Comfort and Joy, Rockapella (Amerigo)

As much as we promote Christmas music and encourage artists to do their own rockin' takes on the season, there's always a touch of suspicion when people you haven't heard from for years upon years (shout out to Chicago, Lynyrd Skynyrd, 38 Special, Carly Simon, America, et al) suddenly rush out Christmas albums. A similar impulse grabbed me when I heard about this album, Rockapella's second Xmas CD in just two years. Not to be picky, but Elvis waited 14 years before cutting a second holiday album. Like the first one, it's mainly Christmas favorites augmented with a few astute originals, this outing's "Love and the Lights," "Little Mary Snowflake," "Peace On Earth" and "Snowstar." They take on the Carpenters' "Merry Christmas Darling," "Please Come Home For Christmas," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and the non-holiday "It's a Small World." And again like the first one, they go from fairly ballsy and imaginative a capella sounds to easy listening and jazz, sometimes in the course of a single song. I'd have to say only serious fans should have both, and I think the first one was better.