Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 12/12/05
Label: Arista

Here's an idea for anyone thinking about releasing a Christmas album. Rather then record the songs several months away from the festive period, when it's possible to feel warm-hearted about the whole affair (tellingly, Brian thanks his band for bringing "the Christmas spirit to the studio in springtime"), a band should only be allowed to start their album once they've struggled through the crowds to do their Christmas shopping, endured countless buskers decimating "We Wish You A Merry Christmas", humiliated themselves with drink at their works do, and generally had the horror of Yuletide shoved down their throats for an entire month.

You suspect that most Christmas albums would never get made under such circumstances - and considering that the canon of worthwhile modern festive songs currently stands at a mere two (kudos to Low and Kirsty MacColl and The Pogues), that's no huge loss to humanity. But there'll always be exceptions to the rule, and Brian Wilson is the exception to end them all. Even though this album is generally a cloying and rather unpleasant experience for anyone knee-deep in the reality of Christmas, it's hard to hold it against the man. For this record isn't just about cash tills ringing round an open fire, it's about a personal quest for happiness.

Wilson's best work has always been based around heartbreak and happiness delayed / denied ("Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "I'm Waiting For The Day" being prime examples). The Christmas song, in contrast, is about the exact opposite - tiny tots with eyes all aglow, the warmth, comfort and protection of family (with no arguments over the last chocolate liqueur and who gets to cower behind the sofa for "Doctor Who"), gifts exchanged with love. No wonder, then, that a man of fragile mental state should be attracted to the fantasy of the perfect Christmas. It's like a hiding place from a reality that proved too much.

The songs contained herein do little to challenge or reinvent Christmas therefore. "The Man With All The Toys" is a cheery, surf-rocking ditty about Santa. "What I Really Want For Christmas" has Brian praying for peace, while "children's laughter brings joy beyond our dreams". "Christmasey" continues the theme, although with some prime Wilson tricks thrown in for good measure - timpani, wooden blocks, etc. The pub-rockin' standard "Little Saint Nick" remains as boozy and amiable as ever, while "On Christmas Day" marries the start of "Be My Baby" to yet another song full with happy children, presents, snow, and so on and so forth.

The rest of the album is taken up with "classic" songs such as "Deck The Halls" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", which are executed with the breezy efficiency that the Wondermints have made their trademark. Brian is in pretty fine voice, and you'd have to be a grouch of the first order to deny the man his pleasures. But this still sounds like a Christmas played in springtime. Not infused with soot and stress and that bittersweet mixture of pleasure and disappointment, but soft and warm and safe and sound.

    by Ian Watson