Hard as it may be to believe, but
Rod Stewart has gotten through five decades without succumbing to a holiday album. That streak ends in 2012 with the release of
Merry Christmas, Baby, an easygoing and chipper collection of secular seasonal standards. A couple of carols are thrown in for good measure but these songs -- "Silent Night," "We Three Kings" presented as a duet with
Mary J. Blige -- along with a mildly incongruous "When You Wish Upon a Star," slide by easily on the mellow big-band swing of the rest of the record. Song for song,
Merry Christmas, Baby is very much of a piece with
Rod's ongoing
Great American Songbook series, with
Stewart not straying from the familiar form of these songs and producer
David Foster laying on all manner of soft, soothing sounds, whether it's acoustic guitars, synthesizers, strings, or a children's choir on "Silent Night." Very rarely does this hint at the
Rod of the '70s -- and when it does on the closing "Auld Lang Syne," its intro given a spare folky treatment reminiscent of his
Mercury work, it's a bracing, effective reminder of
Stewart's skill as a singer -- and instead relies on a gladhanding charm that suits the season, not to mention
Stewart in his crooning dotage. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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