You don’t have to be a Yuletide believer to get into this holiday offering from surviving Monkees Micky Dolenz, Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork. But it would help if you enjoyed their 2016 comeback album Good Times! This 13-song offering follows the same basic template, relying heavily on hip, humourous new pop-rockers from contemporary hitmakers like XTC’s Andy Partridge (Unwrap You at Christmas), Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo (What Would Santa Do), Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger (House of Broken Gingerbread) and even R.E.M.’s Peter Buck and Minus 5’s Scott McCaughey (Christmas Party). Toss in some left-field entries like Alex Chilton and Big Star‘s Jesus Christ and Roy Wood‘s I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day — along with more traditional classics like The Christmas Song, Angels We Have Heard on High, Silver Bells and Mele Kalikimaka (the latter two featuring vocals from the late Davy Jones) — and you’ve got a Christmas album that’s a little bit me, a little bit you and a decent little crowdpleaser.
