Moon Duo - Silver Bells / Winter

Ripley Johnson must be bang into Christmas, and who can blame him: it's a magical time of the year that almost always involves watching Gremlins and, as a result, being reminded of how amazing Michael Sambello's 'Mega-Madness' is. What a tune. So, if the Wooden Shjips christmas 12" wasn't enough fun for you then you should be sure to check out Moon Duo's contributions to the xmas singles charts. 'Silver Bells' is a Moon Duo original. Yes, that's right, they've gone the whole fucking hog and actually written a new christmas tune! Mental. A cover would have done it but an original is gonna have those fanboys/girls licking their chops in anticipation. As you can imagine it's quite christmas-y and features a great little solo from our man Johnson. The B-side is a cover of the Rolling Stones song 'Winter' which is executed in a rather ye olde, classic 50's pop style. It's got faux string sounds, a generous helping of sleigh bells and generally crisp winter atmosphere. It's worth noting they don't do quite as good a job of keeping in character as Wooden Shjips did with their xmas 12" but as a result it's a much more Christmas-y affair. Oh, it's on xmas green vinyl. Ho Ho Ho.