Dan+Shay - Officially Christmas
Slick country-pop. Not bad but not great either.
Neon Trees - Holiday Rock
Pretty good through the first few listens.
Spoon - Christmas Time is Here Again
I always thought it was a shame The Beatles never managed to write a proper Christmas pop classic. This might be the closest, though it’s not that close. Spoon do as good a job as you can with the material. Decent enough, we’ll see how it ages.
Benjamin Francis Leftwich - Tinsel in the River
Another single making a decent first impression.
Tenille Towns - Songs for Christmas
Really nice 4-track EP. Definitely adding this to the main mix.
Nikoline Steen Kristensen - Rigtig Jul
Pleasant slice of Nordic pop.
The Weeping Willows - Songs of Winter
The festive follow-up to 2014’s Christmas Time Has Come, offers more of the Scandinavian Americana the band is known for. Features their hit single of last Christmas - Merry Christmas, My Love.
Tebey - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Solid country cover.
Cerys Matthews & Iwan Rheon - A Christmas Wish
Another pretty decent pop single, this one uplifted by the marvelous Cerys Matthews (who also released a terrific Christmas album a few years ago).
Collabro & Cliff Richard - Mistletoe and Wine
I have mixed emotions with this one. I love Cliff, like the original song, but this adds nothing of note and Cliff is, not surprisingly, sounding his age. So, good on him for trooping on but I’ll stick with the classic rendition, I think.
