Holiday Horrors
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If you’ve any room left in your heart at all for Christmas albums, as usual there are a few worth looking into: I’ve always liked fingerpicker John Fahey’s austere holiday collections, and this year guitarist Dan Crary has made a flatpicking album that belongs in the same class. On Holiday Guitar (Sugar Hill) he’s joined in his warm, faithful arrangements by fellow flatpicker Beppe Gambetta and bluesmen John Cephas and Phil Wiggins. And while at first listen Dwight Yoakam’s Come on Christmas (Reprise) may seem as glib as any other holiday record, repeated spins yield the same eclectic pleasures as last year’s Gone. A pair of downright depressing originals bookend eight bouncy, stylistically varied standards, including a Tex-Mex romp through “Silver Bells,” a Memphis soul reading of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” and a Vegas lounge version of “The Christmas Song.”
And then there are some holiday concept albums that are just too stupid to be true. A chunk of anthracite to you if you can figure out which of the following really are polluting the shelves this year:
MANNHEIM STEAMROLLER A Fresh Aire Chanukah (American Gramaphone) After three Christmas records, Chip Davis, leader of this quasi-classical New Age behemoth, finally realizes that Christians aren’t the only ones with better stereo equipment than taste.
DENNIS RODMAN Wild Xmas Party (MTV/Captain Lou) To compensate for his waning basketball career Rodman’s taken up acting, pro wrestling, and whatever they call working for MTV; music was the next logical step. Apparently emboldened by his cameo on Crystal Waters’s latest, Rodman calls on chums Eddie Vedder, Billy Corgan, Liquid Soul, and Poi Dog Pondering to join him on a dozen holiday favorites.
