This Christmas, 98 Degrees (Universal)

If the Backstreet Boys are the late-90s boy band Beatles and N'Sync the Rolling Stones (tenuous, I know, but bear with me) then 98 Degrees is ... the Beau Brummels? Anyway, this 1999 effort is their grab at the Christmas ring, and it's pretty perfunctory. While N'Sync at least stays close to the R&B thing, these guys go mostly pop with just the faintest of soul touches. Song choice may be the problem, as they went with mostly slow tempo stuff all the way through. There are only three originals, and we get two nearly indistinguishable versions of "This Gift," the second billed as the "Pop Version." "The Christmas Song" gets a vintage soul treatment, and they start out "Little Drummer Boy" as a slow jams version, although it loses that edge once they get into the song. Traditional numbers like "Silent Night," "Oh Holy Night" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" are way too reverent. They do get props for straight a cappella versions of "I'll Be Home For Christmas" and "Ave Maria," but again, not much innovative going on here.