If there’s any Christmas song out there that comes close to being universally liked it surely must be Darlene Love’s version of “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” from A Christmas Gift to You from Phil Spector. There are a handful of “the thing you like is problematic” thinkpieces written every year about the album but I don’t sense there’s any mainstream backlash to it or the song. (The last track on the album, “Silent Night,” is unlistenable, but would be even without the knowledge that Spector is a murderer. The album’s influence is stronger than ever. Of the handful of newish Christmas songs that get regular mainstream airplay, just about every one of them blatantly rips off Spector’s arranging/producing style, down to the predictable bari sax solo.) When the performance is good I guess it’s easy to overlook some things. A few singers have covered “Christmas” since, but what’s the point? No way they do it better.
44 years or so later, Love would finally cut her own Christmas album, It’s Christmas, Of Course. There are a couple of misses sprinkled about, but Love is still in fine voice. Some of the power may be gone, but her phrasing and instincts are better than ever. One of the standout tracks is a cover of The Pretenders’ “2000 Miles.” To say her performance is an improvement over the indifferent sounding original is a huge understatement. A good performance makes the song better – who knew? Another track on the album, her version of “What Christmas Means to Me” came on while I was sitting alone on Christmas night, watching the clock approach midnight…
