from
Just Not Quite... a Christmas Album (Vol.2),
track released December 6, 2019
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JOE ALGERI - lead vocals, acoustic guitar, 12 String Rickenbacker, tambourine (AUSTRALIA)
HERB EIMERMAN - bass, backing vocals (USA)
STEFAN JOHANSSON - drums (SWEDEN)
LARS BRUSELL - organ (SWEDEN)
ANDY J. PRINKKILÄ - electric guitars (FINLAND)
Written and Produced by Joe Algeri
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REVIEWS:
It feels like Christmas, today, as some of my favorite people put their annual musical presents under the tree.
Like Sofia Talvik, Australian rocker (and master of the Rickenbacker) Joe Algeri is an artist I discovered before finding The Fa or kicking things off at my own place. His annual Christmas treats cover a wide range of styles and subject matter but, most years, you wouldn't be wrong to say they remind you of The Byrds.
This year's offering from The JAC and The Christmas Crew is a little too on the button. I don't know what was in Joe's mind and this song could be a fit in any season. But, given the politics in this country for the last few years, "Broken Gnome" just hit me that way immediately.
I rest my empty case
Can I declare that I don't have a clue
I'm tired of arguing when it's not as much at all
about me and you
About, oh, five or six times a day now, I find myself asking or wondering if we can just stop fighting for a little while. It gets worse at the holidays when it ought to get better. And, like the protagonist of "Broken Gnome", we look forward with what should be hope but "I'm a little scared". And, when it's over (whether "it" is the holiday dinner, the season, or the country), nobody wins and all that's left is rubble.
The lumberjacks have all gone home
They stepped on my Xmas gnome
They took away the pieces
And I don't care
For dumb luck anymore
As I say, I don't know what was on Joe's mind. You could apply this song to almost any strained relationship. But it's a little too close to home this year. Personally, I'm ready for it to be over (and for y'all to admit that I'm right and you're wrong...yeah...it ain't ending any time soon).
Stubby's Stocking Stuffers (2019)
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With the digital release of “Broken Gnome” on his Egomaniac Music Bandcamp page, Australian multi-instrumentalist Joe Algeri continues his tradition of giving us a free download of a Christmas song each year. Performing under the name The JAC, Algeri once again recruited bassist-vocalist Herb Eimerman and drummer Stefan Johansson—fellow members of the international power pop group The Britannicas—to join in the fun. Also per Algeri’s tradition, “Broken Gnome” isn’t your typical cup of holiday cheer. But its offbeat sentiments are set to a catchy 1960s style arrangement, and his harmonies with Eimerman are reminiscent of The Byrds.
Broken Hearted Toy by Terry Flamm
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This group is the work of Joe Algieri, a power pop legend from Down Under, who has been posting his music to Bandcamp for years. Among those many postings have been a number of Christmas tunes, and this 2019 offering is his latest. It's a bright midtempo number with all those British Invasion touches amped up a few decibels, with seriously downtempo lyrics about a dying relationship at holiday time. Best of all, it's free from Bandcamp -- one click and it's yours.
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