I first heard of the Robbers On High Street in 2007 when they covered an American Song Poem, "Seasons Greetings", as their holiday introduction. For the uninitiated, Song Poems were the result when aspiring songwriters were "invited", through magazine ads, to send in their song lyrics and some money for the promise of a real record of their song in return. Most of the time, they really did make those records (even if the only distribution was the copy they sent you) and, most of the time, those records were truly wretched. Add 25-30 years and a heaping helping of "scarcity" and suddenly Song Poems were so bad, they were good. They were unique little time capsules of American life, preserved in the grooves of a 45 or LP along with the would-be songwriter's dreams. So Robbers On High Street covered one of these things as their Christmas single and it was really quite good. Good enough to be included in the soundtrack for "Four Christmases". The Robbers on High Street are back with a new spot of cheer for 2010. And, yes, it's another Song Poem. "Rockin' Disco Santa Claus" is actually one of the better known Song Poems, having been recorded by The Sisterhood, who recorded several albums worth of Song Poems back in the day, and appearing on a contemporary CD collection of Song Poems. Robbers On High Street add a little wah-wah guitar, a-la Shaft, and give it a bit more of a film noir vocal, but the disco beat runs strong throughout. You can download "Rockin' Disco Santa Claus" free at the Limewire blog. I'm just happy to see ROHS back on the Christmas bandwagon.
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