I'll be honest... not every track on this album is great, but they are pretty good and definitely worth a listen. Michael's voice lends itself to Christmas music effortlessly, almost as if he were intended to sing these types of songs all along.
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas starts the album off perfectly with a throwback to the classic, traditional feel of Christmas. Santa Claus is Coming to Town has a similar tone, but Jingle Bells featuring the Puppini Sisters (I've never heard of them until now and I like them) is a stand out. It's my favorite from the album... the big band arrangement will have you tapping your foot or singing along or both by the chorus. White Christmas starts off great, but then Shania Twain chimes in and I lose focus. The wife likes it though. Personally, I just like the duh duh da dum... duh duh... duh da duh. To each their own, right?
Next, Michael tries to cover the greatest Christmas song of the last decade... Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You. While I would never encourage anyone to attempt a cover of any of Mariah's songs (she's an alien and her voice is ridiculous), this particular cover is the best effort of this tune that I've heard. I'm not sure if it was Michael's idea (or David Foster's) but it was genius to slow it down so that it's almost unrecognizable and therefore not comparable to the original. Still though, Mariah is a beast and it goes without saying her version is the one to choose if forced to pick between the two.
There are other tracks in the lane of the first traditional few like Holly Jolly Christmas, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and Silent Night that all aim to please the seasonal lover in all of us. Yet for some reason he chose to do Santa Baby, but changed the lyric to "Santa buddy" -- I don't get it. Some people may like it. I don't.
Overall, it's a decent Christmas album and worth a shot if you've never listened to it. If you're looking for a song or two to add to your holiday playlist, go for It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas and Jingle Bells... you can't go wrong.
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