2. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
3. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
4. O Christmas Tree
5. Last Christmas
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I gather Gummibär is intended to be a children's character and "Christmas Jollies" is intended to be a children's album, but I have to admit to getting a kick out of it myself. There's a bit of the whimsy of the old Salsoul Orchestra "Christmas Jollies" about it. The songs are done in what they like to call a "jolly jelly" style. For those of you familiar with the Crazy Frog series, it's a lot like that. Sounds to me like European styled Electronic Pop and Dance. It's certainly got that European beat to it, which is what makes it poppy and bouncy for the kids. Granted, it's going to wear a bit on the grandparents if they play it non-stop. For your average-to-above-average Christmas music collector, it qualifies as interesting and different and that's usually worth at least a look see. "O Christmas Tree" was my preferred track of choice; it's got quite a bit more jolly than you usually hear in that chestnut. That...well I call it a German beat...in "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" was almost Polka-like, which is also usually an interesting thing when not overdone. And of course Gummibär had to become the latest in a long line of artists to cover Wham's "Last Christmas". And that fascinated me because it proved to me once and for all that, no matter who covers that song in whatever style, it always comes out sounding essentially the same. "Rudolph" has that post-Disco European dance sound that I've always been a bit on the fence about. And "Jingle Bells" is pretty much straight forward Electronic pop fun. Not a bad little EP at all, Charlie Brown. "Christmas Jollies" is exclusive to the official Gummibär web site and to iTunes and it's digital only. You can stream the tunes at gummibar.net. By the way, Gummibär had an earlier Christmas song, "You Know It's Christmas" (not on this EP) which might be the best of the lot. The flip side to that one? A duet with Felix The Cat. Yep. And you know any record made with a cat has got to be cool. Scroll down a bit on the mp3 page to find it or look for it on Amazon MP3 (sides sold separately).