Heritage

Album review

Christmas was formed in 1969 in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, out of the ashes of the cult underground psychedelic band Reign Ghost. In July 1970, Christmas released an independent self-titled debut that brought some media attention to the band and a contract with the Daffodil Records label. In December 1970, less than six months after the release of the debut, Christmas released their debut Daffodil Records album entitled Heritage. Christmas was comprised of vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Bob Bryden, bass Tyler Raizenne, drummer Rich Richter, and Robert Bulger on guitars, all of whom were still in their teens. The album gathered good reviews and was well received by critics but it was not commercially viable because the long songs and hard rock sound. It became an instant favorite in the underground music scene just about everywhere but in Canada. Despite the international response to the album, Heritage proved to be the last release by the band under the name Christmas due to management problems and difficulty with the direction of the next album. Consequently, Christmas broke up in late 1971 only to resurface the following year, lineup intact, under the name the Spirit of Christmas. In the late '80s and '90s, the original Heritage album became a highly sought after collector's item, especially in the U.S.A. and Europe because of the band's unorthodox style and progressive influences. While the original Heritage album contained ten songs in the heavy rock progressive style of music, this reissue features an extra four bonus tracks. This reissue by Unidisc has been digitally mastered and the original artwork has been kept.
© Keith Pettipas /TiVo