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MISTLETUNES: Our list of holiday CD kisses and misses
Mariah, Annie, Phineas and Ferb, Carnie and company. The list goes on and on.
Our annual holiday CD review compilation has some stars -- and some bombs.
Some are superb, others absurd.
We know you don't have time to check out all the new CD releases clamoring for your attention. So we hit the stores early and popped the CDs into our cars, laptops and other music machines and gave them a spin.
Whether you prefer to rock around the Christmas tree or settle by the fire with cocoa and carols, our staff writers and editors are happy to guide you through the ornaments and ashes. (Some of us are happier than others, as you'll see by the 4-star reviews.)
Maybe you'll go Gaga, maybe not, but hopefully you'll all find some Glee.
Hearty ho ho ho!
LADY ANTEBELLUM: “A Merry Little Christmas” (Capitol)
Rating: 4 stars
I'm a sucker for Christmas music done well, and I've yet to hear anything that Lady Antebellum hasn't done well.
From the opening chords of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” through the bluegrass-y twangs of “Blue Christmas” and on through their own “On this Winter's Night” the country trio of Dave Haywood, Hillary Scott and Charles Kelly bring wistful holiday memories to life.
The music is festive when it's supposed to be - you can almost hear Scott smile as she sings, “Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!” - and serene when it's supposed to be - think three-part harmony on “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and “Silver Bells.”
Regardless of whether you're a fan of country music, Lady Antebellum's first holiday offering will have you picturing the warm glow of a fireplace on a quiet Christmas Eve night. - Molly Rossiter
Best song: “On This Winter's Night” (listen to a snippet below)
JACKIE EVANCHO: “O Holy Night” (Columbia)
Rating: 3 1/2 stars
What better time of year to hear the voice of an angel?
This child - the darling of the most recent “America's Got Talent” television competition - already is sharing her surgarplum-sweet smile and radiant voice on a holiday CD/DVD combo.
The CD features just four songs, but they're glorious wrapped in the soaring operatic soprano of this little star from Pittsburgh, Pa.
The only curious choice is on the first track, “Silent Night.” It features the sparkling 10-year-old singing the familiar first verse twice, with the second verse sandwiched in between. Surely a child who can flawlessly sing in Italian and Latin could handle the lovely third verse from the world's most familiar Christmas carol.
The DVD is a nice touch, showing Jackie's progression as the TV producers discovered her talent and audience appeal. Best part: the interview showing she's just a kid singing for fun. - Diana Nollen
Best song: “Pie Jesu” (listen to a snippet below)
VARIOUS ARTISTS: “World Christmas Party” (Putumayo World Music)
Rating: 4 stars
Boas, banjos and ukuleles, oh my!
If you're looking to put some cool in your yule, pick up this party pick-me-up exploring familiar songs through a world music vibe.
Here's a quick rundown: The late Jacob Miller wishes you an “irie” Christmas Jamaican style. Poncho Sanchez uses blistering horns to help you “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Charles Brown fires up some boogie blues piano and xylophone to let the good times roll since “Christmas Comes but Once a Year.”
The island girls of Keahiwai will have you “Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree” with a Hawaiian flair.
You'll also hear a samba “Winter Wonderland”; West African fa-la-la-la-lahs; walking bass leading into a bouncing Creole “Barra De Navidad Blues”; tenor and alto saxes, tofu and mistletoe in Brave Combo's polka-ska “Christmas Song”; New Zealand's Maoris giving Santa a Polynesian welcome to town; banjo, violin and piano weaving “We Three Kings” through “Carol of the Bells”; and Arturo Sandoval's trumpet and Ed Calle's tenor sax dancing with Santa in Latin style.
Read the liner notes and you'll learn a thing or two about seasonal celebrations around the world. Boas Festas! (as they say in Mozambique) - Diana Nollen
Best song: “Carol and The Kings” (listen to snippet below)
SUSAN BOYLE: “The Gift” (Columbia)
Rating: 4 stars
Two little words have seldom said more. “The Gift,” the title of Susan Boyle's latest CD, reflects so many aspects of the artist, the season and the eclectic collection of songs.
