This marvelous release from Strut Records (available as a CD or as a downloadable mp3 playlist) is certainly not your run of the mill holiday collection. It’s way funkier, and if Christmas and New Year’s actually have a groove, then this ought to be it. Featuring rare soul, funk, and blues sides from the Golden Age of soul -many of these tracks were B-sides or seasonal releases on small regional labels -- In the Christmas Groove pops with energy and warmth. Opening with a fractured-voiced
Jimmy Reed singing “Christmas Present Blues,” the set blasts off like a train leaving the tracks, roaring through
Funk Machine’s “Soul Santa,” the relentless speed calypso of Captain Elmo Mckenzie & the Roosters’ “Home on Christmas Day,” and then rests for a moment on Sean Bonniwell’s edit of Zebra’s gorgeous (and haunting) “Christmas Morning.” In the Christmas Groove ends up presenting all of the varied emotions of the holiday season with passion and energy, pushing things along on joyous rhythms that lift the spirit as well as move the feet, all of which makes it one of the most refreshing holiday releases of the year. ~ Steve Leggett