November 2016 Archives

Christmas EP, The Prissteens (Girlsville)

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This mostly-girl group from New York was active in the 1990s and had an album produced by Richard Gottehrer, who was well known for his work with the Go-Go's and Blondie. Their label recently dug out these unreleased gems from their heyday for 2016, only one of which, the lovely "Christmas Is a Time For Giving," is a holiday tune. Fortunately, it's one you simply must have; think the Go-Go's singing over a midtempo Ramones track as produced by Phil Spector, and you've pretty much got it. The non-Christmas tracks are worth the purchase too, including a recasting of the Rezillos' "Teenage Kicks" as "Teenage Dicks." Must get over to Bandcamp ASAP, as they're threatening to pull it down forever on New Year's Day.
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This brother and sister blues act offer an EP of Christmas-oriented music for 2016. They kick off solidly with a rocking version of "Christmas Man Blues," the Bertha "Chippie" Hill song, but it's a bit of an outlier; the rest of the EP has a more traditional and reflective tone. The title song, which may be an original, is a nice holiday ballad with orchestral backing and nothing much blues-oriented about it. "Mary Mary" is the traditional song in the Sarah McLachlan arrangement but with a bluesy wailing guitar figure going through it. "What Child Is This" is a straight reading with solo guitar backing, "Christmas Time Is Here" lacks the piano figures but is otherwise faithful to the original "Peanuts" version, and "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)" is likewise a reverent performance with just a hint of the blues they're best known for offering. Nice work in a pop realm for the most part, but I'll probably be playlisting "Christmas Man Blues." 
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Minnesota-based Red House Records seems a likely place for a Christmas compilation to originate, and yet it took them until 2016 to follow through. This collection of Americana artists does a nice job with a collection of classics and originals. John Gorka's "Holed Up Mason City" is a road song about having to yield to the wintry weather, Heather Masse sings the praises of "Mittens," Dale Watson & His Lonestars go nearly full country with "Christmas To Me," Robin & Linda Williams go folky on the intimate "Together All Alone," Suzzy Roche enlists Jules Shear for his co-written "Cold Hard Wind," Charlie Parr breaks out the dobro for the album's near-title song, the field blues "Slim Tall's Christmas on the Lam," and the Wailin' Jennys give us the front-porch gospel of "Glory Bound." Reaching for the songbook are Jorma Kaukonen with the finger-picked version of the West Indian carol "The Baby Boy," the Pines cover Gordon Lightfoot's "Song For a Winter's Night," Bill Kirchen and Austin de Lone put a little Nashville on Mack Rice's "Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin'," Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams serve up a traditional country "Blue Christmas," and Davina and the Vagabonds slip a little Dixieland into "Santa Bring My Baby Back To Me."  A fine collection of roots music for Christmas. 

Snow Globe, Kristin Chambers (Nubble Road)

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Missed this when it came out in 2015, but Kristin thoughtfully called my attention to it this year. She's a singer-songwriter and she's split the album with five originals and five classics. It's mostly mellow pop in sound, though "Little Drummer Boy" and her own bluesy "It's Not Christmas (Without You Here)" add some rhythmic crunch to the proceedings. Opening song "Christmas Eve," "Home" and "Frozen Heart" are all ballads, and she gets help from Casey MacGill on the country original "A Magical Guy," and yes, that's the jolly elf himself. "Silent Night," "Last Christmas" and "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)" are all mellow ballad treatments, and "Auld Lang Syne" brings in a country influence. This is mainly for fans of pop Christmas music.

