Barenaked for the Holidays, Barenaked Ladies (Desperation/Reprise)

I have to say up front as a Ladies fan I had high hopes for this 2004 CD, and overall I'd say they were met. A lugubrious take on the opening track "Jingle Bells" quickly morphs into something more upbeat and fun -- including the rarely-used "Batman smells" verse. BNL's previous holiday offerings, "Green Christmas" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings" featuring Sarah McLachlan, are included here, both newly recorded for this album. The 20 tracks mix classic carols with recent pop covers like "Wonderful Christmastime" and "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and the band throws in a helping of originals like "Hanukkah Blessings," which heralds a triple Hanukkah alert as the Ladies also perform "Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah" and "I Have a Little Dreidel." They also wrote "Elf's Lament," a witty look at the holiday from behind Santa's work tables; "Snowman," a ballad by the title character; "Footprints," a faux-country weeper about following your love around in the snow; "Christmastime, Oh Yeah," your basic Norman Rockwell holiday tableaux in song; and "Christmas Pics," a mild jazzer about posing for whoever had a new digital camera under the tree. "O Holy Night" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" are instrumentals that sound like they were recorded in the organ showroom at a mall, and the Ladies do a scat version of "Sleigh Ride." And of course, they sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus, just before the near-obligatory production number of "Auld Lang Syne." Good clean fun, and you'll enjoy playing it all the way through.