Contemporary Christmas: Here’s a guide to new spins on seasonal songs
By JONATHAN TAKIFF
Philadelphia Daily News
Philadelphia Daily News
takiffj@phillynews.com 215-854-5960
IT’S NOT EVEN Thanksgiving yet, and we’re already tired of hearing the same old bunch of Christmas tunes on the radio. Not that there aren’t new albums coming out, chock-full of holiday cheer.
We’ve been building a nice little mountain of these releases since August. And 11 of the entries currently on the top album charts are Christmas-themed, reports the entertainment publication Variety.
Clearly, some of these “new” releases are just the same old song, with different wrapping paper.
But some artists have gone out on a limb with new holiday fare or radically rethought arrangements that make you feel the spirit in a surprisingly new way. This is seasonal music that deserves a shot on the radio, just as much as (if not more than) Alvin and the Chipmunks, Bruce Springsteen, Bing Crosby and that whole bunch.
Southwest rockers Los Lonely Boys take the holiday to the border on “Christmas Spirit” (Epic, B). Instrumental treatments of “Carol of The Bells” and “Silent Night” are most exotic.