Fred Schneider's phlegmatic sing-talk vocals are a big part of the charm that made
the B-52's one of the most original bands to emerge from the new wave movement. Part arty, part disco party,
the B's slowly became a mainstream success, much to their own surprise. Like all artists,
Schneider has so much going on inside his head that there's not enough room in one band to contain it. He's had side projects before, but despite the folks he collaborated with, Fred Schneider & the Shake Society and
Just Fred were solo efforts. On
Destination...Christmas!,
Schneider is part of a band, albeit a stripped-down electronica trio. He's been collaborating with Noah Brodie (keyboards and electric drums) and programmer
Dan Marshall for almost a decade, and when a couple of tunes they wrote -- the lounge anthem "Totally Nude Island" and the disco takeoff "Who Threw That Ham at Me?" -- became surprise digital hits, they began planning a trio of albums: one aimed at discos, one aimed at the Halloween market, and a Christmas album. Continued touring with
the B-52's forced
Schneider and his bandmates to cut back on their plans, so fans will have to be content with this off-the-wall collection of Christmas tunes. Needless to say,
Destination...Christmas! is dark, sexy, and surrealistic, about as far from a typical Christmas album as you can get. "Santa's Disco" sounds a bit like
the B-52's, and details a drunken Christmas Eve orgy at the North Pole, with celebrants doing interesting things with candy canes. "Christmas Tears" is a dark moody piece that lists off the horrors of the season from mouse droppings under the Christmas tree to relatives bearing cold zucchini casseroles. "Jingle Those Bells" sounds like
Fred's spending the holidays at a strip club while "Santa Je T'Aime" is a knockoff of
Serge Gainsbourg's heavy breathing classic "Je T'Aime Moi Non Plus." ~ j. poet