A Cherry Cherry Christmas, Neil Diamond (Columbia)

I've stayed away from Neil Diamond's Christmas output because I deemed it closer to middle-of-the-road pop than rock. It was a reasonable decision; from about Jonathan Livingston Seagull onward, he's been far more crooner than rocker, though his live shows continued to feature his earlier rock 'n roll hits. Recently, he's gotten the Rick Rubin late-career tuneup that did so much for Johnny Cash, and his last two albums have gotten good reviews in the rock press. For 2009, he let a little of that rock overhaul catch up to his Christmas output -- not a lot, though, as the majority of the songs on this third Christmas album are previously released, either on The Christmas Album or The Christmas Album Vol. 2. Those repeats are all Christmas standards, but Neil did find time to add five new tunes, including three originals. The new collection's title song, unfortunately, is a ballad in which Neil throws in some references to his early hits, not a retinseling of "Cherry Cherry" as a Christmas song as I had originally thought. It's not bad, but it's strictly croonerville. "Christmas Dream" is another holiday ballad with contemplative lyrics, and "Meditation on a Winter Night" is a brief instrumental. "Amazing Grace" joins the lineup, and while it's growing in popularity as a Christmas song I still don't see the connection. The final new song is Neil's cover of Adam Sandler's "The Chanukkah Song," in which Neil takes the song perhaps a little more seriously than it deserves -- but that's what makes this a classic Neil Diamond performance. As for the repeats, there are a few rocking moments among them, but not enough to make this a Mistletunes pick.