Saturday, December 26, 2015

25 Holiday Records: 1 : Christmas 1979 by Wild Billy Childish


We're counting down to Christmas Day with a list of 25 records we have in the shop at Royal Cat Records! Why? Because vinyl rules!

Our last record is by a personal fave of Royal Cat and a special surprise:

#1

Christmas 1979
by Wild Billy Childish and the
     Musicians of the British Empire
Damaged Goods Records
DAMGOOD 296
2007

Billy Childish (Milkshakes, Thee Headcoats, Thee Mighty Caesars) is a favourite of ours here at Royal Cat but we had no idea of this record's existence until we were given a copy as an early Christmas prezzy. Billy Childish is the keeper of the Garage Rock flame in the UK and this is a classic garage Xmas LP from that enchanted isle. We only saw Billy once, in Toronto with The Makers back in the mid-90s but he's been going strong since the late-70s.

It seems that no matter what incarnation of his band he is making music with, Childish always returns to the same basic heroes: Link Wray, The Sonics, The Who, and all of the great garage standards. Many of these are referenced on this record, with the tunes lifted from classic tracks, with new punk rock xmas lyrics pasted on top. They all rock. Some nice harmonies. Some nice feedback. Some nice spoken word intros. Perfect!

Merry F***ing Christmas To You All!

Tracklist:

Santa Claus
Christmas Lights
Knick Knack Paddywhack (Chuck It In The Bin)
Father Christmas Is Dressed In Green
A Poundland Christmas
A Quick One (Pete Townsend's Christmas)
Mistletoe
Dear Santa Claus
Comanche (Link Wray's Christmas)
Merry Christmas Fritz
Christmas Hell
Christmas 1979

Check it out:





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