A reasonably merry Christmas album

You've got to give She & Him credit for effort. In their eight years of collaboration, Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward have released two Christmas albums, which makes that particular genre a full one-third of their output to date. As with their previous yuletide outing, however, the duo is, at best, adequate on Christmas Party. The arrangements are overly spare, which is odd given that one of the things that made their Volumes 1 & 2 so enchanting were lush soundscapes. Particularly objectionable are Deschanel's vocals on "A Marshmallow World:" she rushes through the lyrics as though trying for a new land speed record, and stomps on the line "What if spring is late?" until it's nothing but a lifeless corpse.

Far more satisfying is Jane Lynch's A Swingin' Little Christmas! featuring (deep breath now) Kate Flannery and Tim Davis with the Tony Guerrero Quintet (to which I was directed by Bullseye's annual holiday special). It's really more of a band than a solo effort, and the better for it. They've got a sense of humor, verve, and class (maybe in that order, maybe not). It may not be the Christmas album for the ages, but it's the best I've heard this year.

Speaking of Christmas albums for the ages, at the top of the heap remains A Charlie Brown Christmas from the Vince Guaraldi Trio. Nonetheless, I wish we could all admit that its children's choir rendition of "Christmastime Is Here" is as creepy as creepy gets.