'Christmas With The Beach Boys' by The Beach Boys

Or, ‘why I should have listened to a few more albums in December’. There’s something not quite right about listening to this mid-January. Still, Brian Wilson played ‘Little Saint Nick’ at Glastonbury a few years ago, so it could be worse.

‘Christmas With The Beach Boys’ is a reissue several steps removed from the Beach Boys Christmas album which was released in 1964. At that point, it was their third album of the year, so it can be forgiven for not always hitting the quality target head on. The first five tracks were all Beach Boys originals. ‘Little Saint Nick’ is the only one to have establish itself as a classic, but ‘Santa’s Beard’ and ‘The Man With All The Toys’ are delightfully daft. The next six tracks are Christmas classics, all of which are passable, but none of which are essential. By their nature, they’ve all been recorded by many other artists, and the Beach Boys add little of interest. ‘We Three Kings’ is the exception – not to everyone’s tastes, certainly, but an intriguing listen. ‘Auld Lang Syne’ finishes the original album – a beautiful a-cappella performance demolished by a pointless voice-over message from Dennis Wilson. An unspoilt version is included as a bonus track, along with some alternate versions of ‘Little Saint Nick’ – the single version, with added sleigh-bells, and a demo which is interesting but not good.

The second half of the disc is a collection of Christmas recordings from the 1970s which at some stage may have been turned into an album, but thankfully weren’t, though many of the tracks were recycled onto their increasingly-desperate records as the decade drew to a close. To say they’re a mixed bag would be something of an understatement. ‘Child of Winter’ is good fun, if shockingly derivative, ‘Winter Symphony’ is a understated gem, and ‘’Melekalikimaka’ can’t fail to raise a smile. On the other hand, ‘Santa’s Got An Airplane’ reaches new depths of inanity, and ‘(I Saw Santa) Rocking Round The Christmas Tree’ is bad enough to inspire violent action.

All that aside, it is still a Christmas album, and they follow different rules to the rest of the world. For all it’s weaknesses, Christmas wouldn’t be the same without it.