GENNARO CASTALDO WATCH

Never one to shy away from delivering a vaguely-worded statement in the twin pursuits of promoting HMV and giving PR firms an easy ride, Gennaro Castaldo has swung into action in support of the Santa record:

Gennaro Castaldo, spokesperson for HMV: "There's at least one surprise Christmas No.1 contender that comes out of the blue every year, and this is most definitely it. They don't come much bigger than Santa (apart from Cliff, obviously!), and this novelty cover has a real chance of making it given its infectious appeal: it will be a great stocking filler for the pre-teen market, while it should also go down a storm at the Office Christmas party."

We're not sure how this has come "out the blue" when he's appearing in a press release about it, but we're delighted to respect Gennaro's professionalism here. Any sane person would barely be able to say anything more than:

"For God's sake, why? This a reworking of bloody Amarillo with "santa's grotto" shoved in the place of the Texan town in the title, which doesn't even scan; and that bloody song has already been number one for about seven-eighths of the year already on the strength of a lame joke which didn't really work but for some reason presuaded people to buy it for bloody weeks. Everyone involved in this project should be shot, and their heads put on spikes, and their bodies given to the beasts of the field for their food."

But Mr. C, he gamely ploughs ahead pretending that the record is every bit as valuable and important as, say, Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come or Blondie's Heart of Glass. What a trouper.

[Thanks to our deep throat for passing on the press release - lovingly created by Sue Harris of Republic Media]

music gennaro castaldo santa