Music for Grownups: Top Ten Holiday Albums

By: Richard Gehr | Source: AARP.org | 2008-12-01

A stack of holiday albums sways precariously on my desk. It represents only a fraction of the seasonal releases this year, and an even smaller portion of the thousands of holiday albums released during the history of recorded sound. Offerings 2008 range from traditional carols and standards to reinvented rock and jazz arrangements to moody midwinter evocations of the holidays' pagan origins. Here are my favorites:

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, "Jingle All the Way": Thoroughly roasted chestnuts, such as "Jingle Bells," "Silent Night," and "O Come, All Ye Faithful" have rarely if ever sounded so delightfully musical as they do when performed by the virtuoso electric banjo picker Béla Fleck and his crackerjack jazz-bluegrass fusion ensemble. You could spin this album for background music, but be prepared to end up giving it a serious listen. Highly recommended.

Ululoa Presents "Halelu: Songs of Christmas From Hawai'i" : Everything sounds better in Hawai'ian. That's especially so when tunes are sung in the islands' mellifluous vocal style, accompanied by ukulele and "slack-key" acoustic guitars. Warm up to an only slightly ironic "Winter Wonderland" and an ode to Poli'ahu, the snow goddess of the big island's 4,200-meter summit, Mauna Kea.

"Putumayo Presents a Jazz and Blues Christmas": Christmas Day sounds a lot like Saturday night when B.B. King ("Christmas Celebration"), Charles Brown ("Santa's Blues"), Ray Charles ("Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"), and other great rhythm and blues pickers, pianists, and shouters get involved.

Loreena McKennitt, "A Midwinter's Night's Dream": The Canadian singer-songwriter adds eight new songs to five remastered tracks from a 1995 extended-play recording. McKennitt looks beyond religion to the timeless natural phenomena that inspired our seasonal festivals of light in "The Holly & the Ivy," "In the Bleak Midwinter," and "The Seven Rejoices of Mary."

Aretha Franklin, "This Christmas Aretha": What took her so long, you might ask? Aretha delivers a little somethin' for everybody on an album that mixes up carols ("Angels We Have Heard on High"), holiday rhythm and blues ("My Grown-Up Christmas List"), opera ("Ave Maria"), and a surprisingly earthy rendition of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas."

The Boxmasters, "Christmas Cheer": Does this holiday season seem a little tougher than usual? Bandleader-actor Billy Bob Thornton dredges up his own dark Christmas memories in three songs he cowrote for his country-rock trio's first album of seasonal offerings, which also includes John Prine's timeless "Christmas in Prison."

"The Johnny Cash Christmas Specials 1976-1979": This four-DVD set collects both the Nashville and Los Angeles versions of Johnny's homey TV specials. Kris Kristofferson and Jerry Lee Lewis, and comedians Steve Martin and Andy Kaufman, are among the guests who drop by to join the Man in Black; his wife, June Carter Cash; and their six daughters for songs, skits, and other good, clean family fun.

Neil Sedaka, "The Miracle of Christmas": The Brooklyn-born songwriter was raised in an Orthodox Jewish household. But he couldn't sound more at home than he does on this generous double-disc set of Christmas standards, ranging from "A Lonely Christmas in New York" to "O Come, All Ye Faithful."

Melissa Etheridge, "A New Thought for Christmas": The rocker puts solstice sentiments into practice. On her high-energy production, she mixes standards, such as "Merry Christmas, Baby" with peace-promoting originals such as "Light a Light". Catch her with Faith Hill on CBS's 10th annual "A Home for the Holidays" special on Dec. 23, 2008.

Al Jarreau, "Christmas": Another of the few performers capable of giving familiar material a fresh twist, jazz singer Al Jarreau regularly expands into a one-man yuletide choir in his recording. Sometimes he has the help of guests, such as Take 6, on his swinging seasonal spinner.

Honorable Mention:

Harry Connick, Jr., "What a Night! A Christmas Album"
Ledisi, "It's Christmas"
Straight No Chaser, "Holiday Spirits"
Faith Hill, "Joy to the World"
Tony Bennett Featuring the Count Basie Big Band, "A Swingin' Christmas"
Brian McKnight, "I'll Be Home for Christmas"
Kristin Chenoweth, "A Lovely Way to Spend Christmas"
Elliott Yamin, "My Kind of Holiday"
Natalie Cole, "Caroling, Caroling: Christmas With Natalie Cole"
Mary Chapin Carpenter, "Come Darkness, Come Light"
Sheryl Crow, "Home for Christmas"
Sarah Brightman, "A Winter Symphony"
Elvis Presley, "Christmas Duets"