Track Listing

1. Wake Up It's Christmas  3:38

2. No Room  3:02

3. Kangaroo Hop  2:31

4. Christmas Day Has Come Again  2:21

5. Ticketty Boo  2:51

6. Miracle  5:12

7. A Very Silly Christmas Song  3:12

8. Wake Up Sleepyhead  2:30

9. Father Christmas and Dave  0:27

10. So Far Away  4:05

11. The Wind Is Blowing  1:18

12. Wassail  2:55

13. Down In The South Lullaby  2:52

14. Good King Wenceslas  3:37

15. It's Christmas Again  3:28

16. Reflections  2:56

Click on above buttons to hear samples from select tracks

  More info

Well-known children's entertainer Peter Combe has a new Christmas CD out.

 It's full of the usual Peter Combe mixture of the seriously lyrical to the
downright absurd, and my prediction is kids will love it.                                         

Wake Up it's Christmas offers a great mix of styles, moods and experiences of Christmas, mostly from an essentially Australian (or southern hemisphere) viewpoint including watermelon, swimming pools and cricket on the telly.

Songs that connect with the traditional story include the reflective No Room, which is one of my favourites (quite different from the song of similar name on his original Christmas album - also one of my favourites) Miracle (in a style I call Christmas Rock) and It's Christmas Again.

Many of the songs conjure up images of our hot, dry Australian summer Christmases. Especially so are Down in the South Lullaby and Wake Up Sleepyhead, along with the frenetic Kangaroo Hop, a typical Peter Combe romp that kids will love. I love the fact that so many of the songs reflect children's experience of Christmas including Christmas Day Has Come Again.

There's the expected silly songs that young children will giggle at, including Ticketty Boo, A Very Silly Christmas Song (what else?) and Father Christmas and Dave, which are nicely balanced by songs that ask some harder social questions: So Far Away and No Room.

Also included is the traditional English Wassail, and an up-beat version of Good King Wenceslas, which seem a little out of place in an album so unapologetically Australian.

What I like about Peter's music is the variation of style and content, the essentially Australian flavour, and the musical sophistication with which he writes. Peter recognises in children the capacity for musical intelligence. There is a range and sophistication in his music which respects his audience and doesn't patronise them. At the same time he's not afraid to acknowledge that kids want to have fun and have a great sense of the absurd.

All of which means that the adults can enjoy listening to their kid's music as well.  

Marnie Agnew - The KUCA News

  American review by Carol Swanson of Wake Up It's Christmas

If you have no rug-rats scrambling around your home (and know of no gift-worthy tikes), then you can stop reading now. This holiday release is not for you. Wake Up It's Christmas is geared for the young in age, although it might possibly reach the occasional adult who qualifies as young at heart.

I listen to loads of holiday music each year, and very little of it is kid-centric. I have children, but even as young tikes, mine rarely clamored for the artists who catered to the youngest audiences. Oh, we had a Raffi album or two, but that was about it, and that was probably our fault. Even as a preschooler, our son Derek was a Rolling Stoner, quoting Mick Jagger to his daycare provider. Go figure.

Peter Combe is no Mick Jagger, but he is the multiple award-winning matinee idol of Australian kiddies. He has an extraordinary track record, and Wake Up It's Christmas is his second holiday release. He has composed all but two of the tracks, and his song-writing skills are undeniably impressive. This is a finely-crafted, well-executed album that is fun, funny, and entertaining, particularly for newly-minted humans of every stripe.

Combe is a remarkable talent, writing the songs, doing numerous character voices, playing the acoustic guitar, and singing with zeal. My favorite tracks include So Far Away, a ballad praising universal themes of peace, hope, and love, and Miracle, a doo-wop number worthy of Elvis.

My children now stand on the threshold of adulthood, hovering in that twilight world between crazy adolescence and the serious responsibilities of independence. They are not the audience for Wake Up It's Christmas, but perhaps they will have their own children down the road, and those kids will clamor for the high-quality fun that Peter Combe effortlessly delivers. The Australian flavors here only enrich the experience; all kids will understand and enjoy the entertaining stories that Combe tells. If you need something special for the young'uns in your life, give this Aussie serious consideration.

 "Never underestimates the intelligence of his audience"

- Melbourne Age

 "A purveyor of dreams, fairy tales and unfailingly positive messages"

 - Adelaide Advertiser

    You can visit Peter's website at www.petercombe.com or e-mail him at peterccombe@hotmail.com