All Lit-Up for Christmas

Description

Finer downer holiday rock records don't get much better than Trailer Trash's All Lit Up for Christmas. The Twin Cities' versatile bar band earned their rep as the bad Santa helpers that they are for their annual holiday party and batch of woozy Christmas tunes, some familiar, some foreign, most with an edge. Captured on disc, these 11 tracks trek through the honky tonk morass of the two standards about Daddy drinking too much at Christmas, disappointment ("Don't Believe in Christmas") and other characteristic tunes like "You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch" (a natural), " Bleak Winter Polka" and their own "Hardy Candy Christmas." They also offer the wicked novelty tune "Santa's A Spy" (perfect for the political climate in old DC these days), request "A Real Live Doll" on their rockin' xmas wish list and cleverly monkey around with "Do You Hear What I Hear" and The Kinks' "You Really Got Me" (stuck together like a couple of gin-soaked sugar plums). Scruffy, noisy and gnarly, it ain't for the feint of heart and therein lies its many unruly charms. --Martin Keller