Scott McCaughey and his many musical friends have come together for Dear December, a “fresh batch” of holiday songs. Powered by a host of guest appearances by artists including Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), Colin Meloy (The Decemberists), M. Ward, Kelly Hogan, Peter Buck (R.E.M.), and Mike Mills (R.E.M.),
MerryChristmas
The holiday season brings with it a slew of festive records, with artists trying to celebrate the Yuletide joy. Here’s a look at some of the latest releases that tap into the spirit of the season.
Artist: The Minus 5
Album: Dear December****
Scott McCaughey and his many musical friends have come together for Dear December, a “fresh batch” of holiday songs. Powered by a host of guest appearances by artists including Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), Colin Meloy (The Decemberists), M. Ward, Kelly Hogan, Peter Buck (R.E.M.), and Mike Mills (R.E.M.), the album offers a well-crafted collection of Yuletide themed indie gems. There are tunes about Christmas, Hanukkah, and even New Year’s Eve in this 11-song set, each of which offers a different flavour. The wry ‘When Christmas Hurts You This Way’ and the Colin Meloy assisted ‘The Fourth Noel’ are among the album’s finest cuts. Using their pop smarts and characteristic wit, the rock collective have created a winsome record of enjoyable tunes, a merry companion for the festive season.
Highlights: ‘When Christmas Hurts You This Way’, ‘The Fourth Noel’, ‘I Still Believe in New Year’s Eve’.
Artist: Tom Chaplin
Album: Twelve Tales of Christmas***1/2
While his band takes a hiatus, Keane vocalist Tom Chaplin has released his second solo album, Twelve Tales of Christmas, a beautiful collection of gentle, melodic ditties that explore the sombre side of this potentially emotional holiday. There are eight original compositions in this set of 12, all beautiful but a tad too similar in tone and tempo. The four songs he has covered – ‘Walking in the Air’ by Howard Blake; ‘2000 Miles’ by The Pretenders; ‘River’ by Joni Mitchell; and ‘Stay Another Day’ by East 17 – are very well-chosen as the selection fits his voice and style nicely while reminding us of how beautiful the originals were. It may be a little too schmaltzy and gloomy, but this collection of soft rock tunes is still charming and comforting. Probably not the best record to soundtrack jolly festivities, but a lovely nod to the mellow notes many experience over the holiday season.
Highlights: ‘Midnight Mass’, ‘2000 Miles’, ‘River’, ‘For the Lost’.
Artist: Cheap Trick
Album: Christmas Christmas***
So enthusiastic about releasing a Christmas record they decided to mention it twice in the title, Cheap Trick’s Christmas Christmas is the polar opposite of Tom Chaplin’s album – an energetic set of mostly up-tempo songs. All but three of the 12 tracks on this disc are covers, including the band’s take on Wizzard’s ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday’, Slade’s ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’, Chuck Berry’s ‘Run Rudolph Run’, The Kinks’ ‘Father Christmas’, and The Ramones’ ‘Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight)’.
It’s a joyous collection of rock tunes that celebrates the cheer of Christmas with loud guitars and drums. Points docked for the heavy reliance on covers though, as the many familiar songs will leave you wishing the band had tried to come up with more material themselves.
Highlights: ‘Merry Christmas Darlings’, ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday’, ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’, ‘Christmas Christmas’.
Artist: Sia
Album: Everyday is Christmas**/2
Once you get over its grammatically questionable title – you can do it, I believe in you – you will find that Sia’s new album is, well, just as sloppy as its clunky title suggests. The singer has churned out a set of mostly mediocre songs with the help of American producer Greg Kurstin who has co-written this Christmas-themed record with the Australian songstress. With lyrics that seem like they were created after the songwriters listed all the Christmas tropes they could think of and then tried to stuff them into ten cheesy tracks, Everyday Is Christmas is a mixed bag of holiday cheer and seasonal clichés. A couple of ballads – like ‘Snowman’ and the pop gem ‘Underneath the Mistletoe’ – stand out and make good use of the singer’s emotive delivery. But elsewhere, the result is less impressive, ranging from well-meaning but too cutesy for its own good (‘Puppies Are Forever’) to boring (‘Sunshine’, ‘Underneath the Christmas Lights’) to downright grating (‘Ho Ho Ho’). Props to the prolific songwriter for coming up with original music instead of covering old Yuletide classics (like just about everyone else does), but ultimately, you probably won’t want to listen to this album “every day” through the holiday season because it is more “everyday” than you would’ve hoped.
Highlights: ‘Snowman’, ‘Underneath the Mistletoe’.
Artist: Gwen Stefani
Album: You Make It Feel Like Christmas**
No Doubt’s 1997 cover of The Vandal’s ‘Oi to the World!’ was fun, energetic, and memorable … which are some of the many things that Gwen Stefani’s You Make It Feel Like Christmas is not. An album of “meh”-worthy holiday tunes, the record comprises of 12 songs – six originals, six covers – and fails to deliver anything exciting. The covers are unnecessary, the originals are unexceptional. Her faithful renditions of old favourites bring nothing new to classics like ‘Jingle Bells’, ‘Let It Snow’, ‘Silent Night’, and ‘White Christmas’; nor do they in any way surpass many of the countless other covers of these same Christmas staples. Her new songs – most of which only have a cursory link to the holidays – are middling pop ditties that seem more generic than festive. The title track, ‘You Make It Feel Like Christmas’, which features her boyfriend Blake Shelton, is a charming duet that will especially please fans of the couple. But on the whole the record lacks the energy and edge that could have elevated this material and made it memorable.
Highlights: ‘You Make It Feel Like Christmas’, ‘Under the Christmas Lights’.