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Diplo's label keeps the string of hip-hop Christmas mixtapes/compilations going for 2016 with this just-out collection. This is enjoyable to listen to, mainly because there's a fair amount of Jamaican influence throughout, starting with opening track "Christmas Trees" by Major Lazer, a reggae-influenced number that is concerned with more types of vegetation than just the plant in the title, if you catch my drift. "Carnival" by 4B and "Mrs. Claus" by Bad Royale both float above the melody of "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy," and the latter is essentially a booty call for Santa's spouse (only song with an explicit notation, btw). Nonsens's "Gungla the Snowman" goes kind of reggaeton on Frosty's theme song, "Creepy Christmas" by Aquadrop & Big Fish isn't a shout-out to Halloween, but apparently addresses someone who's a "Christmas creeper" over "O Come All Ye Faithful." "The Christmas Party" by KiWi actually manages to mash up hip-hop and J-pop with a bit of Chipmunks thrown in, Jan Level's "World Peace" and Akira Akira's "Chrimbus" are instrumentals, as is DJ Douggpound's mix closer "Up On the Housetop." Some of these tunes get a bit clattery, but there's a lot of good pace-changers for your own mix. Heck, pull 'em apart and remix them yourself if you want.
We've had this Philly band on the site before, and for 2016 they popped out this fine airplay-worthy single with lyrics that follow the well-trod theme of missing someone for Christmas. It's a free download from Soundcloud for now, and you know what they say: if it's free, it's for me.

winterwish.jpgOh, Hush! has been on the Christmas tip for literally years, and they're back with guest vocalist Hanna Ashbrook for 2016. This is a contemporary hit-radio ready ditty about celebrating the holiday with friends, relentlessly upbeat with a deadly hook. Check it out below.

morganshaugh.jpgAtlanta-based Morgan had tacked this sweet rock anthem-styled ballad onto her Makeout Scars and Breakout Stars EP in 2014, but she's putting this out as a vinyl single for 2016, backed with an instrumental of her song "February Moon." Her biography notes she has "physical challenges" and that she recorded the EP from her bed, but don't listen out of pity, listen because she's really good and "Pretty Colored Lights" is a great holiday song.  You can go to her site to grab the vinyl artifact, or click on the cover to get just the Christmas song or the full EP. 

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The Swedish singer-songwriter continues her decade-long string of Christmas originals with this wistful ballad for 2016. As with her last couple of holiday tunes, this has more of an Americana flavor with piano and pedal steel backing, no doubt inspired by her recent American tours. Check this one out. UPDATE: Although I've linked to Amazon via the cover art, Sofia also provides her Bandcamp link, where you can simply grab it free by naming your price and make a charitable donation in lieu of.
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This singer-songwriter from London, Ontario has a nice original holiday love song that I missed in 2015 as it came out very late in the year. Sounds like a cross-border romance, with a boyfriend in NYC while she's back in London; a bit on the nose, perhaps? The duet with the guitar player really sells it, by the way. It's a delightful folk-pop shuffle that will brighten up your mix discs and playlists. UPDATE: Stubby's interpretation is that Mrs. Claus is the narrator here, which is a better interpretation than mine.

Christmas Eve, Wonderlux (Wonderlux Music)

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Surf guitar instrumentals, once the toast of the rock scene in the mid-60s, now are the subject of much cult adulation, particularly in Europe. Although "surf" might be a misnomer, in that the Ventures are the real granddaddies of this style. In the general pop culture, the sound most often pokes its head up in movie soundtracks (see the Dick Dale revival brought to us in the soundtrack to "Pulp Fiction"), so it's fun to hear it pop up in the Christmas realm. In this case, the folks who bring it to us for 2016 are Michael Fontana of the Blue Hawaiians, with the help of Big Bad Voodoo Daddies producer Brad Benedict. Just like the Ventures, they play one thing and throw in snippets of another for seasoning. The one thing you might not expect in this style is that the play times for the individual cuts are longish, in the 4.5-6-minute zone, but that's because most cuts feature multiple songs, as in "Yuletide Moon/It Came Upon a Midnight Clear/O Little Town of Bethlehem." Some of these titles appear to be originals grafted onto familiar tunes, as in "A Nightmare on Elf Street/O Holy Night," which starts with the familiar hymn and backtracks into something more Halloween-sounding in nature. It's not all twang; some string sweetening and female vocal choruses sneak in to build tension, but the twangy vibrato guitars and pounding drums return to the forefront soon enough. Things wrap up with "Mistletoe a Go-Go/Silent Night," which I highlight because I'm always up for alternate takes on this frequently played but oh-so-solemn carol. This is a gotta-have for your holiday playlists, and there are enough liberties taken that you won't feel silly playing it in the summer.