This isn't your run-of-the-mill holiday CD dripping with treacle. You won't even hear a Christmas song until track 3.
What you will hear is plenty of wow-factor from the woman who invented wow-factor with a debut on “Britain's Got Talent” that stunned a worldwide YouTube audience and shot her to instant celebrity.
You'll also hear the pure, clear tones of child singers, a gospel choir, a classical choir and an orchestra in lush arrangements on songs simple and complex, from “Away in a Manger” and “O Come All Ye Faithful” to the Crowded House hit “Don't Dream it's Over” and Lou Reed's “Perfect Day.”
In her liner notes, Boyle perfectly explains how each song touches the myriad emotions of the human experience in a divine realm. This insight is another of the many gifts we're just beginning to discover from this Scot who dared to dream a dream. - Diana Nollen
Best song: “Perfect Day” (listen to snippet below)
GLEE, The Music: “The Christmas Album” (Columbia)
Rating: 4 stars
Confession: I asked to review this CD before it was released, shutting out my fellow “Gleek” colleagues - and I don't feel bad about it. Maybe that makes me a Grinch, but listening to the GLEE cast sing everything from holiday classics to brand-new favorites, I got over it.
From its first song - the very catchy “We Need A Little Christmas” - this CD grabs your attention and makes you long for snow, hot chocolate and a fire in the fireplace. Or at least two of the three.
I love that this CD didn't focus on Lea Michele (Rachel) and Cory Monteith (Finn), but allowed other cast members their time in the spotlight. Amber Riley (Mercedes) showcases her powerful pipes to a beautiful rendition of “Angels We Have Heard On High” while Chris Colfer (Kurt) and Darren Criss (Blaine) have a fun “Baby, It's Cold Outside” duet.
You don't have to be a GLEE fan to enjoy this CD. Say what you will about the show, you can't deny that the cast can sing. - Meredith Hines-Dochterman
Best song: “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” (listen to snippet below)
JOSH GROBAN, “Illuminations” (Reprise Records)
Rating: 4 stars
Josh Groban's most recent album, “Illuminations” isn't a Christmas CD, but as a co-worker said, “I'd love to find him wrapped up under my tree.” So, Groban is an honorable mention in this year's holiday CD roundup.
While perhaps not as illuminating as the title might imply, it is still a lovely album created by a singer that almost wasn't. Considering that Groban was training to be an actor when David Foster asked him to stand in for Andrea Bocelli in a duet with Celine Dion at the 1998 Grammy Awards, it is at least impressive that Groban is expressing more of his creative voice behind the scenes with his fifth, and latest, album. He wrote 11 of the 13 songs on the CD.
In a departure from previous albums, most of “Illuminations” is sung in English. The result is a CD that does feel more like the work of the pop side of the popera star. Still, it will not disappoint fans of his big voice and swelling orchestral accompaniment. - Carly Weber
Best song: “Straight to You” (listen to snippet below)
Ho ho ho!
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Now That's What I Call Christmas 4 (Universal)
Rating: 3 stars
This two-disc compilation of Christmas music divides the modern and the (mostly) classic Christmas songs.
Unfortunately, most modern Christmas songs are more about the producer than the song.
Lady Gaga, though, made her R-rated contribution her own. More like a Saturday Night Live Sketch than a song, I almost drove off the road laughing when I first heard it.
It's hard to get into some of the remakes, such as Sheryl Crow's “Merry Christmas, Baby” and Maroon 5's “Happy Christmas” make you long for the Bruce Springsteen and John Lennon versions.
Listen to the second CD. It has Elvis, Bing Crosby, Andy Williams, Dean Martin and, my favorite, the group of British pop stars under the name “Band Aid” singing “Do They Know It's Christmas?” that was recorded back in 1984 to for famine relief in Ethiopia.- Cecelia Hanley
Best song: “White Christmas,” Bing Crosby (listen to snippet below)
ANNIE LENNOX: “A Christmas Cornucopia” (Decca)
Rating: 3 stars
This aptly-titled “cornucopia” of an album bears some strange fruit.
