Christmas albums are always great comeback vehicles, as this country trio knows. ( They already tried it in 1993). Featuring the daughters of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and John and Michelle Phillips of The Mamas & The Papas, Wilson Phillips was known for its top-down Southern California melodies and sugary harmonies. Now they’re back with...more of the same. If you’ve got a certain nostalgia for the 1990s or spend your holidays on the beach, you’ll probably get into peppy Christmas-themed pop songs like “I Wish it Could be Christmas Every Day” and “Warm Lovin’ Christmastime.” But be careful: too much of this record just might give you diabetes.
Best Track: “ Warm Lovin’ Christmastime.” With a sunny melody that sticks in your head and a blistering guitar solo, it’s by far the least annoying of the bunch.
Give it To: That girlfriend of yours who’s still listening to the Dixie Chicks.
You only need to listen to this pop-country threesome’s international hit “ Need You Now” to know what you’ll be hearing on this six-song EP: slow, sappy ballads full of tight, one-girl-two-guy harmonies. Their versions of Christmas staples like “ Silver Bells" and Mariah Carey’s “ All I Want For Christmas Is You" tend to blur together in a mid-tempo haze. But if you’re on of the millions who have sent Lady Antebellum’s singles to the top of the charts, you’ll enjoy their twangy twist on the holiday songs you love.
Best Track: “ Blue Christmas” finally breaks the album out of its soporific pace with some jazzy piano and meaty guitar licks.
Give it To: Devoted Lady Antebellum fans and your cousins in West Virginia.
A band of songwriters behind some of country music’s biggest hits got together to turn tidings of comfort and joy into bitter breakup comedy. All the best-known Christmas classics get sarcastic updates: “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” becomes “Santa Claus is Foolin’ Around,” and “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” becomes “Hark, The Hell Has Just Begun.” Set to upbeat holiday-flavored music, these parodies explore the darker corners of Christmas: “Single gals! Single gals! Single all the way! Oh what fun I’m gonna have as a divorcée!” Merry Ex-Mas is good for a few laughs, but it probably won’t get too many repeat plays, and you can find funnier Dirty Santa songs in Bob Rivers’ repertoire of twisted Christmas classics.
Best Track: “ See Ya Santa,” for its big-band fun and winking lyrics: “Button up that big red coat, it’s cold outside for sure/See ya Santa/You’re not gettin’ down my chimney anymore.”
Give it To: The recently uncoupled in your life, who might find it a cathartic antidote to the cheer they’re not feeling this year.
With the rising popularity this past decade of Celtic-flavored pop music in the United States, it was inevitable this Irish sextet would eventually turn their attention to Christmas music. And though they do most of these fourteen wintry classics justice, it’s too bad they didn’t put more Celtic flavor into the mix. Celtic Thunder Christmas brims with lush orchestration and out-of-place Christmas clichés—particularly an eye-roll-inspiring country cover of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You.” A few standouts (“Ave Maria,” “Silent Night”) evoke Ireland’s rich musical history, but you’re mostly in for standard Yuletide fare with lots and lots of strings.
Best Track: “
Christmas 1915." Backed by more traditional instrumentation, this classic tells a story of Allied soldiers listening to Germans singing Christmas carols during World War I.
Give it To: Anyone looking for one more version of the Christmas songs they’ve already got.
Mariah is responsible for some of the most ubiquitous holiday pop songs of all time, including “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” from her 1994 Christmas album, Merry Christmas. This sequel finds the pop diva hunting for that hitmaking magic once again with bopping anthems like “Oh Santa!” and sweeping epics like “One Child.” There’s plenty of strings, sleigh bells, and classic Mariah melisma, but like the inclusion of a gratuitous new version of “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” it all feels a little excessive and desperate. It’s no surprise Mariah is sticking with the formula that’s made her the top-selling female artist in history, so you can probably save your ten bucks and dust off her old Christmas record.
Best Track: “ Oh Santa!” The album’s lead single is sure to be heard in malls across the world for the next decade. It’s no goundbreaking hit, but it’s fun as holiday pop gets.
Give to To: Any “Lambs” on your Christmas list. That is, if they haven’t already bought five copies each to inflate Mariah’s sales figures.