Popular indie duo Best Coast has offered up this song for an American Girl holiday special set to stream on Amazon Prime this season. So far, there's only this Soundcloud stream of it, but I'll keep an eye out for independent audio.
 
emptyhearts.jpgThis New Wave supergroup is comprised of Blondie's Clem Burke, the Cars' Elliot Easton, the Romantics' Wally Palmar, and Andy Babiuk of the Chesterfield Kings. They hit with a fine album back in 2014, and for 2016 they're back with this two-sided Christmas smash that hits all the high notes. (It's a download, I'm not aware if there's any vinyl of this.) The title song is a nice upbeat raveup that will remind you of the players' previous groups as well as the glam rock holiday singles of the early to mid-70s, while sounding perfectly up to date. The B-side, "Joyful Noise," is just that, the Bo Diddley beat with driving guitars, and the sound is a bit closer to the Chesterfields. Best thing I've heard this year so far.

Happy Thanksgiving

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Enjoy the holiday. This is just in case someone on your Facebook feed hasn't posted this yet.

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The Washington Squares was a 1990s group whose premise was to be a tribute and throwback to the early-Sixties folk music boom, particularly the style of Peter, Paul and Mary. It was a side project for members of the Greenwich Village rock scene, and some found it refreshing while others found it twee. This just-released for 2016 track was actually an unreleased performance from their heyday, and I think it falls a bit on the twee side. But it does get points for actually speeding up the voices to get that Chipmunks vibe, though one might note that if that's important to you, might as well grab the original. But that's entirely up to you. Get it from iTunes or stream it from one of the services.

"Stocking For Two," Tracy Merle (self-issued)

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tracymerle.jpgHere's a stylin' little shuffle about sharing the gifts with a significant other that came to me in an email as "listen to this song by my wife." Done. Nice work. It's from an otherwise non-holiday album called Here I Stand that identifies itself as "country blues," but this particular song is more bluesy shuffle. Click the cover to check it out.

Holiday EP, Empty Houses (Sargent House)

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This young Detroit band punches in for 2016 with their first Christmas release, a quick collection of five popular classics. No major conceptual ground is broken with these easily chosen covers, but they're well done and listenable and showcase lead singer Ali Shea very nicely. "Sleigh Ride" is a straight performance of the Phil Spector arrangement, "Santa Baby" is a more modern-sounding version of the original by Eartha Kitt, "Let It Snow" has a nice stride rhythm with horns supporting the vocal, and "White Christmas" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" put a little rhythm into what are otherwise ballad arrangements. Check it out at your leisure.
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This band management company has been collecting Christmas songs from their clients for years now, and as usual the 2016 product of their curation is free to download. Up front, I'm disappointed that Piney Gir's contribution is the same "Love Is a Christmas Rose" she contributed to Volume 8 of the series, but if you missed it then, you've got it now. Andrew Joslyn & the Local Strangers bring an orchestra to help them render the aching ballad "Under Mistletoe." EagleWolfSnake provide the folk-poppy "Make It Glow" that concedes San Francisco doesn't do much to provide a white Christmas. Bill Berry's "Twas the Night After Christmas" is a nice boozy acoustic blues, Occurrence breaks out the synths for "This Is How You Know (It's the Holidays)," and Texture and Light add a bit of electronic flavor to their cover of Aimee Mann's "I Was Thinking I Could Clean Up For Christmas." Magnuson knocks out a minor key "Silent Night" to a martial beat (just the thing for the new administration, am I right?) and Blue Skies For Black Hearts top off the collection with a gentle take on the Bing & Bowie medley of "Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth." Another winning holiday gift from XO.

