The Barenaked Ladies Still Have The Most Original Holiday Album To Date

Christmas music isn’t exactly known for being the most innovative. Every year we get a variation on the same old songs, sung in the same impressive register by a myriad of R&B and pop artists from Mariah Carey to Justin Bieber.
That’s OK most of the time because it’s just a little over a month out of the year that you have to put up with it and for the most part they aren’t bad songs (unless the family plays endless Chipmunk music). But, there’s one album that offers something truly different that isn’t some anarchical punk or metal take on the genre that no one will enjoy: Barenaked For The Holiday by the Barenaked Ladies.
The group can be pretty divisive among certain circles, but this album is some of the group’s best work and has something for everyone: beautifully harmonized renditions of classic Christmas songs, Hanukkah tunes, original recordings written by the band, featured holiday mainstay artists such as Michael Bublé and a mild tone that pokes fun at the absurdity of the holiday.
Perform a quick Google search for indie or alternative Christmas songs and you’ll get suggestions for Tom Waits, The Ramones, The Killers, and The Pretenders among a whole spattering of rock bands over the century that have covered or written holiday songs. But you probably don’t hear those playing at family gatherings. Instead it’s the artists reaching back to the ‘40s and ‘50s jazz era featured on Billboard’s Holiday 100 that get the most play time, because no one has really done it better. Yet, Barenaked For The Holiday can easily serve as a go-to choice amongst the classics and blend right in.
The album takes risks and melds those rockist sensibilities with popist songwriting, much like some of the best albums of 2015. Nowhere is that displayed more clearly than on the Bublé featured tune “Elf’s Lament.”
It’s one of the originals on the album singing about the labor rights of elves who are fed up with the monarchical system Santa has imposed on them and attempt to form a union. It’s hilarious lyrically, but also catches all the holiday charm of a hit holiday tune.
So, whether you’re a grinch or a holiday fanatic, give this album a try at the next family gathering and spend your time fighting about politics, not music.

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The Barenaked Ladies Still Have The Most Original Holiday Album To Date: Image courtesy of Amazon.com