V/A • A Damaged Christmas Gift For You • LP

We all know that time of the year is once again rolling around where we overindulge on mince pies while wondering if the next year will be better than the last. Here’s bloody hoping! While Ed and John clog up the Christmas charts, there will always be a blast of a Christmas album to shack the mistletoe from the ceiling and keep the yuletide log rocking. Thank you Jesus (happy birthday in advance by the way) that this year it comes in the form of a great album put together by your friendly neighbourhood independent rock ‘n’ rollers Damaged Goods.

The album is a post-dinner cheese board of Damaged Goods’ delights with some of their classic acts making appearances. We get Christmas Tree On Fire from Holly Golightly (who also appears with The Greenhornes for a rendition of Little Stars), Merry Christmas (I Don’t Wanna Fight) from Helen Love with some great mash-ups in there, TV Smith doing Xmas Bloody Xmas, and The Buff Medways’ Merry Christmas Fritz. Our own John Robb makes an appearance with Goldblade and Poly Styrene on the wonderful City Of Christmas Ghosts from their 2008 single. Elsewhere, Cukooland pull off a great pop-punk version of Silver Bells and The Cute Lepers bring their own Christmas Song to the party, a wonderful sprinkling of powerpop to the mix.

The present is shakey for many independent labels right now and the Ghost Of Christmas Future has no remedy for the crisis they’re facing in the vinyl pressing industry. Damaged Goods have been a home for many fantastic bands for many years now. This Christmas, if you only buy one Christmas album, make sure it’s a Damaged one.