Rope Store Never Had Christmas / A Winter's Tale

'Never Had Christmas / A Winter's Tale' by Rope Store from Norwich, England, is one of the four singles released as part of the fourth edition of the Snowflakes Christmas Singles Club. 'Never Had Christmas' brings bands like Wizzard, Slade and even The Wombles to mind, bands that also knew how to make a catchy Christmas song, getting their inspiration from Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, and especiallly his legendary 1963 Christmas album, for their Christmas hits. 'Never Had Christmas' has everything a Christmas rock song needs: catchy vocals, (glam) rock guitars, Christmas bells, a rhythm that invites to clap-a-long, an instrumental break with a wall-of-sound production to blow you out of your Christmas socks, and, of course, an important message: Christmas is all about the friends you love and the family you really get along with! For the B-side, Rope Store chose a song originally recorded by another star of the 1970s (althought the song was actually from the early 1980s) and written by Mike 'Wombling Merry Christmas' Batt and Tim 'Evita / Jesus Christ Superstar' Rice: David Essex' hit single 'A Winter's Tale'. Rope Stope manage to turn the original, a ballad that sounds like it was lifted straight from a musical, into a sing-a-long glam rock song, without compromising the dramatic meaning of the song.