What's Rocking Around the Music Spectrum Christmas Tree?

American Band Rock: Barenaked Ladies’ Barenaked for the Holidays
Irreverent. Can I really set up the manger scene while the Barenaked Ladies play “O Holy Night” like the drum machine/organ combo from a baseball stadium? Can I really bring this album into my Bible class on Sunday morning, saying that one of the best versions of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” is by a band whose name immediately makes you think of. . .naked women?

For everything that will keep many Christians away from this album, there’s some great moments of insight into the true meaning of Christmas, pointing to Christ. This, of course, despite three Hanukkah tunes. But the jazzy “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings” with vocal help from Sarah McLachlan really brings forth those “tidings of comfort and joy” through the beautiful, homey harmonies, along with acoustic guitar and double bass that really insert that “star of wonder” into your soul.

Besides, they’re the only ones as far as I know to record “Happy Birthday to Jesus” on a Christmas album aimed at adults. That’s getting to the heart of the matter.

Of course, this wouldn’t be a Barenaked Christmas without plenty of humor and fun. The inspired “God Rest Ye” immediately goes into another baseball stadium organ song, this time “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” The scat singing on “Sleigh Ride” continues the fun and games. Finally, “Deck the Stills” really takes care of the fact that I grew tired of “Deck the Halls” and the fa-la-las a long time ago. Instead, the Barenaked Ladies use the song as a dedication to Crosby, Still, Nash, and Young, replacing the traditional words with just the name of the group.

Originals include: the bouncy “Green Christmas,” the swinging pop of “Elf’s Lament” (includes concerns about illegal doping and creating a union among the elves), and the jaunty “Footprints” about following someone’s tracks in the snow.

The Barenaked Ladies deserve all of my stocking stuffers for their version of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” When I remember the Bob Geldolf-Midge Ure penned tune, sung by the pre-We Are the World supergroup called Band Aid, when I hear this song in my head, there’s no way to hear it without remembering that Bono sings the line, “Well, tonight, thank God it's them, instead of you.” You know it is Bono, and here the Barenaked Ladies deliver a pitch perfect imitation of Bono. Even though you know the Barenaked Ladies are here, always one step away from turning this into a farce, still you can almost see Bono in his usual rock singer stance, belting out his line with more passion than anyone else. And in that, the Barenaked Ladies have captured one of my favorite memories of Christmas. (I know, Christmas is about Jesus, but Bono is always there when I remember Christmas as a youngin’, hoping WLOL 99.5 in Minneapolis would play that Band Aid song again).


Garage Rock: Relient K’s Deck the Halls, Bruise Your Hand
Like those commercials that show Mom in high-speed running around the mall getting all of her Christmas gifts with some kind of fast Christmas tune as soundtrack, Relient K’s frantic skate-grunge version of “Angels We Have Heard on High” would make the perfect audio accompaniment to a time-lapse film of the practices and performance of a children’s Christmas program. Everyone’s in a hurry to practice, have fun, hand out presents, decorate, perform, take pictures, eat cookies, and go home.

That same frenetic pace appears throughout Deck the Halls, Bruise Your Hand. Packaged together with 2003’s Two Lefts Don’t Make a Right…But Three Do and available at relientk.com, this holiday CD also has with plenty of tongue-in-cheek cheekiness to be a great follow up to Barenaked for the Holidays. “Deck the Halls” gets the added lines: “What’s a partridge/And what’s a pear tree/I don’t know so please don’t ask me/Have to admit those are terrible gifts to get.” It sounds more like your house is about to get TP’d when they sing, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” Speed metal accompanies St. Nick on “Santa Clause is Thumbing to Town.”

In keeping with Relient K’s ability to keep heart-on-sleeve in the midst of their skate punk Garage Rock, “I Celebrate the Day” is really a tender melody, turning Michael English’s “Mary, Did You Know?” on its head as here Relient K really ask, “Jesus, Did You Know?” what it meant to be the Savior on the day He was born.

Schmaltzy: James Last’s Holiday Classics
OK, so Schmaltzy isn’t a category in the Spectrum, but last year Eagle Records released this collection of holiday tunes “composed in the distinctive James Last style.” Think Lawrence Welk orchestration with 60’s snyth-symphony pop overlaid with the instrumentalism of Manheim Steamroller. There’s sweeping strings, a choir/synth of “oohs and aahs,” and enough saccharin sweetness to get you pulling out the aluminum Christmas trees.

That said, I’ve been listening to James Last this year, because there’s just times during the Christmas season when you need some Schmaltz in your life, something to remind you of how commercial Christmas has gotten, something to keep yourself from getting to serious about how to hang your twinkle lights.

Favorites of Christmas Past
Setting aside this year’s selection of more irreverent Christmas albums, the CDs which I eagerly get out from storage each December are Bruce Cockburn and the Blind Boys of Alabama.

Bruce Cockburn’s Christmas remains true to the center of Christmas throughout: a celebration of the birth of Jesus. Acoustic-folk interpretations of traditional tunes, World Music offerings, and an approach that makes it a very worshipful album.

The Blind Boys of Alabama presented Go Tell It on the Mountain last year—a Gospel-filled, soulful injection into the dryness of caroling. The album is made that much more energized due to the incredible guest artists. Among the collaborations that stand out are Chrissie Hynde’s voice and Richard Thompson’s screaming guitar on an impassioned “In the Bleak Midwinter”; and nothing can beat being sent out to preach the Gospel by the gravely voice of Tom Waits on the title track. Should your Christmases have gotten away from celebrating the birth of Jesus, pick up these two Favorites of Christmas Past.