I am somewhat late in coming to the Broken Peach party. The only reason I know about them is because our esteemed editor, Mr Mosh, posted their Halloween offering as a classic cover: Broken Peach – “One Way Or Another” (original by Blondie). The band sounded great and the video was fun. I wondered what else they did and went looking on their YouTube channel where I found… a collection of Christmas songs! Let Christmas joy be unconfined! The collection reviewed here was released in 2020, so I’m just a tad late but, as I seem to be saying with almost every review I write these days, “better late than never”! {Sorry Moshville editors. I am trying to keep up. Honest!}
Broken Peach are a cover band… but that is not particularly helpful as a description for a Christmas album where all the songs are well loved Christmas classics. On their YouTube channel, they describe themselves as a “rock and soul band”, which is slightly more helpful. The “rock” part in particular fits with the trio that provides guitar, bass and drums (Pedro González Neira – Guitar & Keyboards; Rubén Domínguez – Drums and Julián Rodríguez – Bass… I think). They certainly power through the seven Christmas songs in this collection, giving a rock bite even to the poppiest of pop classics, “All I Want Is You”. The three instrumentalists are joined by four women who share the vocal duties (Lara Rodriguez Perez, Erika Vázquez, Érika Lewis and Sela Pereira Cancelas) and the four voices combined more than hold their own against the audio onslaught.
What you get on this Christmas Special is seven Christmas songs done in a very Broken Peach style. One of my favourites is “White Christmas”. (See YouTube video at the end of the review for an example of what a “Broken Peach style” sounds like!) This is one of my favourite tracks from the collection with an rocking intro (complete with clanging bells), some great harmonies from the vocalists and fun “Na, na, na, na, merry Christmas” sections.
Another highlight for me is the opening track, “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”, complete with a snatch of the Jackson 5’s ABC at the end. It very much sets the scene for the rest of the album. I also love the fourth track, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” which sounds awesome when given the Broken Peach treatment.
The one slightly different track in the collection is “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”, where Mr Neira swaps his guitar for a keyboard, and we get a very laid back rendition of the song. The (slightly) quieter feel to this song allows the vocals to shine and is a great way to bring the collection to the end.
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Track Listing:
- Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
- Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree
- Jingle Bells
- All I Want For Christmas Is You
- Jingle Bells Rock
- White Christmas
- Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
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If you’re feeling down this Christmas, treat yourself the Broken Peach Christmas Special and you’ll soon be bouncing along with the band as they belt out these Christmas classics.
The Christmas Special can be download from Amazon or Apple or streamed from umpteen different streaming services.
Header image: screenshot from YouTube video
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