Five Chinese Brothers Window Shopper's Christmas CD

This is not your typical Christmas album. 5 Chinese Brothers adopt a variety of generic folk, country, and rock & roll song styles and then write new, gently comic, Christmas-themed lyrics over them. For example, "Dept. Store Santa Claus Strike" borrows the talking-blues folk song structure most familiar from Woody Guthrie's "Pretty Boy Floyd" for a tale of Santa's management-labor dispute, while "The Fruitcake Song" borrows the shave-and-a-haircut rhythm of "Bo Diddley" to discuss the persistence of that most inedible of Christmas foods, and "Missing Miss December" is a rock & roll tune about a centerfold. The result is a likable collection that will serve as a change of pace from those Bing Crosby and Mannheim Steamroller records during the holiday season. ~ William Ruhlmann

Five Chinese Brothers have some major-league fans. That\'s why their first album, Singer Songwriter Beggarman Thief, received glowing reviews in CMJ, Entertainment Weekly, Billboard, Stereo Review, CD Review, and Esquire. That\'s why their second album, Stone Soup, rode the Gavin Americana chart for more than three months, spending six weeks in the top ten. And that\'s why they were invited to appear on VH-1\'s Country Countdown with Travis Tritt and NPR\'s World Cafe.Five Chinese Brothers incorporate the best of all types of roots music. That\'s why they are welcome at rock clubs, listening rooms, coffee houses, and outdoor festivals. That\'s why such diverse publications as Dirty Linen(folk), New Country(country), and Option(alternative) have recommended them. That\'s why critics have recognized in their music the influences of Gram Parsons, John Prine, Elvis Costello, Hank Williams Sr., the Band, Woody Guthrie, and Tom Petty.During the past several years, Five Chinese Brothers have toured extensively, visiting Europe and the West Coast and playing frequently in the Northeast and South. They have appeared at the Midtown Music Festival (Atlanta). Summer Lights (Nashville), the Riverbend Festival (Chattanooga), City Stages (Birmingham), and the Winnipeg Folk Festival, among others.After recording two singles on Brooklyn\'s Diesel Only label and several tracks for Fast Folk Music Magazine, Five Chinese Brothers released Singer Songwriter Beggarman Thief on the PRIME CD label in January of 1994. In July of 1995, they followed it with Stone Soup. The band takes it\'s name from a children\'s book. Five Chinese Brothers are: Stephen B. Antonakos, lead guitar; Paul Foglino, bass; Tom Meltzer, guitar and lead vocals; and Neil Thomas, accordian and keyboards.

Recorded at: Prime CD Recording, New York, New York. Includes liner notes by Five Chinese Brothers.

Five Chinese Brothers: Tom Meltzer (vocals, guitar); Steve Antonakos (guitar, vocals); Neil Thomas (keyboards, vocals); Paul Foglino (bass, vocals); Pete DeMeo (drums, vocals).

Additional personnel: Susan McKeown, Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer, James Dean Jay Byrd (vocals); Jim Gregory (bass).

Entertainment Weekly (12/5/97, p.94) - "...the quintet unleash their gentle ironic touch on the season with a set of tightly crafted originals that maintain a down-home benevolence while focusing on such non-Christmas themes as suicide...and porn." - Rating: B+
Dirty Linen (12/97-1/98, p.89) - "...Pop the 5 Chinese Brothers' Christmas CD in the stereo and resurrect your holiday cheer....includes the best-ever semi-sacred rockabilly song, `Rockin' in the Manger'..."
Sing Out! (Vol.42#3, p.157) - "A gently rockin', slightly twisted Christmas from this New York City band..."