TV REVIEWS : Holiday Songs With Doo-Wop Flair in ‘Street Carol’

Anyone wanting a more soulful Christmas than Der Bingle can provide might want to tune into “A Street Carol” (at 11:30 tonight on KCBS-TV Channel 2), a music special in which the old and new doo-wop holiday tunes--sung by Ronnie Spector, the Chi-Lites and others--shine through the generally poor production values.

Most of the songs have been done up in the style of music videos, with the artists lip-syncing to newly produced Christmas tunes. It’s disconcerting to see a crowd of revelers gathered around a doo-wop group on a horse-drawn sleigh, all seen clapping along--and even see the frozen winter breath of some of the participants--but hear only the ambience-free studio recording.

Not everything else makes sense, either. The videos, mostly of hep black artists, are interspersed with random footage of middle-aged white Christmas shoppers, a vaguely amusing incongruity. The personable Arthel Neville--an E! Network anchor and member of the famous Neville family--is described in the press material as hosting, but on the preview tape, at least, she doesn’t narrate and is visible only in a few shots sticking a microphone in someone’s face.

So it’s a mess, but one barely worth wading through for pop fans who’ll want to hear Spector doing her creditable update of Frankie Lymon’s “Creation of Love” or the Chi-Lites donning their matching suits for the smooth “It’s the Time.” Jerry Butler and the Spaniels’ Rookie Hudson also appear, as does--least interestingly--producer Henry Farag’s own doo-wop group, Stormy Weather.