Holiday music in all flavors: jolly, tacky, Latin, commercial

‘Tis the season for musical cheer with hot pop stars, hoping to cash in before their careers plunge, competing against senior citizen crooners for those end-of-the millennium Christmas CD dollars.

Just as in Christmases past, the seasonal CDs run the gamut from offensive to inspiring.

Old favorites are wrapped up in Latin rhythms, while New Age sounds salute the solstice rather than the religious event. Celebs sing for good causes rather than cold, hard cash, except for those utterly uncouth South Park kids.

Sales figures indicate the best way to push an album to the top of the seasonal charts is to have a TV special. Talk show host Rosie O’Donnell’s Christmas CD, “A Rosie Christmas,” was a best seller a month before her special aired on ABC. Windham Hill’s double set “Winter Solstice on Ice” features the New Age-style music that world-renowned figure skaters performed to for the A&E special by the same name. The album even includes a coupon for Taster’s Choice instant coffee, the show’s sponsor.

Altruism does sometimes come with the season, and there’s a sprinkling of it this year. “A Gift of Christmas: A Superstar Celebration of the Season,” featuring artists from Nat King Cole to Elvis to James Galway to Etta James to Placido Domingo, has dedicated its proceeds to the T.J. Martell Foundation for leukemia, cancer and AIDS research.

Among the charitable fare this holiday, one Maine-based organization is offering a sideboard filled with delicious seasonal goodies. The chorale of the National Theatre Workshop of the Handicapped recorded “The NTWH Chorale Celebrates Christmas” in August at its summer headquarters, the Crosby School in Belfast.

This is not a slick, flawless professional effort like other recordings made to raise money for a cause. There is no fancy orchestration, and off-key voices can be heard. However, the joy and heart the singers pour into their efforts are infectious.

The NTWH album’s best cuts are “Jamaican Noel,” “Who Will Give Christmas,” “Look at That Star” and “Hard Candy Christmas.” This is one of the season’s most diverse holiday offerings in every sense of the word. It also is one of the few new holiday albums recorded in Maine. For information on the NTWH and its work call 1-800-618-6622 or visit its Web site, www.NTWH.org.

An album produced to support the Special Olympics — the fourth so far — called “A Very Special Christmas Live,” was recorded last December in Washington, D.C., at the 30th anniversary party for the organization. Eric Clapton is the star of this edition. His driving blues guitar style infuses this CD with an excitement and energy usually only found in young children on Christmas morning. This live edition nicely completes the Very Special Christmas collection.

There’s a good reason “Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics” carries a parental advisory label. It’s to keep parents from having to listen to the South Park gang sing “Christmas Time in Hell,” “Dead, Dead, Dead,” “The Lonely Jew at Christmas” or “Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo.” Lyrics such as “There goes John F. Kennedy, caroling with his only son. Reunited for the holidays, God bless us everyone,” make this an album only Kenny and his fans could love.

The mainstream popularity of Latin music has engulfed Christmas too. “Latino Christmas” is a musical tour of the Hispanic world, which showcases the talents of Cuba L.A., Oscar Lopez, Chuscales and Nando Lauria. The liner notes not only describe the artists’ music, they also highlight holiday customs in Cuba, Chile, Spain and Brazil. Lopez manages to do the impossible — he breathes new life into “White Christmas” with his flamenco guitar style and rhythms.

Sruli and Lisa’s “Oy Vey! Chanukah!” comes with a klezmer music study guide. “Listen for the haunting sounds of prayer as well as joyous spirituality in the music,” listeners are instructed. A combination of traditional songs and stories, the album is as educational as it is entertaining. Hanukkah, the holiday, may be for Jewish kids, but the music keeps big Christian toes tapping too.

“98 Degrees This Christmas” just went platinum and the quartet hasn’t even finished its marathon holiday TV appearances. Brothers Nick and Drew Lachey, Justin Jeffre and Jeff Timmons started singing together four years ago in their native Ohio. Their careers took off in July 1997, when Motown signed them. They are the newest teen heartthrobs, but their harmonies will please even grandma’s Perry Como ear, especially when they sing “Ave Maria” a cappella.

However, the artist who truly captures the spirit of the season and takes holiday music to a new level artistically is Paddy Moloney of The Chieftains. He has gathered an international group of artists including Sissel of Norway, the Bulgarian Voices Angelite, the Harlem Gospel Choir, the Glenstall Abbey Monks and the Vatican Orchestra under the direction of Monsignor Marco Frisina. This album, titled “Silent Night: A Christmas in Rome,” is a remarkable artistic achievement any time of year. Moloney juxtaposes seasonal songs such as “Silent Night” and “Joy to the World” with the traditional Irish folk tune “Hey Pretty Lassie.” This album achieves what few other so-called Christmas albums do. It captures the sacred, which is so often swept away with the ribbons and wrapping paper. This music reveals and shares the true meaning of the season.

Once again, ’tis the one and only season when holiday music gets bought and sold, let alone played. In a few weeks, it all will be packed away or put on a shelf to gather dust until next year. Some of it will be sold in summer yard sales, some carted to the attic along with gifts that proved the old adage, “It’s the thought that counts.”

But, for now, sales of seasonal music are being tracked by retailers, industry insiders and Billboard magazine.