I'm guilty too. The moment CVS props up its first tinsel tree, something clicks and I start obsessing over my yearly yuletide mission -- to augment my exhaustive collection of Christmas music. I'm a total junkie for any disc that involves jingle bells and forced gaiety -- and I haven't called myself Christian in damn near a decade.
For the seasonal CD addict (or even the casual, department-store listener), here's a rundown of the new arrivals.
Johnny Cash, Christmas with Johnny Cash (Columbia)
So maybe the release of this classic gem was motivated by the death of the country giant (rest his soul). Regardless, the compilation shows the Man in Black at his best, with tracks taken from his 1963, 1972 and 1980 Christmas albums. Though the disc overall errs on the side of sluggish hymns, it delivers several keepers. Cash doesn't often get credit for writing "The Gifts They Gave," which has become a frequently covered folk favorite. Here it gets a slower-than-normal treatment from its author. The talky "Christmas as I Knew It," taken from "The Johnny Cash Show" in 1970, may be the weakest inclusion, but its rarity will thrill Cash's exhaustive collectors.
Whitney Houston, One Wish: The Holiday Album (Arista)
Poor Whitney. Critics will likely have a heyday making fun of her holiday CD, because the shoveling snow jokes are just too easy. Sadly, the disc itself doesn't help matters, because sistergirl's voice clearly ain't what it used to be. Gone is the sparkle and edge of, say, The Bodyguard; her pipes now mostly whisper of her former power. She struggles with "O Come O Come Emanuel," and leaves the singing to her daughter on "Little Drummer Boy." The one standout number, "Who Would Imagine a King," actually comes from her 1996 soundtrack for The Preacher's Wife. Her one wish: A return to former glory. Didn't we almost have it all, Whitney?
Various artists, Maybe This Christmas Too? (Nettwerk America)
Maybe This Christmas was my pick for the best new holiday album of 2002, and its sequel repeats that success -- mostly. Yes, the Avril Lavigne/Chantal Kreviazuk rendition of "O Holy Night" sounds like a shipyard disaster in progress, and Rilo Kiley's gothic "Xmas Cake" will make you want to put your head in the oven. But other picks more than redeem the effort. Rufus Wainwright's "Spotlight on Christmas" puts a jingle tip on the singer's signature idiosyncrasies, while Guster's retro-licious "Donde Esta Santa Claus?" inspires longing for El Vez's next visit. Better still, the Be Good Tanyas' catchy "Rudy" dares you not to hum along. And, it's a benefit for Toys for Tots. Gosh darn it, irresistible.
Various artists, hOMe for the Holidays (OM Records)
Electronica and Christmas do not good bedfellows make. Well, except in the case of this novel round-up of "future music" artists rethinking some of those worn-out standards, or creating new ones. Rife with basic house beats and none-too-futuristic DJ tricks, the compilation nonetheless gives a fresh, mostly successful facelift to songs you're probably sick of -- for instance, with Sutro Height's "Winter Wonderland" or the funky King Kooba rendition of "O Christmas Tree." Sometimes things devolve into better-than-average Muzak, but hOMe for the Holidays is more likely to summon smiles once the source material comes to light. Catch this disc now before the Gap gets wind of it.
Kenny Chesney, All I Want for Christmas is a Real Good Tan (BMG)
Apparently Kenny didn't read the memo that the whole calypso Christmas thing has been done. To death. Pulling out his best Jimmy Buffet, the contemporary country singer takes the holidays south -- as in Caribbean south -- for the sleepy title track, and throws some steel drums on top of "Jingle Bells" for a disc-opener that goes better with margaritas than egg nog. Luckily the rest of the album drops the island sound for a more conventional collection of stand-bys. It feels like he's cheating by inviting Alabama's Randy Owen for a duet on that group's "Christmas in Dixie" (ditto for Willie Nelson on "Pretty Paper"), but All I Want for Christmas makes for a pleasant, though not thrilling, holiday debut.
Harry Connick Jr. , Harry for the Holidays (Columbia)
It's probably a double standard to consider the mid-'90s swing renaissance horribly passe and still get chills from a new Harry Connick Jr. album, but such is the mystery of music. The "Will & Grace" regular again proves he was born several decades too late, with his Duke Ellington-esque arrangements that can somehow take should-be-tired oldies ("Frosty the Snowman," "I'll Be Home for Christmas") and show us how Sinatra should have sang them. Oddly enough, George Jones shows up on the twangy "Nothin' New for New Year" -- which sounds like it shouldn't work, but does. As long as folks shop at Pottery Barn, this man will have work.
tray.butler@creativeloafing.com