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This record label is a UK-based concern promoting modern rockabilly and psychobilly artists, and this is their Christmas compilation. The label makes a point of releasing only material recorded in their very own studio, which helps them maintain a characteristic style. Not being a rockabilly specialist, I can't say I've heard of any of these acts before, but they all acquit themselves very nicely here. There are 22 tracks here, definitely value for money, with several artists making multiple appearances. Proceedings get under way with El Camino's "I Want Christmas," which starts out as a tribute to Elvis' "Santa Claus Is Back In Town" but quickly swings into a fine uptempo original. Little Timmy Tinsel & the Fairy Lights shouts out to British concerns with "Santa's Lost on the Underground" and also provides two versions of the rockin' "Blotto in the Grotto," Thee Elfmen also double up on the midtempo "Santa's Here," lament a "Cruel Yule," dance to the "Egg Nog Twist," and also give us a little of that Fifties novelty nostalgia with "Christmas on Mars." The Epileptic Hillbilly's (that's their spelling, not my typo) stomp out "Another Christmas Without You," the Bad Detectives keep one eye on the purse with "Keep the Receipt (This Christmas)" and "Christmas on Plastic," and Weazeldust demand that "Santa Claus You Dirty Rat (Bring Back My Guitar)." Sharna-May and the Mayhems give us a taste of Brenda Lee mixed with Lee Hazlewood with "We're Off To See Santa," Mary Kissmass also evoke Brenda with "Blue Mistletoe," Las Pistolas go for Fifties horror (and tell Bobby "Boris" Pickett the news) with "Creepy Christmas Party," the Go Go Cult goes a little dark on the beat with "Hey, Hey, It's Christmas," and Lew Lewis & the Twilight Trio throws their hands up and sings "Just Another Day To Me." Don't know if the rockabilly fanbase is concerned that some of these artists let their Brit flag fly, but it certainly doesn't bother me; this is fun from start to finish and a natural playlist on its own (minus the double cuts, anyway).
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So it's finally happened, the Killers have released a full Christmas album for 2016 comprised of all of their past annual singles. If you've been faithfully following along, the only track you don't have is this year's single, a cover of "I'll Be Home For Christmas" featuring Ned Humphrey Hansen, who appears to Brandon Flowers' former elementary school teacher. Hansen actually sings a verse a capella before the band falls in behind him. The single features an extended spoken word section by Flowers reminiscing about his grade school Christmas memories in Las Vegas. Maybe a bit too much sincerity for some of us, but we have all the other songs, at least a few of which remain rock holiday classics. As with all the individual releases, sales benefit Project (RED). Only on iTunes, though a physical CD release is rumored.

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Two years ago we featured "Rock 'n Roll It's Christmas Time" by "Bay City Rollers starring Les McKeown," which we considered to be worthy of notice even given the shopworn teeny-bopper origins of the band name. Missed it last year, but an album containing this song followed in 2015. And the rest of the album follows along in grand style. Taste-tippers will note that the BCR sound is pretty much in place, and that it isn't out of place when lined up alongside such 70s glam rockers as Slade, T-Rex and Wizzard. I will grant that it's a bit poppier, but there's still a fair amount of rock crunch employed here. The title song, the previous single, "Jingle Bells," "Christmas Everyday (When I'm With You)," and "Party Tonight" are all worthy of notice. And because they're Scottish, they take a shot at "Loch Lomond" too, but we'll give 'em that one.
robbyelf.jpgActually, I'm surprised somebody didn't come up with a hip-hop elf character before this. This is actually Robby's second collection, released in 2011, but I just found out about him this year. Not all the songs are really Christmas related, except that they're being performed by an elf, but it's out there for those of you who want to bust rhymes on Christmas. The title song is a discussion of the fundamental verities, peace, love and understanding and such. "Lost Christmas Love" is a love letter written to a lost lover, and "Christmas Poppin" is the opening statement from an elf dedicated to "Christmas crunkin'." "Bling" is pretty much about what rappers have instead of presents, although Robby's claim that Santa has a MySpace page means whoever the elf in charge of the North Pole's IT department needs to migrate old Father Christmas to Facebook, stat. "Boogie Bootie Bounce" is all about "how elves get down," and not so much about the holiday. "The Challenge" is your usual rap showdown number, and "Don't Hate" cranks up the guitars in support of the title's request. Overall, this is kind of old-school sounding, and the raps are a little too seriously intended for the concept, which is a rapping elf. If Robby keeps at this, I'd suggest a lot more humor in future raps. UPDATE: Robby's reissued this album with some additional cuts for 2016, including last year's single of "Christmas Forgiveness" and "Don't Be No Scrooge." Another new cut is "Boogie Bootie Bounce," again with the old-school rap sound, but fun. Apparently the updated album is only on iTunes and CDBaby for now.
rocksea7.jpgThis Georgia/Florida area charitable crusade pops out another fine collection of Americana-flavored Christmas tunes for 2016. Tyrone Wells wants Santa to "Wrap Her Up For Me," no encryption key needed to figure out what this one's about. Colby Dee's "Christmas Time To Me" sings the praises of a traditional family Christmas, "Casserole Season" by Steve Everett worries about sticking to a diet so he can take on the holiday buffet, and Matthew Daniels offers "That Time of Year," a slinky electric blues for the season. Wild Adriatic also goes on the blues-rock tip for the mandatory Hanukkah song "8 Days 8 Crazy Nights (Festival of Lights)," Benny Bassett's "Seat at the Table" is an acoustic ode to veterans on the holiday, and The Dunder Chiefs try to stretch out their song's value with "25 Days Until Christmas," a nice little jug band toe-tapper. Among the familiar tunes is Sam Burchfield's shuffle take on "Let It Snow," The Currys' folky "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," Olivia Knight's interesting take on "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" that slow-jams the backing while she sings a country-tinged vocal over it, Kristopher James' guitar and viola-backed "O Come O Come Emmanuel," and Mike Mentz's acoustic guitar-led "Christmas Don't Be Late (Chipmunk Song)," which he dresses up with some religious imagery. Mostly mellow even on the uptempo numbers, but a fine listening experience nonetheless. Buy it at iTunes or from the website.

