Rubber Band

If the Beatles had recorded an album of Christmas songs, it probably would have sounded a lot like Xmas! The Beatmas, a holiday compilation recorded by the four lads in Rubber Band, a Beatles tribute band from Denmark. Most of the songs tease you with a familiar Beatles intro and then suddenly break out into one of the Christmas songs we all know so well. Here, the old and familiar is born again strange. The chords follow the Christmas melody, but everything else is Beatlesque, as if the singer had hijacked the band, which then had to “wing it,” and expertly so. The vintage instrumental sound and arrangements, the percussion, the “Paul” and “John” lead vocals and trademark harmonies, the hooks and signature guitar licks are all here, embracing the imported melodies like old friends. The songs range from pop Christmas classics such as “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” (“All My Loving”), “Rudolf” (“Taxman”) and “Jingle Bells” (“Love Me Do”) to the more devotional songs like “Silent Night” (“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”) and “Mary’s Boy Child” (“Nowhere Man”).