IF YOU want to listen to music that brings out the inspiring and invigorating spirit of the holidays, the following are on top of our list this season:
?Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album? will no doubt boost sagging spirits with its zesty and charm-filled tracks, led by Chris Colfer and hunky Darren Criss? ?unconventional? (and subtly flirtatious) rendering of Frank Loesser?s ?Baby, It?s Cold Outside,? Lea Michele and the cast?s infectious ?We Need A Little Christmas,? and Amber Riley?s show-stopping ?Angels We Have Heard on High.? Other note-worthy tracks: ?The Most Wonderful Day of the Year,? ?Jingle Bells? and ?Merry Christmas, Darling.?
Your new Christmas collection wouldn?t be complete without Katharine McPhee?s ?Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You,? which includes a sizzling version of ?Jingle Bells,? reimagined remakes of Loesser?s unconventionally upbeat ?What Are You Doing New Year?s Eve?? and Evans and Livingston?s ?Silver Bells,? and the memorable ballad, ?It?s Not Christmas Without You,? which the ?American Idol, Season Five? runner-up cowrote with Michelle Lewis and Doug Petty.
McPhee?s malleable, satin-like voice soars even more in her cover of Whitney Houston?s ?Who Would Imagine A King?,? and in the ingenuous mashup of ?A Little Town of Bethlehem? and ?Away In A Manger.?
Mariah Carey?s ?Merry Christmas II You,? the pop diva?s second Christmas album after 1994?s ?Merry Christmas,? also features radio-friendly tunes that will have her fans grooving (?Oh Santa!,? ?Here Comes Santa Claus?), humming (?All I Want For Christmas Is You,? ?When Christmas Comes,? ?The First Noel/ Born Is The King?), and reminiscing (the self-penned ?Christmas Time Is In The Air Again? and ?One Child?).
Good tidings
With a voice that?s suitable for songs that evoke romance, nostalgia, melancholy and Yuletide cheer, Christian Bautista also helps spread good musical tidings with ?A Wonderful Christmas,? the crooner?s first holiday collection.
Top tracks: An a cappella version of George Michael?s ?Last Christmas,? the jazzy ?The Christmas Alphabet,? the stirringly rendered ?Nakaraang Pasko,? Carey?s ?All I Want For Christmas,? and ?Christmas Time,? his duet with Liza Chan-Parpan.
