Posted on: November 16, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Daryl Hall & John Oates – Home For Christmas / 2007 U-Watch / 11 Tracks / http://www.hallandoates.com /

Hall and Oates have been together for longer than I have been alive. As I get older, the number of acts that can say that decreases, but Hall and Oates have been cranking out their music for about forty years now. However, “Home For Christmas” is a little bit different from their traditional fare. First off, some of the proceeds that are received from this disc (which originally came out in 2006) go to the organization Toys for Tots. Secondly, the tracks present on this disc are covers of Christmas classics by Hall and Oates. That means that “The First Noel”, “Jingle Bell Rock”, “O Holy Night” and “The Christmas Song” all make it onto the disc.

However, there are a few Christmas songs that rear their heads on the album that I am not familiar with. I’m not sure if that is because I’m just not a big holiday person or if they are new to everyone, but songs like “Home For Christmas” and “No Child Should Ever Cry on Christmas” provide individuals a pure reason to listen to the disc. The choice of songs has to be the strongest that I have heard on any Christmas album. It just seems all too common for individuals that are trying to make it big with a Christmas album to load their disc up with the standards that are repeated practically every hour instead of coming up with differently-themed Christmas songs or even pulling out some traditional stuff that is not heard as often as other songs.

While the desire to listen to this CD will drop dramatically in the months after the Christmas season closes up, there are a few tracks on here that escape categorization as purely “Christmas” songs. This allows individuals that may be hungering for something new from Hall and Oates to pop in the disc and not necessarily be repulsed by the Christmas theme of the album. There is nothing that will start to become dated as the years move on; individuals at U-Watch could conceivably re-release this album for the next decade and still sell about ten thousand copies a year. Give the disc a go if you are tired of the traditional Christmas fare and want to have something at least something fresh. Hall and Oates may not be as famous as they once were, but their ability to go forth and really craft timeless music has not decreased in the last forty years.

Top Tracks: The First Noel, Home For Christmas

Rating: 6.2/10

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