Ash - 'Santa Claus Is Coming To Town' Single Review

So it’s that time of year again and, after resisting it for many years, Ash have finally succumbed to the Christmas single mania, Tim Wheeler himself is no stranger to Christmas music but this is the first time Ash as a band have dipped their toes in the water.

For some reason lots of brilliant artists over the years have felt the need to release Christmas singles with various degree of success and some abject failures I’ve never fully understood the appeal myself but I am a bit on the bah humbug side of Christmas..

These days it’s actually quite hard to get a new Christmas song to make any impact as the inclusion of streaming means all of the classics dominate the charts at Christmas.

So, the solution from Ash’s perspective is simple, record their version of the (in my humble opinion) the best Christmas song there has ever been, but Ashify it. The guitars at the start are prime Ash, the song feels speeded up a little and the whole thing is just designed for raising peoples Christmas spirits. As a brilliant live band you just know they are going to preform this every December show from now on and I can’t wait to hear it.

It’s a joy, I do love the Springsteen version, but this is rockier, more of a jumping about song but with some quieter moments, I really enjoyed it and it’s great to get someone new given us a version of a classic Christmas song as it gets a bit too repetitive at this time of year hearing the same artists singing the same songs again and again.

There is even a lively, gig based video to go with it with Santa, whoever he is, clearly having a blast.

All in all, this is rockier Christmas song which doesn’t mess with the song too much but does give it an interesting spin. Go listen to it, stream it and let’s get something new onto our Christmas playlists!

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Review - Iain McClay