I will start this off with the fact that I hate Christmas music, it drives me insane. I hate that WNIC starts playing the stuff early in November and every office and store pumps this crap out.

I can't believe I am writing about this but Aimee Mann has just released a Christmas record and it features some interesting song choices. "You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch" with actual Grinch speaking parts and the classics like "Winter Wonderland", "White Christmas" and "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas". I did a brief 15-20 second listen on a few of the songs, I couldn't stomach listening in their entirety so its up to you to decide. All I wanted to do was gather the mood of the songs, the style of play and Aimee's voice. All were great, Aimee stands out with her trademark vocals and the songs are played in an acoustic/folksy manner. I may pull this cd out to listen possibly once before the holiday but that's it. I am a big fan of Aimee and she lowers the cringe factor a few notches. Sarah McLachlan has also released a Christmas record but that is out of the question. She falls into the same category as Clay Aiken and the rest of the chumps who release garbage under the guise of holiday cheer.

http://www.aimeemann.com/