From Ne-Yo to Bryan Adams, five Christmas albums to get you into the festive spirit this year
- Ne-Yo’s bright charisma shines through on “Another Kind of Christmas”, while Adams might have penned another classic on his “Christmas” EP
- Even rocker Rob Halford from metal band Judas Priest shows his sentimental side on “Celestial”
Holiday albums do not have to be cheesy and they’ve come a long way since your grandparents bought a copy of Bing Crosby’s White Christmas in 1942. Here’s a collection of new holiday albums that will brighten up your Christmas break next month.
1. Ne-Yo – Another Kind of Christmas
(Motown/Compound Entertainment)
When it comes to holiday albums, Ne-Yo’s got two great things going for him: a beautiful voice, plus a merry and bright charisma that makes him a shoo-in for anybody’s holiday TV special. For that reason, the singer’s latest release, “Another Kind of Christmas”, comes as no surprise, though it is a bit of a shocker that this is Ne-Yo’s first Christmas album.
The set includes a handful of yuletide classics, which Ne-Yo manages to modernise, without messing up. He combines beautiful harmonies with a bit of beat-boxing on The Christmas Song; plays his own backup on a slightly slowed down and swagged up version of Donny Hathaway’s This Christmas; and he is moving on his cover of Marvin Gaye’s I Want to Come Home for Christmas – a song delivered from the perspective of a prisoner of war.