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Various Artists
Season's Greetings
(Hip-O, 2001)
There's something for everyone on this collection of a half century of Christmas records from the Motown, MCA, and Universal archives. Which also means that there's a lot of not much, too. Seasons Greetings is a hodge-podge of evergreens and ephemera, where Vince Gill uncomfortably rubs stockings with the Waitresses. Classics like Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" and Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" are always worth revisiting, and Jimmy Durante, Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington deliver their numbers with requisite pizzazz - Washington fairly vibrates with anticipation on "Silent Night." There's a great Motown-only compilation hidden in this triple CD set, too, with the Jackson 5 celebrating "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" like Michael considered Kris Kringle a close imaginary friend. Marvin Gaye gets ambiguously gritty on his "Christmas in the City" instrumental, as well. But the contemporary dudes have it a bit rougher. By the end, R&B stars like Dru Hill and Boyz II Men's OTT vocals start to haphazardly soar like reindeers in need of air traffic control. Listening to it in one shot is rather like watching Frosty the Snowman melt.
C. Bottomley
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