The sweet British lady who rose to fame when her thrilling performance on Britain’s Got Talent went viral was born to belt out Christmas music. Her pure voice brings an angelic quality to songs like “Do You Hear What I Hear?” and “The First Noel.” Though some of the tracks get swallowed in sentimental orchestration, Boyle puts tender touches on the stripped-down “The First Noel” and the hushed “ Away in a Manger,” and includes a couple of well-chosen wild cards like Leonard Cohen’s “ Hallelujah.” She may be sentimental, but you can’t beat Susan Boyle at delivering choral classics.
Best Track: “ Don’t Dream It’s Over.” With just a piano and a children’s choir, Boyle delivers a powerful version of the Crowded House hit.
Give it To: Your grandmother who only listens to “ real Christmas music.”
The Brian Setzer Orchestra is a staple of the holiday season, and this new live album captures everything that’s great about the zany swing band. It opens with the rocking “Dig that Crazy Santa Claus,” which features a blistering guitar solo amidst a blitz of brass, and runs the gamut of holiday favorites and Stray Cats classics like “Fishnet Stockings.” Setzer and the band rock for 65 minutes with hardly a moment to catch their breath. If trumpets, saxophones, and wicked guitar playing get you in the Christmas spirit, this is the album for you.
Best Track: The instrumental “ Angels We Have Heard On High?," a race between dueling trumpet virtuosos and brilliant guitar soloists, is a thrill ride.
Give it To: For the one who watches the Rockefeller Center tree lighting on NBC every year.
There are a lot of unusual things about Pittsburgh native Jackie Evancho. First of all, she’s a ten-year-old with the voice of a mature classical soprano. Second, her debut album on Columbia Records happens to be this four-song disc with an accompanying concert DVD. Evancho performs the sacred classics, two in English and two in Italian, with a spellbinding authority and perfection that is incredible for a singer her age. O Holy Night debuted at number two on the Billboard chart, making Evancho the top-selling debut artist of the year and the youngest female solo artist to debut in the top ten. It’s is a beautifully orchestrated addition to your holiday mix, and the DVD includes Jackie’s performances on America’s Got Talent and an interview.
Best Track: “ Pie Jesu.” The thrilling movement from Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Requiem mass highlight’s Evancho’s unbelievable voice unlike any of the others.
Get it For: The aspiring little singers in your life—and classical music enthusiasts who will be blown away by Evancho’s talent.
This chart-topping album might be the most anticipated of the season, and it’s bursting with the Glee gang’s usual energy. Like always, Rachel (Lea Michelle) takes every opportunity to show off her huge voice, but Finn (Corey Monteith), Mercedes (Amber Riley), and Puck (Mark Salling) get plenty of solos as well on upbeat versions of “ Jingle Bells,” “ Last Christmas,” and medleys like “ Deck the Rooftops.” Even Mr. Schuester (Matthew Morrison) gets in on the action in a zany rendition of “ You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.”
Best Tracks: “ O Holy Night” is Glee at its over-the-top best: Lea Michelle belting out high notes over swelling strings and background vocals from the rest of the club. But the warm duet between Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Blaine (Darren Criss) on “ Baby It’s Cold Outside” is just as download-worthy.
Give it To: All your favorite Gleeks. And don’t forget the Broadway lovers on your list.
Since Katharine McPhee came in second on American Idol in 2006, her music has sounded like the self-conscious, focus-grouped pop of an also-ran diva. But on this classy holiday album, McPhee is more in control than she’s ever been, and the clarity of her voice finally gets the attention it deserves. The arrangements are gentle and traditional, full of soft piano with touches of horns and bluesy guitar. The four original tracks, which range from the subtly yearning “ Who Would Imagine a King?” to the rollicking, gospel-influenced title song, fit neatly among McPhee’s well-curated holiday standards. And whether she’s at a near-whisper or sliding up and down blues scales, it’s her nuanced singing lifts this record above average.
Best Track: “ Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” With trumpet from Chris Botti, the opening song’s plaintive jazz encapsulates everything that’s great about the album.
Give it To: Your sister who watches every season of American Idol. She’ll be thrilled, and the rest of the family won’t mind it, either.
