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:: Happy Xmas (War Is Over) ::

:: Holly And Ivy ::

Nothing dates a record worse than bad synthesizers. And boy howdy, are they all over the work of the Hybrid Kids, the nom-de-plume of ex-Mott The Hoople keyboardist Morgan Fisher, who put out two records of weird sounds, sped-up-vocals and dated Trevor Horn-style synth riffs in the late ‘70s/early ‘80s. Fisher only put out two records as the Hybrid Kids and one of them, 1980’s Claws, is a full-on Christmas record. He later organized a project of 51 one-minute tracks called Miniatures with members of The Residents, the Bonzo Dog Band’s Neil Innes, avant-garde guitarist Fred Frith and gay icon Quentin Crisp (!) that includes a cover of Slade’s “Cum On Feel The Noize.” Fisher, who now lives in Japan, mainly records music for soundtracks to experimental films and documentaries, though he did play with the Minus Five on one date on their last tour of Japan.

It’s hard to see anyone sipping eggnog and feeling the yuletide spirit as the Alvin & The Chimpunks-esque chorus of the cover of John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” speeds by; it’s one of those records where you wonder if you’ve got the setting on your turntable all wrong.


Mark

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