Holiday musical cheer
Year-round Christmas stores survive on the premise that people can never have too many ornaments for their tree.
Four months of the year, the music industry operates with the same logic. From late August to early December, the labels let loose with a steady stream of of holiday musical cheer.
Which dazzling sonic delight(s) will you add to your collection this year? Among your options:
Novelty kings
“The wooziest, weirdest Christmas album this year is Bootsy Collins‘ impish, elfish “Christmas Is 4 Ever” (Shout! Factory, A-minus), introduced with the pre-emptive warning: “I’m sure there’s going to be more than one unpleasant surprise before we’re done.” Depending on your perspective, that may include the highly intoxicated “Happy Holidaze” with help from Snoop Dogg.
“Also good for some perverse holiday cheer is Richard Cheese‘s “Silent Nightclub” (Surfdog, B). The (intentionally) worst lounge act ever, Cheese makes unlikely holiday connections to Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” and Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby,” pays homage to the Barking Dogs’ rendering of “Jingle Bells,” and hopes that Santa won’t let him crap out at the tables on “Christmas in Las Vegas.”
A crunchy granola Christmas
“Sarah McLachlan evokes a snowy North Country holiday with the wispy, atmospheric “Wintersong” (Arista, B-plus).
“Smoky, sorrowful stylist Aimee Mann‘s “One More Drifter in the Snow” (Super Ego, B) is not what you need to hear if you’re already in a holiday-spawned depression. But the relatively obscure Jimmy Webb song, “Whatever Happened to Christmas,” and Mann’s wonderful original, “Calling on Mary,” are important additions to the oeuvre.
“A standout last year as a Hallmark stores exclusive, the charming “James Taylor at Christmas” (Columbia, A) now warrants a mainstream label release.
“Taylor’s ex, Carly Simon, pops up (and stands out) on three tracks of new-age harpist Andreas Vollenweider‘s otherwise yawn-y “Midnight Clear” (Kinkou Music, B-minus).
Twangin’ around the tree
“George Strait plays ‘em way too straight (sorry) on “Fresh Cut Christmas” (Hallmark, C). It’s only available at Hallmark stores, but why bother?
“Bluegrass lass Rhonda Vincent and her jumping little acoustic band achieve liftoff with their frisky “Beautiful Star: A Christmas Collection” (Rounder, B-plus).
“Really jumping out of this pack is “Brad Paisley Christmas” (Arista, A-minus). What makes this set are clever Paisley originals, including the flashback to a 13-year-old Brad (on the “Jamboree USA” radio show) debuting his very own “Born on Christmas Day,” and the political-correctness-slamming “Kung Pao Buckaroo Holiday,” which bleeps “Christ” out of all your favorite tunes.
Souled out
“Hall and Oates‘ classic, creamy R&B stylings are applied with exceedingly good care to “Home for Christmas” (DKE, A), a distinctive, hearth-warming package of Philly-style cheer.
“Old-school street corner harmony rings loud and clear as the Mighty Echoes “Doo Wop Around the Christmas Tree” (Brooklyn International Records, A-minus).
“Or go for the more progressive, jazz-inflected, but still warmly organic vocal sound of the Manhattan Transfer, offering their version of “A Capella Christmas” (Rhino, B-plus).
“While often tagged a blue-eyed soul singer, Robin Gibb (of the Bee Gees) hardly stirred mine with the wimpy “My Favorite Carols” (Koch, C-minus).
Jazzin’ up the season
“The splashy, sassy sampler “New Orleans Christmas” (Putumayo, A-minus) is a spicy treat, strongest on trad-jazz performances by the likes of keyboardist Ellis Marsalis, the second-line-strutting New Birth Brass Band and talented young trumpeter James Andrews, making like Louis Armstrong on “Christmas in New Orleans.”
“Smooth jazz fave Brian Culbertson serves a surprisingly funky, nonsyrupy set, “A Soulful Christmas” (GRP, B), including a poppish original, “All Through the Christmas Night,” featuring guest vocalist Michael McDonald.
“Santa’s bag also holds some worthy mainstream jazz goodies, including the standout “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” by the David Leonhardt Jazz Group (Big Bang Records, A), with cool-school treatments in the Bill Evans/Stan Getz vein.
Kosher for the holidays
“Nice Jewish girl Bette Midler‘s “Cool Yule” (Columbia, A-minus), an entertaining variety show mix of swinging seasonals and poignant ballads (including a slightly rewritten, heart-rending “From a Distance”), is so ecumenical it could play on Shalom TV. Special guest Johnny Mathis (who also offers his own “50th Anniversary Christmas Celebration” CD) joins in a classic counterpoint medley of “Winter Wonderland” and “Let It Snow!”
“Threatening to set back Judeo-Christian relations, by comparison, is Dee Snider and Twisted Sister‘s heavy-metal assault on “A Twisted Christmas” (Razor & Tie, D) – including an “O Come All Ye Faithful” that manages to integrate “Hava Nagila” and “We’re Not Gonna Take It.”
“For a true-to-their-own-school holiday treat, the Klezmatics are dishing “Woody Guthrie’s Happy Joyous Hanukkah” (JMG, B-plus). Guthrie wasn’t of the faith, but he married a Jewish woman, lived in her ethnic Brooklyn, N.Y., neighborhood and wrote a bunch of lyrics for the holiday season that the klezmer group has pumped up with festive, Eastern European-flavored tunes.