COVER FEATURE
by Jane Neal
Holiday albums Jane Neal reviews new Christmas albums to get you in the Christmas spirit; and some to avoid I have a theory that eventually, everyone who has ever received a modicum of airplay will make a Christmas album. This includes artists you thought (and maybe wished) were long-gone, like Cheap Trick and Chicago; newer artists like Ariana Grande and Meghan Trainor, classic Christmas crooners like Bing Crosby and Tony Bennett and every country music act ever. Not to mention bands like Manheim Steamroller and Pentatonix who seem to release or recycle new ones almost every year. Here’s a look at some holiday releases – some new, some missed from last year (when reviews were on hiatus due to COVID-19) and a few recycled ones.
It’s hard not to like Dolly. Even if you’re not a fan of her music, the petite and sassy country star has done some amazing things. After a fire in 2016 devastated Gatlinburg, Tenn., Dolly Parton’s My People Fund gave more than $8 million to people who lost their homes in the fires. When the pandemic hit, she donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center to help fund Moderna vaccine efforts. In March 2021, she got a dose of the vaccine and even modified her hit, “Jolene,” with lyrics encouraging people to get vaccinated. Although it’s her first Christmas album in 30 years, the song, “Coming Home for Christmas” was originally released in 2009. “Christmas on the Square,” is from Parton’s 2020 Netflix Christmas movie. The album also includes several duets, including “Christmas Is” with her goddaughter, Miley Cyrus, “Christmas Where We Are” with Cyrus’ dad, Billy Ray, “Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas” with Michael Bublé, “Pretty Paper” with Willie Nelson and “You Are My Christmas” with her late brother Randy Parton. And if, like lots of us, you’re tired of hearing Mariah Carey sing “All I want for Christmas,” you can listen to Dolly’s version with Jimmy Fallon. Dolly’s 75 years old, so her voice might not be as strong as it was the last time she recorded a Christmas album, but what she lacks in strength, she makes up for enthusiasm. Always a prolific songwriter, she penned or co-wrote nine of the tracks.
Dolly Parton: A Holly Dolly Christmas
Norah Jones: I Dream of Christmas
Dolly Parton is no stranger to Christmas music – she released a collaborative Christmas album with Kenny Rogers in 1984. Her first solo Christmas album, “Home for the Holidays,” came out in 1990. “A Holly Dolly Christmas,” was released last year and a Deluxe Bonus Edition with three additional tracks followed this year.
Steve Perry The Season (for die-hard Journey fans only)
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command the stage and rock as well if not better than they did 30 years ago (I’m looking at you, Mick Jagger). Unfortunately, Perry is not of their caliber. At 72, his voice sounds weak and shaky. It’s almost impossible to believe that this is the same artist that Rolling Stone ranked as one of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time.” The album is hard to listen to. On several of the songs, the arrangements are off – on others, Perry’s voice is flat – sometimes there’s a combination of both things – making the songs almost unrecognizable. I’d like to say that this album might be cause for at least hard-core Journey fans to rejoice, but that would be like putting a lump of coal in their stockings.
Steve Perry rose to fame as the front man for the rock band, Journey, with hits including “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin,” “Don’t Stop Believing” and “Any Way You Want It” in the 1970s and ’80s and had a fairly successful run as a solo act (“Oh Sherrie,” 1984) until a hip injury forced him into retirement in 1998. There are some things that should never happen, and there are some things that perhaps should have happened 20 years ago. If Perry was meant to release a holiday album, I’d say he waited a few decades too long. Some rock stars can rock into their 70s and with slight alterations to arrangements, still wow crowds (hello, Paul McCartney), others can still
Don’t know why I didn’t … like this album more than I did. Although it did sort of grow on me after a couple of listens. Still, I somehow expected more from Jones – daughter of famed sitarist Ravi Shankar and winner of several dozen music awards. A self-avowed Ella Fitzgerald fan, she covers several songs from “Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas” including “White Christmas,” “Winter Wonderland” and “What are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” She’s an unmistakably talented jazz artist. Yet, while I remember enjoying her 2002 hit, “Don’t Know Why,” this Christmas release just fails to ignite my enthusiasm. And maybe that’s on Jones. The release opens with “Christmas Calling (Jolly Jones)” which includes lines like “I’m looking all around for glee” – and she’s clearly struggling to find it. Most of the songs have a distinct melancholy feel. She wrote or co-wrote six out of the 13 tracks, including “You’re Not Alone,” a bluesy hymn. The original “It’s Only Christmas Once a Year” definitely references COVID-19 with lines like, “Last year was so hard with all the friends I couldn’t see.” Maybe that’s the problem, perhaps putting together a holiday album amid a global pandemic makes it too hard to be a “Jolly Jones.” Still, this collection is OK for low-volume mood music by the fire, just not for your holiday party.
