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It’s something of a personal tradition of mine to sit and listen to this one on repeat and try to grasp all the various acts of vocal acrobatics used by this trained professional and national treasure. Who wants some boring old sad song to listen to at Christmas when our girl Christina can gussy it up real pretty by howling all over place.Needless to say the situation is a little bleak. But did you know that some artists once found it necessary to record more than just one Christmas song for the purpose of a Starbucks compilation? It’s true! And occasionally they would bundle these multiple songs into their own full-blown releases? It’s a practice that continues to be carried out even in this new millennium of ours, occasionally with mixed results…

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Actually, listening to the album all the way through is kind of difficult and a little jarring. But in a way, each year’s message was in its own way a little piece of art. And it’s not as if the whole thing doesn’t have music. Some people actually consider 1967’s “Christmas Time (Is Here Again)” a proper Beatles song. And if you were going to listen to it, why not bother doing it in its proper context? And where else would you hear “Rudolph the Red Nosed Ringo” and John’s “Merry Crimble” song and other favorites that the four drunkenly made up on the spot.The odd thing is that the messages get a little more dull with each year as they basically devolve into loose, half-baked skits and plugs for other projects, but in the midst of watching the Yule log and passing presents around I’m sure no one would notice.Is it worth owning? Hardly. Unless you’re part of the obsessive fans that cause the seeming correlation between Beatles super fandom and mental illness (this exists, Sean Penn’s I Am Sam is a shockingly accurate depiction)I guess if you really want to ring in the holiday properly, just watch the first two Home Alone movies, listen to Bing Crosby and get drunk off bad wine. And leave your Beatles holidays listening to absurdly overpriced reissues and box sets.