Christmas Songs | ||||
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EP by | ||||
Released | October 29, 2013 | |||
Recorded | 2013 | |||
Studio | Joe's House Of Compression, Pasadena, California | |||
Genre | Punk rock, Christmas | |||
Length | 19:01 | |||
Label | Epitaph | |||
Producer | ||||
Bad Religion chronology | ||||
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Christmas Songs is the third EP album by American punk rock band Bad Religion, released October 29, 2013 on Epitaph Records. [1] It is their first full-length Christmas album, featuring eight covers of seasonal songs and an "Andy Wallace mix" version of "American Jesus". [2] This is also the first Bad Religion album not to feature Greg Hetson on guitar since 1983's Into the Unknown , although he appears on "American Jesus", and the first time they recorded as a five-piece since 2000's The New America . Christmas Songs is also Bad Religion's final release with Brooks Wackerman on drums.
Although Bad Religion had played many Christmas songs in the past, mostly during the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas shows, [3] the band had reportedly turned down offers to release a Christmas album. [2] After three days of speculation, the official announcement of Christmas Songs came via Epitaph press release on September 10, 2013. [2] 20% of the proceeds from Christmas Songs will go to SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests). [4]
The cover picture comes from a picture titled "New Shoes" by Gerald Waller (Austria 1946). It is of an orphan boy who received new shoes from the American Red Cross. [5]
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 60/100 [6] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [7] |
Alternative Press | [8] |
Classic Rock | [9] |
Christmas Songs received mixed reviews from music critics upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 60, based on 15 reviews, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. [6]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" | Felix Mendelssohn, Charles Wesley | 1:59 |
2. | "O Come All Ye Faithful" | John Francis Wade, Frederick Oakeley | 2:04 |
3. | "O come, O come, Emmanuel" | Traditional, John Mason Neale | 2:07 |
4. | "White Christmas" (to the beat of I Wanna Be Sedated by the Ramones [ citation needed ]) | Irving Berlin | 1:49 |
5. | "Little Drummer Boy" (contains an interpolation of California Uber Alles by the Dead Kennedys [ citation needed ]) | Katherine Kennicott Davis | 2:04 |
6. | "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" | Traditional | 1:39 |
7. | "What Child Is This?" | Traditional, William Chatterton Dix | 1:53 |
8. | "Angels We Have Heard on High" | Traditional | 2:07 |
9. | "American Jesus (Andy Wallace Mix)" | Brett Gurewitz, Greg Graffin | 3:19 |
Total length: | 19:01 |
Adapted from the album liner notes. [10]
Chart (2013) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Billboard 200 [11] | 101 |
US Top Holiday Albums ( Billboard ) [12] | 7 |
Bad Religion is an American punk rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1980. The band's lyrics cover topics related to religion, politics, society, the media and science. Musically, they are noted for their melodic sensibilities and extensive use of three-part vocal harmonies. The band has experienced multiple line-up changes, with singer Greg Graffin being the band's only constant member, though fellow founding members Jay Bentley and Brett Gurewitz have also been with the band for most of their history while guitarist Brian Baker has been a member of the group since 1994. Guitarist Mike Dimkich and drummer Jamie Miller have been members of the band since 2013 and 2015 respectively. To date, Bad Religion has released seventeen studio albums, two live albums, three compilation albums, three EPs, and two live DVDs. They are considered to be one of the best-selling punk rock acts of all time, having sold over five million albums worldwide.
Suffer is the third album by American punk rock band Bad Religion, released on the Californian independent record label Epitaph Records on September 8, 1988. It was the first album that was both released and distributed by the label. Following the release of the EP Back to the Known (1985), Bad Religion went on a temporary hiatus, then reunited with its original members and went to work on their first full-length studio album in five years.
Brett W. Gurewitz, nicknamed Mr. Brett, is an American musician best known as the co-founder and lead guitarist of Bad Religion. He is also the owner of the music label Epitaph Records and a number of sister labels. He has produced albums for Bad Religion as well as Epitaph Records labelmates NOFX, Rancid, and Pennywise, among others. Gurewitz also had a project called Error, which also featured Atticus Ross, Leopold Ross, and Greg Puciato. He is also the co-founder of comic book and graphic novel publisher, Black Mask Studios.
Stranger than Fiction is the eighth full-length studio album and major label debut by American punk rock band Bad Religion, released in 1994. It was a major breakthrough for Bad Religion, being certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America and becoming the band's first album to chart on the Billboard 200, peaking at 87.
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Recipe for Hate is the seventh studio album by American punk rock band Bad Religion, released on June 4, 1993. It was their last album on Epitaph Records for nine years and the band had switched to Atlantic Records, who re-released the album several months after its release.
The Gray Race is the ninth full-length album of the punk rock band Bad Religion, which was released in 1996. It was the follow-up to the band's highly successful 1994 album Stranger Than Fiction.
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Against the Grain is the fifth album by American punk rock band Bad Religion, released on November 23, 1990. It was the last album recorded with drummer Pete Finestone, who left in 1991 to concentrate with his new project The Fishermen. Following his departure, the band's music would take a different direction on their next album, 1992's Generator. Against the Grain was also the first Bad Religion album not to feature a lineup change from the previous two albums.
Greg Hetson is an American guitarist. He was born in Brooklyn, New York and has lived in the Los Angeles area since he was 2 years old. He is Jewish. Active since 1979, Hetson is best known as the guitarist for the influential hardcore punk bands Redd Kross, Circle Jerks and Bad Religion. He is known for his high energy stage antics which people have coined the term "The Hetson Leap". Hetson was a founding member of and also plays guitar in another supergroup, Punk Rock Karaoke, and the hardcore punk band G.F.P.
How Could Hell Be Any Worse? is the debut studio album by American punk rock band Bad Religion, released on January 19, 1982 by Epitaph Records. Released almost a year after their self-titled EP, it was financed from the sales of the self titled EP and partly by a $1,000 loan by guitarist Brett Gurewitz's father. Its success surprised the band when it sold 10,000 copies in under a year.
Back to the Known is the second EP released by American punk rock band Bad Religion. The name of the EP is a reference to the band abandoning the progressive rock influences of its previous album, 1983's Into the Unknown, and returning to its punk roots.
Live at the Palladium is a live concert DVD by the punk band Bad Religion, released in March 2006. It features footage from two nights at the Palladium in Hollywood, California on November 21 and 22, 2004.
New Maps of Hell is the fourteenth studio album by Bad Religion, released on July 10, 2007.
30 Years Live is the 2nd live album from the band Bad Religion, which was released on May 18, 2010, therein documenting the band's 30th anniversary tour. It is the band's first live album in 13 years, since Tested in 1997. Rather than a standard release, it was available for free download to members of Bad Religion's official mailing list.
True North is the sixteenth studio album by the California punk rock band Bad Religion, which was released on January 22, 2013. After touring in support of their previous album The Dissent of Man (2010), Bad Religion began writing new material for an album that was planned for release in 2012. During their 2011 tour, frontman Greg Graffin stated that Bad Religion would make "one more album and then all join the navy, do honest work", which led to speculation that they were breaking up, although this turned out not to be the case. The recording sessions took place in July and August 2012 at Joe's House of Compression, a studio owned by Joe Barresi, who produced the album.
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