Jingle All the Way, Crash Test Dummies (Cha-Ching/Koch)

Haven't heard much from these alternative Canadian totems for quite a long time, and now here they come in 2002 with a Christmas album. This isn't particularly adventurous; it's all familiar carols, leavened only with the choices of "The Huron Carol" and "In the Bleak Midwinter," both in simple ballad readings by Ellen Reid. The group's odd dynamic between Reid and contra-bass vocalist Brad Roberts plays out here as always, Reid leading the more conventional sounding items like country versions of "Silent Night" and "O Little Town of Bethlehem" while Roberts gets to cavort on lounge-y versions of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and "White Christmas," along with a minor-key "Jingle Bells." The version of "The First Noel" here is similar to but a different take from the one on 1991's A Lump of Coal. Overall, enjoyable, especially if you're a Dummies fan.