Meowy Christmas - Jingle Cats

...the follow up album to Meowy Christmas, entitled "Here Comes Santa Claws", is better, but in my opinion, Meowy Christmas is the best, since the kittens were more about the music in this first album, when the fame and glamour hadn't tainted their musical genius. In my opinion, they sold out for their second album, where they tried to appeal more to the casual listener and their music suffered as a result. But thats just my opinion as a die ...
...on 2002s "Rhythm and Mews". Its just too painful to talk about.

The Jingle Cats are, (in order of my favourites first):

Cheese Puff
Max
Sprocket
Binky
Clara
Cueball
Graymer
Twizzler
Petunia

All of the guys do a great performance, but Cheese Puff is definitely my favourite since he really gets those real "meaty" and "scratchy" ... more

Well, strange as it may seem, I picked up this little wonder for my girlfriend as kind of a joke last year, and it was really good, for what it was.

And what, exactly, is it?

Well, to put it simply, its a bunch of Christmas songs, "sung" by kittens. Please ignore the fact that on the CD it says "sung by real kittens", as its not, in fact, I'm really glad it isn't as some of those noises on there just aren't natural and I shudder to think how one would go about making a cat make those kind of noises. (Although I'm sure it would involve some kind of combination of a pointy stick and a cardboard box). So yes, its not real kittens (but I like to believe they are, more on this later), but rather some kind of synthesised sound made on a sampler, although why they didn't mention "robot kittens" on the CD case, I'll never know, it would be a real selling point.

Anyway, back on track, here is a list of the tracks that you are treated to on the CD:

1. Silent Night
2. What Child Is This?/Hava Nagila
3. Dance of the Reed Flutes
4. Up on the Housetop
5. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
6. O Come All Ye Faithful
7. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies
8. Jingle Cats Medley: Jingle Bells/Hark the Herald Angels Sing/We ...
9. Angels We Have Heard on High
10. Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
11. O Little Town of Bethlehem
12. Carol of the Bells
13. Go Tell It on the Mountain
14. O Christmas Tree
15. Ode to Joy
16. Deck the Halls
17. Good King Wenceslas
18. We Three Kings of Orient Are
19. Waltz of the Flowers
20. Auld Lang Syne

Many say the follow up album to Meowy Christmas, entitled "Here Comes Santa Claws", is better, but in my opinion, Meowy Christmas is the best, since the kittens were more about the music in this first album, when the fame and glamour hadn't tainted their musical genius. In my opinion, they sold out for their second album, where they tried to appeal more to the casual listener and their music suffered as a result. But thats just my opinion as a die hard Jingle Cats fan. And don't get me started on 2002s "Rhythm and Mews". Its just too painful to talk about.

The Jingle Cats are, (in order of my favourites first):

Cheese Puff
Max
Sprocket
Binky
Clara
Cueball
Graymer
Twizzler
Petunia

All of the guys do a great performance, but Cheese Puff is definitely my favourite since he really gets those real "meaty" and "scratchy" meows in. I have no idea how he does it and in this album he once again shows why he's the most famous of the Jingle Cats, and a pin up for many young kittens all over the world! Although I must also mention Binky, who had a bad case of worms during the entire recording of the album, but who did a sterling job in spite of this. This folks, is real dedication.

My only criticism with this album is that there is no "Jingle Bells" song. This album was screaming (read:meowing) out for Jingle Bells, and in my opinion suffers a little bit as a result. Although "Silent Night", "O Come All Ye Faithful" and "O Christmas Tree" almost make up for this omission.

One other great feature in this album is that on one of the songs (Jingle Cats Melody) the "Jingle Dogs" are featured for the Bass parts. I thought that this was a wonderful collaboration of my two favourite bands, and I understand the effort involved by all, as apparently the Jingle Cats and the Jingle Dogs don't get on in real-life so well, so it was nice of them to put aside their differences for the fans.

The CD is also quite lengthy, clocking it at over 1 hour full of four-legged fun, so you definitely get your meowoneys worth!

All in all I'd say that this is a wonderful album and must buy for all Jingle Cats fans. Jingle Dogs fans might have a problem adjusting to the change in pitch, but to be honest, they really should give it a try. For everyone else, this is a CD that has kittens singing Christmas songs and is exactly what you'd expect.

Mike Spalla, the guy who created (or found, as I like to believe) the Jingle Cats made this CD way back in 1994 and you can probably still pick it up in places like Amazon for like £5. Worth. Every. Penny. 

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