Rod Stewart Delivers a Long-Overdue Yuletide Album with Merry Christmas, Baby

I have never counted Scottish pop star Rod Stewart among my favorite entertainers, but his raspy voice has a certain appeal by mere virtue of its unusual sound. I’ve also enjoyed several of his hits over the years, particularly the tender benediction Forever Young, which ran on repeat alongside a slideshow of photos of me that my dad put together for my college graduation party. When I saw that he had a new Christmas album out, my interest was piqued.

What really surprised me was the fact that this is the first Christmas album to be released by the seasoned recording artist, who has recently turned to crafting albums of standards. Granted, I’d never associated him with any Christmas recordings, but it was hard for me to believe that in his long career, he’d never come up with the almost-ubiquitous Christmas album. That knowledge just made me all the more eager to enjoy the David Foster-produced Merry Christmas, Baby, is a nice jazzy backdrop to a cold winter’s evening.

As is typical for albums of this type, many of the tracks have a similar sound to them. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Santa Claus Is Coming to Town and Blue Christmas share a leisurely pace and prominent piano, with other instruments coming in during instrumental sections. The little hint of Jingle Bells that concludes Merry Little Christmas is a nice touch, as is the bit of scatting toward the end of Santa Claus, but none of these tracks is particularly distinctive.

Guitar is more the standard for White Christmas, which is distinguished by a groovy riff at the beginning and end, and Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!, in which the guitar ripples nicely and is ultimately joined by the saxophone. When You Wish Upon a Star doesn’t really offer anything new, but it is a nice relaxing track, even if I always scratch my head a bit when it appears on a Christmas album.

Stewart changes things up a bit more with several collaborative tracks. Merry Christmas, Baby is a fun duet with up-and-coming master brass man Trombone Shorty. The electric organ and jingle bells add to the exuberance of the track, as does the backing chorus, and the addition of the line “May the good Lord be with ya” both recalls Forever Young and gives the secular song a touch of a gospel flavor. Another romantic track is What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?, which is peculiar in that it is spliced together with an old recording of Ella Fitzgerald, creating a virtual duet. Of the duets, this one struck me as the least dynamic, and once I realized the way it had been compiled, I understood why.

By contrast, I found Winter Wonderland, the duet with modern-day crooner Michael Buble, a vibrant delight. The two alternate lines then harmonize on the chorus, and both seem to have fun playing around with melody. It’s especially enjoyable when one starts and another starts a few seconds later, creating an almost round-like effect. The burst of snow-like noise that concludes the track is the perfect icing on what probably ties for my favorite track. The other is We Three Kings, a duet with Mary J. Blige. While the two of them sound very good together, it’s the instrumentation that really knocks me out on this one, with spooky pipes and pounding drums giving it a very mystical feel and making it one of the neatest versions I’ve heard.

I always hope that any given Christmas album I listen to will include at least one song I haven’t heard elsewhere, and this album did not disappoint me there. Trombone Shorty returns for the boisterous Red-Suited Super Man, a lively song that begs, “Santa, bring some love to us all.” The sound is fun, but the message is fairly serious as it expresses a desire for peace and brotherhood throughout the world. Hence, it reminds me quite a bit of “My Grown-Up Christmas List,” though the tone is peppier and less earnest. It’s not a song I see becoming a favorite, but it is an enjoyable track.

The album ends on a very traditional note with the final two tracks. Silent Night begins with simple acoustic guitar accompaniment, but by the third verse, he is joined by an angelic-sounding children’s choir, and adults backed by an organ join in for the grandiose repetition of the first verse. Finally, given Rod Stewart’s heritage, it seems particularly fitting that he chose to conclude with Auld Lang Syne, the traditional New Year’s blessing crafted by lauded Scottish poet Robert Burns. The flutes and pipes add to the Celtic flavor of this song that ends the album on a note of wistful gratitude.

There are times when the album gets a bit snoozy for my taste, but the tracks are nicely arranged so that the bouncier tracks punctuate the slower ones before there is much danger of nodding off. While it’s not the most dynamic or original album out there, Merry Christmas, Baby is a finely crafted Yuletide treat that should please fans of Rod’s distinctive voice and Christmas music in general.