New holiday music from Sia and other artists.
We’re not going to lie. There have been better years for holiday albums. It’s just that everybody who’s anybody has already made one by now — Bob Dylan was possibly the last holdout to fall when he put out “Christmas in the Heart” a few years back — as they now stand as some kind of signpost for a respectable career in pop music. The current round features a handful of repeat offenders from the ’90s (Hanson, 98 Degrees), repackaged classics (the Beatles, Elvis Presley) and offerings by artists who seemed to be in a particularly cheery mood (Sia, Gwen Stefani). Here are our takes on some of this year’s noteworthy seasonal releases:
Gwen Stefani
The gift: “You Make It Feel Like Christmas” Workshop: Interscope What’s naughty or nice:
The No Doubt singer doesn’t hold back on her first full-length holiday release. She delivers highgloss versions of seasonal standards like “Let It Snow” and “Last Christmas,” but the album doesn’t take full flight until Stefani brings in originals like “My Gift Is You” and “When I Was a Little Girl” — no-holdsbarred love songs with a light sprinkling of tinsel written for People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive” and Stefani’s boyfriend of two years Blake Shelton, who returns the favor by bringing a little bit of country to the title track.
Sia
The gift: “Everyday Is Christmas” Workshop: Atlantic What’s naughty or nice: The wig-loving, fameloathing Australian singer-songwriter behind gargantuan hits like “Chandelier” and “Cheap Thrills” lends her pop stardust to a set of Christmas songs. Working with Greg Kurstin (Beck, Liam Gallagher), she comes up with 10 original tunes that are frankly better than the holiday deserves, including the island-style “Santa’s Coming for Us” and ethereal ballad “Snowman.”
Hanson
The gift: “Finally It’s Christmas” Workshop: S-Curve Records What’s naughty or nice: To mark the 20th anniversary of their first holiday album, “Snowed In,” the Hanson brothers return with a follow-up, “Finally It’s Christmas.” They may no longer resemble the tweens who bounced around in the “MMMBop” video, but they carry the same freewheeling spirit on this set, bringing an oldschool rock ’n’ roll spin to contemporary classics like Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime” and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas,” as well as originals “Til New Year’s Night” and the title track.
Cheap Trick
The gift: “Christmas Christmas” Workshop: Big Machine What’s naughty or nice: It’s taken a couple of decades, but power-pop heroes Cheap Trick finally got around to making their first holiday-themed album. The choice of material is exceptional — highlights include Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run,” the Ramones’ “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight)” and Julian Casablancas’ “I Wish It Was Christmas Today” — and the deafening renditions are fantastic. The group, which recently performed at this year’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, has lost none of its edge since “Surrender,” and even originals like “Merry Christmas Darlings” and the title track are proof that the season doesn’t have to be a snooze-fest.
98 Degrees
The gift: “Let It Snow” Workshop: UMe What’s naughty or nice: The B-list boy band that last saw the upper reaches of the pop charts long before “Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica” ever made it onto the air hopes a little bit of holiday goodwill is all it takes to get fans excited about the followup to 1999’s “This Christmas.” The generic renditions of well-worn holiday staples like “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christ-
mas” and “What Child Is This” don’t help the group’s cause, nor does the version of “Let It Snow” that features them showing off their human beatbox skills.
Elvis Presley
The gift: “Christmas With Elvis and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra” Workshop: Sony Legacy What’s naughty or nice: By now, fans of the King are used to his prolific beyond-the-grave musical output. For this collection, two of Presley’s previous Christmas albums, recorded in 1957 and 1971, are repurposed Dr. Frankenstein-style with new orchestral arrangements by the Royal Philharmonic. It’s a wholly unnecessary exercise, but for a certain demographic, no doubt heavensent.
The Beatles
The gift: “The Christmas Records” Workshop: Capitol What’s naughty or nice: This limited-edition vinyl box set collects the Christmas messages the Fab Four recorded and released on flexi-discs for its fan club from 1963 to 1969. Available for the first time, the recordings have been pressed into colored vinyl 7-inch singles and served up with the original sleeve artwork, recording notes and reproductions of the fan club’s National Newsletters.