Holiday Harmony - Collector's Edition

Album review

With Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell handling all guitars and vocals on this holiday album, Andrew Gold becomes a third member of sorts, producing, arranging, engineering, and playing all the other instruments (except for the viola on "Let It Snow"). Although three of these 13 tracks are holiday-themed originals, the bulk is devoted to America's interpretation of Christmas and holiday standards, most of them very well-known: "Winter Wonderland," "Let It Snow," "White Christmas," "Sleigh Ride," "Silver Bells," "Frosty the Snowman," "Silent Night," "The First Noel." It's competent, but has the air of a throwaway, in common with many Christmas albums by past-their-prime acts. Certainly America-type traits are often heard, as on the curtain-raising "Winter Wonderland," where some of the harmonies seem arranged to mimic the ones from their old hit "A Horse With No Name." It's an understated, tame, and inconsequential recording with a smooth adult contemporary rock sheen, not high on the ladder of options for either holiday collections or America releases.
© Richie Unterberger /TiVo