Former Eurythmics member Annie Lennox serves up a selection of traditional carols, some of which have fallen into popular obscurity.
But Lennox's approach is uneven. “In the Bleak Midwinter” gets a fairly conservative adaptation, while “Lullay Lullay (The Coventry Carol)” is reinterpreted with syncopated tempo and tribal instrumentation. It makes “Lullay” sound angry rather than sad - a valid approach given the song is about children murdered by King Herod.
The sole original song, “Universal Child,” written by Lennox, is the album's main failing. It feels spineless and preachy. That being said, the album succeeds overall. It was like being reunited with an old friend I hadn't seen since fourth grade church choir. - Patrick Hogan
Best song: “Lullay Lullay (The Coventry Carol)” (listen to snippet below)
PHINEAS AND FERB: “Holiday Favorites” (Walt Disney Records)
Rating: 3 stars
For the expert opinion on this holiday CD, I turned to my children - Braedyn and Emma.
“It's funny,” Braedyn says. “It makes you laugh.”
“Dr. Doofenshmirtz is silly,” Emma says of the evil scientist in the popular Disney Channel cartoon, which focuses on the adventures of stepbrothers Phineas and Ferb. The CD contains songs from and inspired by the series. If you haven't seen it, some songs won't make sense, but that doesn't mean your kids won't enjoy it.
We listened to the CD during a drive to visit family and when my kids weren't laughing, they were singing along. Some songs were so catchy, I didn't mind when they pushed the repeat button. If you find that annoying, take heart - the songs are short. The only exception is “The Twelve Days of Christmas” but here's where I give Disney props - you'll enjoy every verse, thanks to Dr. Doofenshmirtz. - Meredith Hines-Dochterman
Best song: “The Twelve Days of Christmas” (listen to snippet below)
SHERYL CROW, “Home for Christmas” (AM Records)
Rating: 3 stars
Like a book and its cover, it is, perhaps, unfair to condemn a CD because of its liner notes. My judgment of Sheryl Crow's “Home for Christmas,” based on the generic holiday message inside, did turn out, though, to be somewhat accurate.
Some artists, when tapped to produce a holiday CD, go over the top with renditions of songs that result in something unlistenable. Crow goes too far the other direction. The songs are, in large part, standard renditions.
Where it does feel like Crow put her stamp on the album is in the song selection. That's where things get interesting. The CD opens with “Go Tell it on the Mountain.” While the song does sing “that Jesus Christ is born,” it's not one that I've traditionally thought of as a Christmas carol. It was a refreshing opener to a CD that includes a mix of carols and more contemporary songs. For instance there are the traditional “The Bells of St. Mary's” and “O' Holy Night” paired with “Merry Christmas, Baby” and “Blue Christmas.”
In fact, the two songs I enjoyed the most were the two written by Crow herself “Hello my Friend, Hello” and “Long Road Home,” which is not a holiday song but is from her new CD “100 Miles from Memphis.” One calm and soulful, the other joyful, these two felt more like the Crow I was missing from the rest of the CD. - Carly Weber
Best song: “Long Road Home" (listen to snippet below)
Ho ho so-so
MARIAH CAREY: “Merry Christmas II You” (Island)
Rating: 2 1/2 stars
With Mariah Carey's voice and the list of Christmas carols on this compilation, one would think it's a stellar CD.
Instead, when it came to this collection, “All I Want for Christmas” was for the music to stop.
Aside from Carey's trademark, “All I Want for Christmas is You,” and her own, “One Child,” the first half of this CD is filled with as much jarring and jolting as a rickety roller coaster.
It opens with the medley from “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” but rather than sing that song Carey breaks into a hip-hop “Oh Santa!” Granted, it is Mariah Carey and the vocals are astounding, but it also proves that just because she has good lungs doesn't mean she uses them wisely.
