AMG Review of Christmas Wish [Deluxe Edition]

Mark Deming
All Music Guide

In 1980, NRBQ entered the lucrative seasonal music market with the EP Christmas Wish, in which the ever-eccentric combo offered up eight holiday-themed tunes ranging from the respectful and charming (the lovely title tune, which appeared twice) to the wildly off-kilter ("Here Comes Santa Claus" played on a very curious sounding electronic keyboard, and a live recording of "Jingle Bells" as pulled from the "Magic Box" request basket at a 1980 live show). Since then, NRBQ have expanded Christmas Wish to a full LP, bulked out to 19 tracks and growing from less than 12 minutes to over 32. However, bigger isn't always better, and a lot of the material the Q have plucked from the vaults to fill this out isn't much to write home about. While the version of Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas Time Is Here" is that rare recording that won't make you think of #A Charlie Brown Christmas, "Holiday" is a neat Yuletide original from Terry Adams, and Al Anderson's bah-humbug interpretation of "The Christmas Song" will amuse the less spirited, much of the rest of the disc comes from live recordings with NRBQ and the Whole Wheat Horns stumbling through songs of the season with a deliberate sloppiness that doesn't amuse much when removed from its original context, or from home recordings that sound decidedly unfinished. Fans of NRBQ have long known to expect something a little off the wall from these guys, and the expanded Christmas Wish sure fits that bill, but from one of America's most consistently creative bands this hodgepodge is something of a letdown. [A Deluxe Edition was also released.]