Old 97’s, Love The Holidays

[ATO, November 16]

Original holiday songs are difficult to do well, because it’s too easy to reach for overly saccharine sentiments or instrumentation. Love The Holidays, the first seasonal album by Old 97's, unsurprisingly avoids this trap. The diverse (but cohesive) full-length contains the expected twang-rock rave-ups (the horn-peppered title track) and torchy ballads (“I Believe In Santa Claus”), in addition to subtle moments of orchestral-rock grandeur (“Here It Is Christmastime”) and even gentle, psychedelic-country-pop (“Snow Angels”). Best of all, Love The Holidays’ lyrics celebrate the magic of the holiday with no traces of cynicism. “Gotta Love Being A Kid (Merry Christmas)“ captures the childlike wonder of the season, while highlight “Rudolph Was Blue” is a clever love song about the titular reindeer finding his match. Don’t sleep on the album’s bonus tracks, either, which are Old 97's spins on holiday classics, such as the jaunty jig “Up On The Housetop.” [Annie Zaleski]

The Beths, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”

[Carpark, November 30]

New Zealand band (and honoree of our 2018 best albums list) The Beths just unveiled their take on the gentle yuletide ballad “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.” Refashioning it into a lilting 3/4 waltz rhythm, the group delivers a mellow, almost stately version of the song, adding strings to their sound to expand the sonic palette, and even adding a guitar solo to the tune. It’s a pleasingly old-school offering that resists the all-too-common urge to simply cram an old classic into an updated pop-punk mold, instead letting the graceful tenor of the song dictate the style, thereby keeping the sense of gentle melancholy that always accompanies the best iterations of the Judy Garland stunner. [Alex McLevy]

 
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