Kill Rock Stars
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You may recognize poet and singer/songwriter Caleb Nichols from his previous feature on this blog, or perhaps my 2023 Christmas mix, I’m an Igloo, which features his gorgeous 2021 song, “I Fell in Love on Christmas Day.” Well, this year Caleb has packaged up his previous Christmas tunes, including the wonderful, nearly brand new “Christmas, California,” from his 2023 album Let’s Look Back, and added a spectacular new track that is sure to delight many fans of this thing called pop music we all love.
This brand new, exclusive to this release song, as opposed to that old song from way back in October (Christmas, California), is “Crimble Medley.” The title may be a giveaway for hardcore Beatles fans (my son may know about this – he is in bed though!), but this term is apparently Beatle-ese for Christmas, coined on one of their fan club 45’s many a moon ago. I’m going to defer to Caleb’s description, as this song is packed full of Beatley goodies:
“…a late entry into the crowded Christmas music field with “Crimble Medley” — a 4-minute John Fahey-esque folk tune that seamlessly blends holiday offerings from the Beatles solo catalogs, all set to the musical base of the bands’ unreleased, fans-only track “Christmas Time Is Here Again.” Songs from all four Beatles are included in the Americana-twinged medley, including “Happy Christmas (War Is Over)” by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, “Ding Dong Ding Dong” by George Harrision, “Wonderful Christmastime” by Paul McCartney, and the Ringo Starr/George Harrision penned “Photograph”.”
Wrapped in a tight 4:13, Caleb packs a whole ton of seamless Beatle fun into this song. I’m sure it is going to be a favorite for the next few days… then again starting next September for you crazy folks (like me), and perhaps July for our southern hemisphere friends. Ah hell, if Caleb can put incredible Christmas songs on his “normal releases,” we all should work incredible Christmas songs into our “normal listening.” Justification found!
Bottom Line: What a lovely Crimble gift for us all.
Christmas Underground 