Welcome to episode 34 of Holly Jolly X’masu! In this episode, I talk about the Lotus’s 1965 album, “Christmas Guitar Beat.” It’s a fantastic collection of Yuletide and Surf Rock gems.

This is one of a handful of Japanese “Christmas” albums I know of that don’t have a lot of Christmas music on them. The Christmas songs that are on here are pretty great, and this would have been a genuine classic if it had been entirely Christmas. As it is, it’s a curious memorial to a talented group of young guys who didn’t quite manage to leave the sort of mark on the music industry they were hoping to.

I have to say that I have mixed feelings about albums where I can’t find much biographical information about the bands. On the one hand, it makes the episode a lot easier to put together. On the other hand, I feel like I’m letting my audience down by not being able to tell them more about the artists behind the music. Even when I draw a blank on Wikipedia, I can usually find some obscure blog post or an old interview or news article about the artists I’m covering. With the Lotus, the few sites that mentioned them all seemed to have copied the same scant bits of information from one another. One positive note is that the music is good enough to speak for itself.

Thanks for listening, and I hope you enjoyed the Lotus and their mix of songs. Join me back here on the 25th when I discuss Satoru Oda’s “Tenor in X’mas,” from 1964. It’s wonderful Mood Kayo album, in the same vein as Nakamura Hachidai and Hidehiko Matsumoto’s “Christmas Tenor Mood,” and one you’re sure to enjoy.

As always, any feedback on this episode would be appreciated. If have any suggestions, or if you’d like to recommend a song or album for a future episode, drop me a line and let me know.

Remember, I’ve added a button to my Ko-fi page. If you’d like to support me one cup of coffee at a time, a donation is only $3. I’ve also opened a Redbubble store. I only have a couple designs up, but keep an eye on it as I’ll be trying to add more. Any proceeds or donations received will be put towards purchasing new Japanese Christmas music to review for future episodes. You can also find me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. And if you get a chance, leave me a review on iTunes. Thanks!