This is the third installment in Nettwerk's "trendy rock stars sing pretty Christmas songs" series. Past volumes have included artists like Coldplay, Rufus Wainwright and Avril Lavigne. This time around indie rock heavyweights like The Polyphonic Spree, Pedro the Lion and Death Cab for Cutie have hopped on the bandwagon. Sounds good on paper right, but how does the end product hold up?
Well the only true barometer of a Christmas album's quality is its ability to shower a listener in holiday cheer. For example, Evie Tornquist's 1985 Come on, Ring Those Bells album is an undeniable Christmas classic, consistently paralyzing its audiences with alarmingly unmanageable joy and good will every holiday season. On the other end of the spectrum, Satan's hugely unsuccessful 1978 Christmas Sucks and I Hate Everything album tends to have just the opposite effect on its audiences.
Maybe This Christmas Tree falls somewhere in between the two. It's not an instant holiday classic, but it won't make you want to punch any reindeer in the face either. Standout tracks include The Polyphonic Spree's incredibly jubilant cover of John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War is Over)," the Raveonettes' chamber poppy "The Christmas Song," Pedro the Lion's surprisingly gorgeous and piano-heavy "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" and Tom McRae's delicate, hushed "Wonderful Christmastime." The rest of the songs range from "just alright" (i.e. Death Cab for Cutie, Ivy, Jars of Clay) to "kinda dumb" (i.e. Belasana, Lisa Loeb, Copeland).
After giving this album a number of contemplative spins however, I did actually find myself looking forward to the 25th a little bit more. Maybe This Christmas Tree could have ended up a soulless, money-grubbing novelty record, but thankfully the majority of its songs turned out tasteful, memorable and best of all, sincere. A few shortfalls aside, this is actually a very decent Christmas album.
3/4
Also in Decapolis December 2004
2004NOFXThe Greatest Songs Ever Written (By Us)
2004The ChariotEverything Is Alive, Everything Is Breathing; Nothing Is Dead and Nothing Is Bleeding
2004Denison MarrsDenison Marrs
2004Social DistortionSex, Love, and Rock 'n' Roll
2004This ProvidenceOur World's Divorce
2004The FightNothing New Since Rock 'N' Roll