Regifted Vol. 1 and 2, Jingle Punx (self-issued)

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We've featured many Jingle Punx holiday albums and singles here at Mistletunes over the years. If you missed those reviews, the band name tells you everything you need to know; holiday tunes cranked out punk-rock style, mostly covers of the Christmas repertoire but a few originals thrown in along the way. For 2016, this is your chance to be a completist; the (virtual) box set of the Punx discography is available for download. Every tune they ever did, from "Peanuts" covers to "Please Daddy Don't Get Drunk This Christmas," from "A Visit From St. Nicholas" to "Christmas in Hollis," from "Holly Jolly Christmas" to "12 Days of the Urban Dictionary Christmas," is part of this two-volume collection. This may be more thrash than you actually need for a rockin' holiday, or you may feel there's no such thing as too much thrash. Get the complete set from iTunes, or you can graze their Bandcamp page if you prefer.
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Christmas looms large in this novelty a capella group's business plan, and so 2016 brings their third holiday album. Considering that they came to notice on the back of a widely YouTubed video of them doing a comedy version of "12 Days of Christmas," you'd have to assume it would be tough to continually raise the ante on subsequent releases, and you'd be right. The third time around for this group is mainly for their existing fans, who don't have to be sold on these guys over and over again. So they're concentrating more on the music than the novelty this time around. Strip away the stagecraft and you get just another adult contemporary pop group. The only song that harks to their comedic side is set closer "To Christmas (The Drinking Song)," which is pretty much as advertised and is something you might want for a holiday playlist or mix disc.

Dark Sacred Night, David Bazan (Suicide Squeeze)

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bazan.jpgBazan is formerly of Pedro the Lion and is classed with the "emo-folk" movement by Stereogum. He's actually been releasing these tunes piecework as singles since about 2003, but this year he gathered together most of them for this 2016 album. It's just him and a piano or guitar, giving you a less holly jolly view of the holiday through his plaintive interpretations of classics like "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," "Away in a Manger," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," "Jingle Bells," "Silent Night" and "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." Info is sketchy, but I'm guessing "Wish My Kids Were Here," "Long Way Around the Sea" and "All I Want For Christmas" are originals. Check it out for a change of pace. UPDATE: Four additional songs are included on Christmas Bonus, a limited edition one-sided 12-inch vinyl EP that includes "The First Noel," "Say It Isn't Greensleeves (A Change At Christmas)," "Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel," and "Heard the Bells On Christmas Day." FURTHER UPDATE: "Long Way Around the Sea" is a cover of Low. D'oh. Thanks, Stubby.

