I didn't hear the song until 1980. Like your traditional ballad, it starts with the accoustic intro and builds up before exploding with heavy chords and reinforced by a killer solo from Richrath. Another triumph that makes this album so cool.

Track Listing:

1. Roll With the Changes

2. Time for Me to Fly

3. Runnin' Blind

4. Blaze Your Own Trail, Again

5. Sing to Me

6. Lucky For You

7. Do You Know Where Your Woman Is Tonight

8. The Unidentified Flying Tuna Trot

9. Say You Love Me or Say Goodnight

REO Speedwagon

Kevin Cronin- vocals, rhythm guitar

Gary Richrath- lead guitar

Bruce Hall- bass

Neil Doughty- keyboards

Alan Gratzer- drums

Before they found the billboard singles charts, REO Speedwagon was a true hard rocking band. This classic album proves this.

Next post: The Cars

To buy Rock And Roll Children, go to www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html

Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle