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Smooth Grooves: A Sensual ChristmasFirst things first: Rhino Records' Smooth Grooves: A Sensual Christmas (1999) is full of fine holiday music: top shelf rhythm 'n' blues from 1969 to 1976 by some of the biggest names of the era, including the Jackson 5, James Brown, and Gladys Knight. I want to establish that fact right upfront, because for reasons other than the music itself, Smooth Grooves is not a very good compilation - certainly not by Rhino's vaunted standards. For about a decade at the height of the CD era, Rhino gave us more than 20 marvelous compilations documenting holiday music in a dizzying variety of genres including country, jazz, blues, doo wop, reggae, punk, new wave, and swing (read more). In effect, this loose series wrote the history of recorded Christmas music in the 20th century. Smooth Grooves: A Sensual Christmas fills a gap in that series, but it doesn't fill it very well. And, while this is music you should absolutely hear, there are better ways to hear it.

Smooth Grooves: A Sensual Christmas was part of a much larger Rhino series that surveyed Black pop from the late 60's through the mid-90's, with an emphasis on romantic ballads. For me, the basic concept of the Smooth Grooves series is problematic since it tamps down a fundamental property of rhythm 'n' blues - that is, the rhythm. Ballads are fine, but they mainly exist to give us a breather between dances! Having said that, a quick glance at the cover art for any volume of the Smooth Grooves series makes obvious the other function of ballads: to serve as background music while making sweet, sweet love. Hard to complain about that....

But really, with Smooth Grooves Rhino was just repackaging music they'd already reissued in vastly superior ways. In particular, I'd point to their spectacular Didn't It Blow Your Mind series of 70's soul hits, their rock-solid In Yo Face series of 70's funk, their irresistible Disco Years series, and their glorious boxed set, Can You Dig It? The '70s Soul Experience. It's true, Rhino hadn't yet explored rhythm 'n' blues in the 80's or 90's, but things had changed considerably by then. Rap and hip hop was the future, and the golden age of soul music was over. There's a reason Smooth Grooves: A Sensual Christmas focuses exclusively on the 70's, and you'll feel it it in the grooves.

Hipsters' Holiday: Vocal Jazz And R&B ClassicsDreaming of a Black Christmas

Again, despite my reservations, Smooth Grooves: A Sensual Christmas collected some great music - music that more than ever before examined the holidays through the lens of the Black experience. The Emotions' 1970 Volt single "Black Christmas" does this most literally, recasting the holiday in the "Black is beautiful" ethos that arose in the 1960's. Written by Pervis Staple of the Staple Singers, "Black Christmas" isn't a particularly profound anthem, but it's a lovely, positive, uplifting song that turns Bing Crosby's greatest hit on its head.

Other songs like the Staple Singers' "Who Took The Merry Out Of Christmas" (1970), James Brown's "Santa Claus Is Definitely Here To Stay" (1970), or Rufus Thomas's "I'll Be Your Santa Baby" (1973) are simply unapologetically Black. They reflect the culture purely and passionately - and with lots of good humor. Another, Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas" (1970), is a masterful piece of songwriting that became a widely accepted holiday standard across all cultures.

But, like I said before, there are better ways to hear all this great music. In particular, I'd point you to Christmas In Soulsville (2007), a collection of Stax Christmas masters from which four tracks on Smooth Grooves are taken (read more); the amazing Motown Christmas, a 1998 CD update of a landmark 1973 double-LP (read more); Rhino's own 1991 update of Atco's immortal Soul Christmas (read more); and a collection like Funky Christmas by James Brown, who recorded three whole Christmas albums during his prime years (read more). If you get all that, you'll have eight of the 12 tracks on Smooth Grooves: A Sensual Christmas - and a whole lot more.

Christmas In Soulsville
Motown Christmas
Soul Christmas
James Brown, Funky Christmas

The remaining four tracks are admittedly rare - and probably enough to convince most collectors that Smooth Grooves: A Sensual Christmas deserves a place in their collection. The O'Jays' "Christmas Ain't Christmas New Year's Ain't New Year's Without The One You Love" (1969) is fairly rare, the Ohio Players "Happy Holidays" (1975) is hard to find, and Bill Withers' "The Gift Of Giving" (1972) is downright scarce. Gladys Knight's "Silent Night" is a 1974 single later included on their album Bless This House (1975), and it's easily found on their Classic Christmas Album. But, it's one of the best-ever versions of that hoary old carol - soulful and heartfelt, while preserving its inherent holiness.

Smooth Grooves: A Sensual CollectionThe Gift Of Taking

In the end, all 12 tracks on Smooth Grooves: A Sensual Christmas are essential listening (see below), with no less than five of them earning a spot in my Top 100 Songs. But, that points out the most fundamental problem with the album: It has just 12 tracks adding up to barely half the capacity of a compact disc. Most of the earlier albums in the historic Rhino series had at least 18 tracks, making 12 seem awfully stingy. In fact, most volumes in the Smooth Grooves series had just 12 tracks - which is perhaps indicative of Rhino's new status as part of the profit-hungry Warner Brothers corporation, which purchased the label in 1998.

Arguably even more fundamental is the fact that quite a few tracks on Smooth Grooves: A Sensual Christmas aren't smooth at all. The Jackson 5's "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," for instance, is a full-on barn burner. Rufus Thomas's "I'll Be Your Santa Baby" is a funk workout so stanky you'll need to shower off after listening to it. Several others aren't particularly "sensual" at all - they are worldly and wise. That's all fine and good, but it's more a matter of consistency than quality. Most of the Rhino compilations beautifully curated, keeping historical context - as well as the listener - paramount. In comparison, Smooth Grooves seems like slapdash product, and that's disappointing.

Consumer Notes

For those who care about such things, on Smooth Grooves: A Sensual Christmas, Rhino features the full-length stereo master of Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas," A lot of compilations use the mono single edit. And, they use the unedited, eight-minute version of the Ohio Players' "Happy Holidays." It was originally issued as a non-LP 7-inch single in two parts, and some compilations use just the first half. But, Smooth Grooves uses the single edit of the Impressions' disco-flavored "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" - not the six-minute album version from the 1976 Cotillion compilation Funky Christmas. [top of page]

Albums Albums

SongsEssential Songs

  • Black Christmas (Emotions, 1970)
  • Christmas Ain't Christmas New Year's Ain't New Year's Without The One You Love (O'Jays, 1969) Top 100 Song
  • The Gift Of Giving (Bill Withers, 1972)
  • Happy Holidays (Ohio Players, 1975)
  • I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (Impressions, 1976)
  • I'll Be Your Santa Baby (Rufus Thomas, 1973) Top 100 Song
  • The Mistletoe And Me (Isaac Hayes, 1969)
  • Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (Jackson 5, 1970) Top 100 Song
  • Santa Claus Is Definitely Here To Stay (James Brown, 1970)
  • Silent Night (Gladys Knight & The Pips, 1974)
  • This Christmas (Donny Hathaway, 1970) Top 100 Song
  • Who Took The Merry Out Of Christmas (Staple Singers, 1970) Top 100 Song

Further ListeningFurther Listening

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