One of the many reasons I love rock 'n' roll Christmas music is how unintentionally hilarious it can be. Now, I love James Brown (read more), and I mean no disrespect to the Godfather - for he was no less brilliant during December than during the other eleven months of the year. But, his Funky Christmas (1995) is an occasional side-splitter. In the name of peace, harmony, and relevance, Mr. Brown bends over backwards musically and lyrically, twisting his songs and logic till they resemble a funky pretzel. Pleading "Santa Claus, don't make me suffer so," Brown admonishes Kris Kringle to go "straight to the ghetto." Then, he inserts "Hava Nagila" into the middle of a frenzied funk jam. He calls for "Go Power At Christmas Time." He tells the hippies ("white, black, blue or green") to put away their peace signs and "fight together." He pushes his latest movie. He pushes his latest single. He shouts out to Hank Ballard.

True, these hard-working shennanigans can be downright amusing, but they are also immensely touching - such is the nature of James Brown. For all his contortions, James Brown succeeded in making Christmas "mean something this year," and that was an significant accomplishment during the turbulent sixties. In one of Brown's best songs, "Let's Unite The Whole World At Christmas" (1966), he makes such a passionate plea for such a hopeless case that - if even for the duration of the brief song - the most hardened cynic would be moved. Such is the power of soul.

Of course, being the hardest working man in show business, James Brown also jams like a mutha. We came to expect that of him during his momentous decade of funk. This really is a Funky Christmas - the funkiest ever recorded - and James tackles the holiday season with the same ferocity he brought to "Sex Machine" and "Please Please Please." Songs like "Hey America" and "Tit For Tat" can stand toe-to-toe with almost anything in the Famous Flames catalog.

And that's just the original material: James Brown rarely interpreted traditional material without injecting his own unique, unconventional personality deep into the song. On a pair of Charles Brown covers, Mr. Dynamite shows respect for his former King records label-mate up. But then, he wails "The Christmas Song," as if someone were roasting his chestnuts on an open fire.

All this funky festivity is culled from numerous Christmas platters that Brown waxed for King over a relatively short period of time (1966-1970). These include three LP's - James Brown & His Famous Flames Sing Christmas Songs (1966), Soulful Christmas (1968), and Hey America It's Christmas (1970) - as well as the 1969 single "It's Christmas Time." Sadly, none of the albums have ever been reissued on CD verbatim - and they really ought to be.

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