Week 5: Holidays Rule!

I'm home and on break, so I'll keep this short and sweet.  Instead of calling your attention to a new band this week, I thought I'd give a quick review of the new holiday compilation you might have seen around called "Holidays Rule!"

Holidays Rule is full of the cheerful standards that you'd expect, but they're performed by artists that you might not have expected. Instead of Bublé, you get Andrew Bird and friends, with a few mainstream showstoppers there for extra star-power. The artists representation is diverse but leans heavily towards those in the indie/folk circle (weird, just like this blog). This certainly isn't the first time the indie-Christmas thing has been tried, but it's the first widely distributed and marketed collection of indie-minded yuletide songs that I've seen.  Does it work?  Either yes, or no.  Some numbers, like "fun."'s cover of sleigh ride and Andrew Bird's "Auld Lang Syne" absolutely crush and are probably destined (or maybe doomed) for heavy rotation on "Delilah"during the Christmas season from now until eternity.  Others, most notably Paul McCartney's spectacularly geriatric cover of "The Christmas Song," don't really deserve a second listen.  

It's hard to not recommend buying the compilation, since it does have so many good moments, but I would be equally uneasy about advising someone to buy it.  My suggested approach is to download only the standout tracks, which include the aforementioned "sleigh ride" and "Auld Lang Sybe," as well as the Punch Brothers' perfectly executed "O come, o come, Emmanuel," the Shins rendition of "Wonderful Christmastime," and The Head and the Heart's "What are you doing New Year's Eve?".  If you're a fan of those, and if you've had lots of Eggnog and are feeling saucy, go ahead and buy the rest.

Merry Christmas!