Shelby Lynne’s 1998 album, I Am Shelby Lynne won her a sudden Grammy award after she’d spent a whole decade toiling in relative obscurity. She’s been working just as hard since then, founding her own label, releasing an independent album earlier this year, and now, her first Christmas record. Packed with mandolins, slide guitars, and Lynne’s smoky vocals, Merry Christmas takes an invigorating, eclectic tour of American music from swing (“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”) to bluegrass (“Christmas Time is Coming”). Her two originals alternate between the upbeat (“Ain’t Nothin’ Like Christmas”) and the reflective (“Xmas”). Tasteful and unexpected, this is without a doubt the best country Christmas album you’ll hear this year.
Best Track: The bluesy “Xmas” hints at Lynne’s tragic family history, including her abusive father who eventually murdered her mother.
Give it To: The country fans in your life who are too sophisticated for Rascal Flatts but a little to mainstream for Indigo Girls.
Collaborating with well-known backing musicians, the Amy Ray and Emily Saliers have created a soulful holiday record that digs down to the roots of American country music. Bare steel guitars underly the duo’s rough-hewn harmonies, while banjo and mandolin flesh out the textures of twelve sacred and secular Christmas favorites. Covers of American folk icons—Woddie Guthrie’s “Happy Joyous Hannukah,” Beith Nielsen Chapman’s “There’s Still My Joy”—sit comfortably among country-flavored carols, and even one unabashedly bluegrass original (“The Wonder Song.”) Brandi Carlile joins the girls on “Angels We Have Heard on High” for a three-part harmony that’s just as gorgeous and unconventional as the rest of these songs.
Best Track: “Mistletoe.” A lilting, melancholy piano-and-guitar ballad that captures the pain of emotional turmoil during the holidays.
Give it To: Anyone on your list who loves classic country or bluegrass, or anyone who dislikes Christmas music in general. This might be just what it takes to bring them around.
Remember in the 40s when everyone wanted to sound like The Andrews Sisters? You probably don’t, but The Puppini Sisters are determined to recapture the glory days of the close harmony groups of the Swing Era. The Puppinis aren’t actually sisters, but they chose their name as a tribute to the trio whose delightful sound they imitate. Big-band Christmas standards like “Mele Kalikimaka” evoke the black-and-white movies that shaped the modern Christmas season in America. This is the way “Santa Baby” and “Let it Snow” were intended to sound.
Best Track: “ Step Into Christmas.” Move over, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” the Puppinis rule the holiday hop with this jaunty, horn-driven version of the Elton John classic.
Give it To: Blossoming jazz fans and relatives who remember when It’s A Wonderful Life came out.
Sure, she’s the best-selling British female artist in history, but there’s a reason Annie Lennox is coveted for the soundtracks of fantasy movies: no one does otherworldly quite like her. And Lennox’s haunting contralto has never has been more transcendent than on these emotional holiday tracks. From the soaring, triumphant opener—a medley of “Angels We Have Heard on High” and “Angels from the Realms of Glory”—to the hushed “In the Bleak Midwinter,” Lennox’s ethereal voice makes both famous and lesser known carols as magical as they’ve ever been.
Best Track: “ See, Amid the Winter’s Snow." Lennox’s layered version of the 19th-century carol is an enchanting soundtrack for a holy night.
China Forbes and her eclectic twelve-member orchestra have been sending indie music lovers into swoons ever since their acclaimed 1997 debut, Sympatique. Now, Pink Martini turns its attention to every imaginable winter tradition, and it’s as perfect as a holiday record can get. Joy to the World surveys world culture with hymns from England, Israel, Ukraine, Spain, Scotland, and Asia, using a different language on nearly every track. (Try “Silent Night” in its original German, with a verse in Arabic just for fun.) But despite its incorporating dozens of languages and musical traditions, a perfect dose of sentimentality and cheer make this record accessible to even the least well-traveled listener. Simple, elegant instrumentation backs up the haunting harmonies of “Elohai N’tzor,” the saucy salsa of “Ocho Kandelikas,” and the Africa-inspired “Do You Hear What I Hear?” Pink Martini says they make songs that are “music of the world without being world music,” and the result is the perfect backdrop to any holiday celebration.
Best Track: “ Auld Lang Syne” The album’s final track, with its cheerful ukulele, jubilant choir and lyrics in English and French, is an irresistible holiday anthem.
Buy it For: Everyone! It will please them all, from your mom to hipster friends.
