I Love Christmas, Tommy James (Aura)

The title song was a single in 2004, and for 2008 the former leader of the Shondells is back with a full CD for those who remember the guy who gave us "Crystal Blue Persuasion" and "Hanky Panky." Two additional originals besides the title tune are included here, "Born On the First Christmas Day" and "It's Christmas Again," and they're in much the same vein. The latter, more of a ballad, features a Shondells reunion. Other than "Jingle Bell Rock," the rest, alas, doesn't rock much at all. The arrangements are pretty much stock for the various songs, which you've heard done this way a thousand times. A dramatic reading of Matthew 1:18 over a musical bed doesn't do much for the proceedings, either.