A Christmas album
Our first Christmas offering! Eclectic, roots-pop Christmas songs, drawing from Americana, Power Pop, and British Pop.
Released in November 2019. You find other details about it and related shows at its Facebook page – www.facebook.com/TheTatersSHINYandBRITE
credits
released November 27, 2019
Recorded August 2019 at Slipped Disc Audio in Ashland, VA by Bill McElroy
Production & arrangements: The Taters with Bill McElroy
Engineered, mixed & mastered by Bill McElroy
Craig Evans – vocals, bass, glockenspiel
Brad Tucker – vocals, acoustic guitars
Greg Marrs – vocals, electric & acoustic guitars, mandolin
Chris Mendez – vocals, drums, percussion
Stu Grimes – drums on “My First Christmas” and “Santa Bring My Baby Back”
Ned Henson – 2nd guitar on “My First Christmas” and “Santa Bring My Baby Back”
Guest Elves Chris Watling – saxophonic sugarplums on “It’s Not Christmas”
Mike Gribik, extra tavern vocals on “Christmas Dream”
Monkeyknuckle Pops Chorus (Craig, Brad, Mike Gribik & Harry Gore) on “Santa Bring My Baby Back”
Reviews:
from North of the James magazine, Anne Jones, reviewer
–https://www.northofthejames.com/the-taters
One might even call it a holiday sampler, just like the variety boxes of colorful Shiny Brite Christmas decorations. Those Taters are known for their sampler-style shows; actually, that’s the beauty part about them. They’ll do anything for the fun of it
Anne Jones, North of the James magazine.
How do you like your holiday music? Exactly what do you want in a Christmas song, anyway? Do you want it jingly and happy, or pretty and reverent and maybe a little heart-breaking? Or maybe it’s rockabilly you crave, with some old-time country. Is Elvis your reason for the season? Do you want it all bluesy and melancholy?
Well, be ye not afraid – the Taters have just released their first ever holiday cd, and it covers all of your holiday listening needs in traditional Tater style. It’s called “Shiny & Brite” and one might even call it a holiday sampler, just like the variety boxes of colorful Shiny Brite Christmas decorations. Those Taters are known for their sampler-style shows; actually, that’s the beauty part about them. They’ll do anything for the fun of it – from Nick Lowe to “That’s Amore” and they’ll do it all with absolute musical virtuosity and harmonies so pretty and in sync that they rival the Everly Brothers.
“Shiny & Brite” is as true to Tater form as can be, offering up all the moods of the season and then some, and giving every Tater a chance to shine brite. The opening track is a Craig Evans and Gary Walker orginal “Last Lone Noel” and manages to be lonely and hopeful and pop all at the same time, kinda like the holidays. “I Can Hear Music”- the Beach Boys classic- with drummer Chris Mendez on lead vocals, showcases the tight Tater harmonies and clever wordsmithing; they’ve turned it into a beautiful Christmas song that would make Carl Wilson proud. Then there’s the Gene Autry hit “32 Feet and 8 Little Tails”, only the Taters pep it up a little with extra galloping it seems, and best of all -a genius Bonanza riff to top it off. That’s some standard Tateresque joy right there. Brad Tucker’s clear and pure vocals on “O Come All Ye Faithful” bring us back around to the meaning of Christmas, and when Craig and the rest join in for the harmonious rounds at the end it’s a beautiful and classic Christmas moment. Greg Marrs has come up with a slow, bluesy original “It’s Not Christmas” about a lost and joyless Christmas without your baby, along the lines of “Please Come Home for Christmas”, only smarter and with more depth and soul, and some cool guitar and sax parts.
Hold up. What’s Christmas without Elvis? And who does Elvis better than crooner Craig Evans? No one, especially on “Santa Bring my Baby Back”, more of the same babyless, spiritless Christmas theme but in kick-ass rockabilly style. “Christmas Dream” is one big emotional roller coaster, in the best possible way. It’s poignant and catchy, pleading for peace and an end to the dying and the shouting, does no one remember? And Craig’s voice does it justice. And yet there’s a slightly manic undertone, enhanced by the German chorus and by knowing that it was written by Andrew Loyd Webber for the film “The Odessa File”, about the hunt for a SS captain in post-war Germany. That the Taters end the song with a nod to Hogans Heroes is a bit of twisted brilliance. Willie Nelson’s “Pretty Paper” is just plain ole country pretty, and it’s nice to hear Roger Miller’s “Little Toy Trains”, not on everyone’s set list.
Just as in their holiday live shows, the Taters close the cd with a stunning a capella “Peace on Earth/Silent Night.” There. Turn off the lights, light a candle, close your eyes, shed a silent tear, and pray for peace. It’s Christmas.
from Alan Haber’s Pure Pop site –
https://purepopradio.com/2019/12/11/reviews-12-11-19-do-you-hear-what-i-hear-stockings-full-of-musical-holiday-cheer-abound/
This joyful mix of originals, like the tuneful “Last Lone Noel” and the Roy Orbison-y ballad, “My First Christmas With You,” and Taterized versions of well- and little-known Christmas classics is a holiday treat built on a solid foundation of love and respect for these wonderful songs.
Alan Haber, Pure Pop Radio
An aptly-named Christmas album if ever there was one, Shiny and Brite finds Richmond, Virginia’s Taters, a longtime Pure Pop Radio favorite group, bringing their trademark musicality and playful joie de vivre to digital and silver disc formats.
As anyone who has seen the Taters play live and dug their everything-fits-if-we-let-it approach to covers can attest, you never know what you’re going to hear when the group sets to making music. This joyful mix of originals, like the tuneful “Last Lone Noel” and the Roy Orbison-y ballad, “My First Christmas With You,” and Taterized versions of well- and little-known Christmas classics is a holiday treat built on a solid foundation of love and respect for these wonderful songs.
Witness the bouyant cover of the Beach Boys/Ronettes’ “I Can Hear Music,” which features an a cappella break atop a swath of sleigh bells that’s squarely in the classic style of Hawthorne, California’s finest; the gorgeous a cappella mix of “Peace on Earth” and “Silent Night”; the supercharged version of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s “Christmas Dream,” as originally sung by Perry Como, here incorporating the theme from the television comedy classic Hogan’s Heroes; and the lovely take on “The Little Drummer Boy,” with Chris Mendez’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”-esque drum part.
Craig Evans, Brad Tucker, Gregg Mars and Chris Mendez’s collection of odes to Christmas joy is a wonder to behold and a perfect complement to your holiday soundtrack.