But the tunes of "Maybe This Christmas Too" are taking a little longer to grow on me. I thought I would like it better than the first, as it has a nice assortment of cool artists - Rufus Wainwright, The Flaming Lips, Badly Drawn Boy. I would say the songs don't always fit together as well as they might.

The drawback is the relatively high ratio of bad tracks:
3. O Holy Night - Avril Lavigne & Chantal Kreviazuk
This is a BAD song. I even like tone deaf Avril, at least in her heavily produced album "Let Go." Here, she sounds like your 11 year old niece at her school Christmas recital. She is usually off key, and against a strong singer like Chantal, sounds dismal. She should have chosen a more rockin' track to suit her voice. The song is painful. Very painful. Plan on using your Skip button on the CD player. If only I could engineer out Avril to listen to Chantal.

4. Silent Night - Damien Rice & Lisa Hannigan
You are getting sleepy...very sleepy. Singing is too weak to sustain an a cappella version.

5. Xmas Cake - Rilo Kiley
Wow. This is a really dreary song. Not necessarily offensive, just a little sad and depressing for a Christmas track. And what the heck is Christmas cake?

The standout tracks?
6. Donde Esta Santa Claus? - Guster
This has a very happy retro feel, with funny lyrics like in the Ben Folds track on MTC, but with much better harmony and instruments. I love the song.

10. Green Christmas - Barenaked Ladies
I had heard this one before, but it's a nice, catchy tune. With last year's killer BNL/McLachlan song (perhaps the best modern Christmas song), it makes me think BNL should sing only Christmas tunage.

11. It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Martina Sorbara
I don't LOVE it, but it is oddly endearing.

13. White Christmas - The Flaming Lips
There is something entertaining to me about the Lips doing Christmas. The song is very much what you might expect, with the lead vocals sounding a lot like the Martian in Looney Tunes cartoons.

14. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear - Sixpence None The Richer
I hate the band, but the song isn't bad. Very much of the aesthetic of MTC1.

Final verdict:
I would recommend the album to others. It has more lows that MTC1, but also more standout tracks.


Definitely This Christmas!   November 23, 2003
 13 out of 20 found this review helpful

I don't understand some of the lukewarm reviews here. This is a very good Christmas album and definitely on par with last year's original "Maybe This Christmas" compilation.

Nettwork Records has been putting out some great Christmas music in recent years, they had a compilation about three years ago as well called "Christmas Songs" that I will review later.

I have been listening to this album for several weeks now and the following are the tracks that have grown on me:

"Donna And Blitzen" by Badly Drawn Boy is the best new Christmas song I have heard so far this year. It's an amazing track that grows on you with each listen. Give it some time, I was underwhelmed with it at first but you will be rewarded with repeated listening. Now I can't get it out of my head whenever I play it!

In fact, the entire album is like that. No song grabs you right away. You need to be patient with this material. This collection has a lot of subtleties that are well worth exploring

Starting from the top, Rufus Wainwright has an original song "Spotlight On Christmas" which is quite good. I'm going to have to check some other stuff out from this artist. Eisley's "The Winter Song" is interesting - I like it! The version of "O Holy Night" by Avril Lavigne & Chantal Kreviazuk is not bad either. Don't understand the negative comments here about the singing. Though the voice of the first singer does remind me of Meadow Soprano from the HBO series for some odd reason!

Next is a very intriguing song called "Xmas Cake" by Rilo Kiley. I have no idea who she is (or most of the artists on this album for that matter) but I'll have to check out some of her other work. Very well done track and probably the second best of this collection.

Now I just don't get the next song ("Silent Night"). This is such a depressing rendition of "Silent Night" that I wonder if the singer's mental condition is okay. I'm concerned for her! Fortunately, the song is very brief and the singer is still among the living (I checked).

The tempo picks up with Guster's version of "Donde Esta Santa Claus" which is a cover of an old Charo tune for those who are old enough to remember her (sort of a Spanish version of Cher from the early 1970s). The Be Good Tanyas (who the heck are they?) check in with another original holiday tune called Rudy which is sort of okay. Maybe I need to hear it more times.

Then comes the Dave Matthews Band yet again with the "The Christmas Song." How many compilations do they have to stick this song on? That happens to be my pet peeve as a collector. I have this same track on at least three other compilations. C'mon Dave Matthews, come up with some new Christmas material next year!

The rest of the album is just okay with the exception of that incredible "Donna And Blitzen" track I mentioned at the top. The Barenaked Ladies give us "Green Christmas" which is the same song they also had on the Grinch movie soundtrack a few years back. I think it's a different, slower version of this song though, so I'll cut them some slack.

Sixpence None The Richer also does a very decent job with "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear," which closes out this excellent album.


Great Album! - nice change for Christmas music!   December 17, 2003
 10 out of 14 found this review helpful

My wife and I love this album! - I recently purchased it, and can't stop listening to it!

I ESPECIALLY loved Avril Lavigne's "O Holy Night" - While I am not a Christian, I was VERY moved by the passion I felt from her and Chantal Kreviazuk. It reminded me of how I felt about Christmas many years ago.

If you want a little diversity in your Christmas album collection, purchase this album!!


WOW   December 23, 2003
 6 out of 51 found this review helpful

Ok....Let us start with the MOST DREADFUL TRACK!
3. O Holy Night - Avril Lavigne & Chantal Kreviazuk::::
This would be an exceptional track is you lose TONE DEAF teeny bopper Avril Lavigne! With singers like her in the music biz makes you wonder who the HELL is giving out record deals. I would rather lavish my ears with Britney than listen to this TONE DEAF song (When Avril Lavigne opens her pie hole!)

Chantal Kreviazuk sounds great and when you pair up a TONE DEAF Avril Lavigne (who opens the track) with a good singer like Chantal Kreviazuk your in trouble. I was cringing during whole first part of this song until TONE DEAF Avril STOPPED stabbing me in my ear.

Anyway... the rest of the cd is boring.
Dave Matthews Band: 9 out of 10 *
Barenaked Ladies: 9 out of 10 *
Sixpence None The Richer: 9 out of 10 *

The rest is an average: 3 out or 10 *

Oh yeah and 3. O Holy Night - Avril Lavigne & Chantal Kreviazuk

1 out of 10 * thanks to TONE DEAF Avril Lavigne!

DO YOURSELF A FAVOR BUY THE Maybe This Christmas and SKIP THE TOO!!!!

AND BTW DID I MENTION THAT Avril Lavigne IS SOOOOO TONE DEAF!!!