Rhino Records' Christmas Classics (1989) is something of a companion to the label's stellar CD Best Of Cool Yule. Arguably, Christmas Classics is Rhino's first-ever attempt to compile the most popular Christmas songs, rather than just the coolest ones.... Rhino being Rhino (that is, very eclectic), Christmas Classics lacks a certain focus that is usually necessary for compilations of this sort to become truly great. Attempting to cover too much ground, it is randomly organized and generically packaged. The sheer brilliance of its selections, however, overcomes Rhino's scattershot programming, making Christmas Classics as close to an "instant record collection" as has ever been released in the arena of Christmas rock. Surveying a period (1954-1968) roughly synonymous with genre's golden era, Christmas Classics is the rare disc that includes nearly all the widely-accepted classics and tosses in a few songs that are still hard-to-find on CD more than ten years later.

Perfect? In a word, no. Why, for instance, spotlight the tepid Supremes instead of the mighty Temptations? Does the CD's one country song (by Johnny Horton) really serve any purpose? And, including Aretha Franklin's "Winter Wonderland" is tantamount to false advertising - it was recorded long before she reached her soulful potential (though fun, all the same). But this is whistling while the North Pole rocks - Christmas Classics is pretty great, and it's a fine place to begin (or finish, if you must) collecting rock and rhythm & blues Christmas music. [top of page]