By the ninth track (of 13) Carey seems to get it together and the CD transforms into an enjoyable montage of Christmas favorites, including “O Come All Ye Faithful/Hallelujah Chorus” and a live version of “O Holy Night.” - Molly Rossiter
Best song: “One Child” (listen to snippet below)
WILSON PHILLIPS: “Christmas in Harmony” (Sony)
Rating: 2 1/2 stars
As a college student, I loved the trio when they were hot in the early 1990s.
I don't know if 20 years has jaded me, but the bubble gum music on “Christmas in Harmony” didn't impress me much on first listen. Christmas classics “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and “Sleigh Ride” and “Warm Lovin' Christmastime,” an original song written by Carnie Wilson's husband, Ron Bonfiglio, are just too kitschy for my taste.
But as the CD's title suggests, the girls can still harmonize. After giving it another chance and listening it to again, a couple songs stood out.
“When a Child is Born,” “Silent Night” and “Our Prayer,” written by Carnie and Wendy Wilson's father, Beach Boy Brian Wilson, showcase the tight harmonies that made me love the group in the first place. - Angela Holmes
Best Song: “Silent Night” (listen to snippet below)
Ho no!
THE O'JAYS: “Christmas with the O'Jays (Saguara Road)
Rating: 1 1/2 stars
The first time I listened through “Christmas with the O'Jays,” particularly the first half, I nearly checked to make sure my CD player was playing at full speed. The vocal stylings of original members Eddie Levert and Walter Williams, from the group best known for the early ‘70s soul hits “Back Stabbers” and “Soul Train,”are front and center on every song, but it just sounded like their heart wasn't really in it. The best moments came on the CD's two originals, “I'm What You Want For Christmas” and “'Cause It's Christmas,” both with decidedly unsacred lyrics.
Being an O'Jays fan, I was prepared to like this one a lot more than I did.
Granted, good soul music doesn't need to be rushed. But it's always good to at least be able to pick up a pulse. - Richard Pratt
BEST SONG: “'Cause It's Christmas” (listen to snippet below)
VARIOUS ARTISTS: “More Than a Holiday: A Gospel Christmas”
Rating: 1 1/2 stars
This CD, to my ear, is more jazz than gospel and not worth the 25 bucks being asked for a fast listen.
Maybe my concept of gospel is dated, but the only song on this compilation that sounds like gospel is the title cut, “More Than a Holiday,” by Hezekiah Walker and the Love Fellowship Crusade Choir. I didn't know the song, written by David Frazier, but with a robust choir, strong melodic line and soaring vocals it's the best of the six on the album.
The others songs are marked by the sort of scat singing you expect in jazz but that are more irritating than liberating when applied to Christmas classics.
Kirk Franklin & Family on “O Come All Ye Faithful,” for example, descend (or ascend, depending on your taste) into improvisation that is almost atonal. Franklin found one of the few ways to mess with a classic carol. Ditto with Fred Hammond on “Go Tell It on the Mountain” and Donnie Hammond on “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” - Mary Sharp
Best song: “More Than a Holiday” (listen to snippet below)
KATHARINE MCPHEE: “Christmas is the Time to Say I Love You” (Verve)
Rating: 1 1/2 stars
I figured that the title to this album was so sap-filled and terrible, that there was no way the music could be that bad.
As far as feats of logic go, that wasn't my best.
Bland interpretations of the most common Christmas staples litter the album. At this point, if you're going to sing “Oh Holy Night” or “Silver Bells” you really do need to bring something new to the table.
The less traditional songs fare better. McPhee does a good job elevating the title track, a song I never much cared for. And she has an interesting upbeat take on “What Are You Doing New Year's Eve,” a song that usually plods along.
But those two do not stop this album from being forgettable among the vast library of Yuletide classics. - Patrick Hogan
Best song: “What Are You Doing New Year's Eve” (listen to snippet below)
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