Quick notes

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  • I'm not really excited by vinyl anymore, so I'm not actively seeking out vinyl re-issues of things we've already covered, though I will mention them. If you are excited, last year's The Connection Christmas album has been issued in colored vinyl for Record Store Day this coming Black Friday. Rum Bar Records, the label, also has Rudy Ray Moore's notorious R-rated album This Ain't No White Christmas on vinyl as well.
  • Band of Merrymakers, who we've covered here previously, have reissued their album for 2016. The difference is they've grafted "A Very Merry Medley" to the front of the playlist this time around, which is a not-bad rock holiday medley, although they do recycle a few gags others have done before them.
  • Trans-Siberian Orchestra has issued their DVD video "Ghosts of Christmas Eve" as an audio-only disc or download, for those of you who have made this group part of your Christmas tradition.
  • Neil Diamond has yet another holiday album in the can, Acoustic Christmas, which is not particularly acoustic or particularly rocking, but you can buy it for your grandparents.

Christmas Party, She & Him (Columbia)

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I have a soft spot in my heart for this duo based on their warm and unpretentious debut album, but that was almost a decade ago and they haven't really changed very much over that time. Except that the singer is now the star of a sitcom and so the wider potential audience that brings them doesn't really encourage anything too off-the-wall musically speaking. So it is that their second Christmas album, released for 2016 and comprised entirely of popular covers of Christmas tunes as was the first one, doesn't really add anything to the holiday canon. Nevertheless, if you want to hear Zooey Deschanel cover Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas," this is where you have to come. M. Ward takes the lead vocal on a notably different arrangement of "Run Run Rudolph," very poppy and shorn of its Chuck Berry structure, which is possibly the best thing here. Other songs to note are the ethereal treatment of "Christmas Don't Be Late (The Chipmunk Song)," their version of "Must Be Santa," and the mellow "A Marshmallow World."

Wonderland, Sarah McLachlan (Verve)

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wonderland.jpgSarah takes another bite at the Christmas apple after a decade with this 2016 album. Her first one, Wintersong, was a fine complement to her hit repertoire, following the same modern folky and vaguely world music approaches of her past work. You hear more of the same with "Angels We Have Heard On High," "Let It Snow," a rhythmic take on "Go Tell It On the Mountain," and "Winter Wonderland." The rest is more adult contemporary pop, including "O Holy Night," "Silver Bells," "Huron Carol," "White Christmas," and a perfectly faithful jazz-pop arrangement of "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)." A good second try, though there's nothing particularly outstanding for people who aren't already Sarah fans.

12 Nights of Christmas, R. Kelly (RCA)

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12Nights.jpgGiven this artist's notoriety, the quick take is that a Christmas album from him is roughly equivalent in appropriateness to a reality TV star becoming president. But even though R. Kelly hasn't managed to stay out of the gossip columns, if you had this 2016 holiday collection played to you without any advance fanfare, you'd peg it for what it is -- a strong 21st century era R'nB inflected holiday album, all mid-tempos and slow jams and mostly original tunes. Completists will be annoyed that his Christmas song from "The Best Man Holiday" soundtrack, "Christmas I'll Be Steppin," is missing from this collection, but this is the download/streaming era, so create your own playlist however you see fit. I like "Christmas Lovin'," "Snowman," "Home For Christmas" and "Flyin' On My Sleigh," the latter of which takes us all the way back to 70s soul.

holyrockarollaz.jpgThis rockabilly trio apparently is located roughly in Minnesota and they've played the Winter Dance Party, the annual concert in memory of the original show that was the last show of Buddy Holly, RItchie Valens and the Big Bopper. They put this fine period piece of rocka-poppa-billy for 2014, but I just stumbled over it this week. It's half familiar tunes with a rockabilly twist, but there appear to be some originals mixed in, like "Christmas In My Heart," a natural midtempo single; "Under the Mistletoe," which could have been playing at the drugstore when Marty McFly popped into 1955; "Santa Come Home," a nice jungle-drums rocker; "Merry Christmas" and "Always Christmas," both of which owe a lot to Buddy Holly, uptempo and ballad styles respectively. Among the covers, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and "Joy To the World" have nice uptempo takes, "Silent Night" and "O Holy Night" are typical reverent versions, the latter with ensemble vocals provided entirely by bass player/singer Lisa Lynn; and for the musical geeks, "Jingle All the Wray" is "Jingle Bells" as Link Wray might have done it. Nice work. Here's the lyric video for "Christmas In My Heart."

Late, late, late, late

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I've just had a terrible time getting started with this season's postings. Apologies to all, especially to those who have contacted the site with songs for me to review. I hope to start having posts this weekend.

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