Carol of the bells

Every holiday season brings with it a slew of festive releases, with artists putting their own spin on popular standards and carols, and, on the rare occasion, creating their own Yuletide tunes. Here’s a look at some of this year’s musical offerings that have especially been made for Christmas time.

Artist: John Legend

Album: A Legendary Christmas****

John Legend impresses by creating a well-rounded Christmas album that features eight classics as well as six original tracks. Produced by the artist with help from Raphael Saadiq, A Legendary Christmas effectively uses horns, strings, and pianos to create lush backdrops for Legend’s smooth vocals. The classics are mostly well-picked; instead of going for overplayed tunes, the singer has chosen to cover songs like The Jackson 5’s ‘Give Love on Christmas Day’ and Marvin Gaye’s ‘Purple Snowflakes’. And the crooner has also invested effort in creating impressive originals – like ‘Bring Me Love’, ‘Waiting for Christmas’, and ‘By Christmas Eve’ – for which he deserves props. The old and new material fits well together and creates a cohesive record that fans of soulful R&B are likely to enjoy.

Highlights: ‘Bring Me Love’, ‘Waiting for Christmas’, ‘Please Come Home for Christmas’

Artist: Pentatonix

Album: Christmas Is Here!***1/2

Pentatonix return with their third holiday season-themed album, Christmas Is Here! which is another collection featuring the group’s a cappella arrangements of Christmas, faith, and winter themed songs. Beautiful harmonies and impressive vocals adorn this interesting selection of 12 tracks. You’ve got bright and joyous versions of Yuletide staples like ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’, ‘It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas’, and ‘Here Comes Santa Claus’. And then there are emotional versions of songs from movie soundtracks, including ‘Where Are You, Christmas?’ (from How the Grinch Stole Christmas) and ‘When You Believe’ (from The Prince of Egypt), as well as the non-lyrical ‘Waltz of the Flowers’ (from The Nutcracker) and a suitably eerie rendition of ‘Making Christmas’ (from The Nightmare Before Christmas). Kelly Clarkson (‘Grown-Up Christmas List’) and Maren Morris (‘When You Believe’) stop by for guest appearances, but the album ultimately impresses because of Pentatonix’s vocal talents, although a delightful, offbeat version of ‘Jingle Bells’ also shows how lovely the group sounds when they are accompanied by an orchestra. Not all the songs are equally essential, but the overall record is enjoyable, especially for fans of the group that want to add a dash of a cappella cheer to their holiday celebrations.

Highlights: ‘Grown-Up Christmas List’, ‘Where Are You, Christmas?’, ‘Jingle Bells’

Artist: Ingrid Michaelson

Album: Songs for the Season****

Ingrid Michaelson beautifully captures the poignancy of Christmas classics in Songs of the Season, taking a more traditional, nostalgic approach for the holiday record. With 12 mostly mid-tempo tracks (11 of which are covers), the album is more suitable as a soundtrack-fused relaxing evening than a festive get-together. Michaelson’s lovely voice drapes these melodies in warmth and tenderness. And on occasion, her smooth covers show these well-known songs in a different light. Her take on Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ may not be as bright and cheery as the original, but it adds another layer of sentiments and depth to the Christmas favourite. It’s also nice to hear some of the singer’s famous friends – Christina Perri, Will Chase, Grace Vanderwaal, Allie Moss, Bess Rogers, Leslie Odom Jr. – join her for some of these tunes. Songs for the Season may not be the most energetic, upbeat Christmas album you’ll ever hear but it’s a joy to listen to nonetheless; this comforting set is very likely to win listeners over with its warmth.

Highlights: ‘I’ll Be Home for Christmas’, ‘Happy, Happy Christmas’, ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’, ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’

Artist: Jessie J

Album: This Christmas Day***

Backed by beautiful orchestral(s) and impressive production, Jessie J oversings her way through an unexciting selection of the most obvious Christmas songs – ‘Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town’, ‘Jingle Bell Rock’, ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’, ‘Silent Night’, and other usual suspects – on her new album, This Christmas Day, without bringing anything particularly special to the set. Big names like David Foster, Babyface, and Darkchild have been recruited to helm some of this material. But these jazz and R&B flavoured covers sound like someone with an indistinctive voice and style trying too hard to impress listeners. Her Christmas stylings work better in smaller doses since there isn’t enough variation in renditions here and monotony quickly sets in. Attempts at shaking things up include guest appearances, like Boyz II Men who appear on ‘Winter Wonderland’ but sound misplaced on the track, which seems to be suffering an identity crisis. The only original, ‘This Christmas Day’, is pretty but not particularly memorable. If you like your Christmas music sans subtlety, then this is the album for you.

Highlights: ‘Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town’, ‘This Christmas Day’, ‘Silent Night’

Artist: Eric Clapton

Album: Happy Xmas***

Eric Clapton adds a touch of blues rock to Christmas with Happy Xmas, offering a nice mix of popular songs along with some more interesting choices plus one new track (‘For Love on Christmas Day’). It basically sounds like what you’d think Eric Clapton singing Christmas songs would sound like – retro, earnest and a little gloomy. What feels downright bizarre though is the jarring, electro ‘Jingle Bells (In Memory of Avicii)’ that inexplicably sits in the middle of this set; creating something in Avicii’s remembrance is a touching sentiment, but the track is so sophomoric that it makes no sense for this song to be on a professional musician’s album.

Highlights: ‘For Love on Christmas Day’, ‘Everyday Will Be Like a Holiday’, ‘Christmas in My Hometown’

Artist: Goldfinger

Album: The Goldfinger Christmas EP****

Goldfinger + Travis Barker + Christmas? Yes please! The rock band join forces with the terrific Blink 182 drummer for a vivacious four-song set of punk renditions of Christmas classics. The thoroughly enjoyable EP features a joyous punk version of ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’; an energetic take on ‘Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town’; an awesomely bizarre cover of ‘12 Days of Christmas’; and a laid-back ska version of ‘White Christmas’. It’s all too brief (perhaps wisely?) – the whole thing wraps up in around 9 minutes – and sadly includes no new material, but this collection of offbeat covers is bound to add a blast of fun to your holidays.

Highlights: ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’, ‘12 Days of Christmas’