CD review: The Beach Boys “The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album”
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Holiday
The Beach Boys “The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album” (Capitol)
The notion of merging The Beach Boys’ surf rock sound with seasonal carols undoubtedly seemed incongruous back in 1964. But nearly five decades later, Gen Xers like me have grown up with the rollicking “Little Saint Nick,” the bopping “The Man with All the Toys” and the toe-tapping tale of youth disillusionment “Santa’s Beard” and couldn’t imagine the holidays without “The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album.”
Capitol Records has once again reissued the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers’ perennially popular Christmas effort. This year’s edition has been digitally remastered, making the sun-kissed merriment sound better than ever, but it also has been restored to its original 12-song tracklist. Other reissues have included various bonus tracks, and without the extra songs, the CD runs less than half and hour.
The album opens with five original songs, including a spirited tribute to “Christmas Day,” which features Al Jardine’s first recorded solo as a Beach Boy, and the drab seasonal breakup ballad “Merry Christmas, Baby.”
Brian Wilson did the vocal arrangements for the album’s seven holiday standards, which beautifully showcase the group’s tight vocal harmonies. Backed by a 40-piece orchestra, the quintet offers a fittingly bouncy rendition of “Frosty the Snowman,” an appropriately reverent reading of “We Three Kings of Orient Are” and a playfully jazzy cover of “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town.” The band’s California sun-and-fun vibe gives “White Christmas” an extra layer of longing.
Between the original 1964 album artwork and the late Dennis Wilson’s earnest holiday greeting during “Auld Lang Syne,” the reissue has a high nostalgia factor, but “The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album” really deserves to be a part of any rock fan’s holiday collection.
— BAM
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