Artiste: Carpenters
Album: Christmas Once More
Rating: *****
The newly remixed and remastered 16-track set includes holiday favourites such as Sleigh Ride, (There’s No Place Like) Home For The Holidays, White Christmas and many other golden greats.
Listening to Karen Carpenter’s voice on a re-release after all these years remains a magical experience while her brother Richard does full justice to the arrangements. Karen’s voice is full of warmth and the music has all the pompous elements to make it feel like Christmas.
In 1978, enough material was recorded during the Christmas Portrait sessions. It led to a second Carpenters holiday album, An Old-Fashioned Christmas, in 1984, a year after Karen’s death. The new compilation brings in all the best from the holiday platters.
The festive take on (There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays has few equals and the re-recording of the Carpenters’s own 1970 holiday hit Merry Christmas, Darling comes with an excellent accompaniment in the form of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It is one of the best holiday tracks ever recorded, akin to a reverie. In Karen’s voice, there is longing for better days. It will always be part of any soundtrack curated by couples.
With this collection, one is reminded of the true legacy of the duo — music in which despair and worries melt away. Their albums remain mugs of optimism and happiness that we can take comfort in, no matter how hard the punches come at us.
No wonder, the duo got a shout-out in March 2023. While accepting an Academy Award for best original song for Naatu naatu from RRR, M.M. Neeravaani said: “Thank you, Academy. I grew up listening to the Carpenters, and now here I am with the Oscars.” He went on to sing his acceptance remarks to the tune of the duo’s classic Top of the World, melting hearts that evening.
Artiste: Jennifer Hudson
Album: The Gift of Love
Rating: ****
In her first album since 2014’s JHUD, Jennifer Hudson lashes the audience with a thrilling voice on Christmas classics such as My Favourite Things, Winter Wonderland and, of course, Jingle Bells. She pulls at the heartstrings and despite the big voice, there is gooey pleasure in listening to her deliver Chestnuts roasting on an open fire/ Jack Frost nipping at your nose in The Christmas Song.
The gifted singer has the voice and talent to go in whatever direction she chooses. At times, she makes the audience miss everything good about Whitney Houston’s voice in One Wish.
Little Drummer Boy is perfect in conception and execution, with the right degree of piety within an upbeat setting, complete with enough “pa-rup-a-pum-pums”. She doesn’t restrain her vocals on Auld Lang Syne and O Holy Night.
At times, she goes over the top with seasonal felicitations to please a range of audiences, like in the co-written song Almost Christmas (featuring rapper Common)… meant more for a movie than on a Christmas album that’s on the verge of becoming an annual visitor to playlists around the holiday season.
The digression is compensated by the presence of a track like Go Tell It on the Mountain, which feels personal and a timely reminder of what the season is about — hope.
Not diabetic-inducing sweet, The Gift of Love is deserving of praise, held up by a voice that’s sincere and full of ecstasy.
Jennifer Hudson, Amy Grant & Vince Gill
Artiste: Amy Grant & Vince Gill
Album: When I Think of Christmas
Rating: ***
After a year of madness, there needs to be moments when you can pull up a blanket and stare into nothingness with music playing in the background. This is that album. A pleasant listen from start to finish, the husband-wife pair manage not to mangle up tracks like It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, O Come All Ye Faithful and Winter Wonderland.
Grant has a timeless voice while Gill is about refined simplicity. Together, they make the 11 tacks a joy to listen to.
But what doesn’t help is the heavy-handed production of the album to the point it feels like the umpteenth Christmas movie you are watching this season. One track melds into another with annoying sameness. Also, it’s all too reverential to make it a fun play.
Artiste: Jimmy Fallon and friends
Album: Holiday Seasoning
Rating: **
Mostly… no, scratch that off… a complete celebrity trap, this could be Jimmy Fallon’s final Christmas album. If you don’t remember the last song you heard playing in the background at a cafe, chances are you won’t remember any of the tracks on the album.
Sprinkled with songs and skits, there are plenty of guest appearances — Dolly Parton, Justin Timberlake, Megan Thee Stallion, Ariana Grande, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Will Ferrell, Meghan Trainor, Cara Delevingne and his TV house band, The Roots.
Sure, Holiday with Jonas Brothers gave Fallon some degree of happiness with its sun-dappled beats and cheesy lyrics — It’s a holiday, time to celebrate/ We’ll stay out all night, hang those Christmas lights — but it makes for a good feature on one of the episodes of his talk show.
It Was a… (Masked Christmas) with Ariana Grande and Megan Thee Stallion is a celebration of Auto-Tune and One Glove with Will Ferrell wouldn’t have found a place on any album had all the names not been celebrities.
Fetching the album some respect is Almost Too Early for Christmas with Dolly Parton, all thanks to her playful voice. But even Rudy will dare not listen to the album on Christmas Eve or ever.