The renowned filmmaker and musician Seth MacFarlane along with famous actress and singer Elizabeth “Liz” Gillies released their holiday album ‘We Wish You The Merriest’ on Nov. 3. The album features 13 tracks, all covers of beloved Christmas songs. For anyone who’s looking to get into the winter spirit early, you should check this out.
The LP, released just a month or so before the beginning of holiday festivities, is pretty unique, if anything. The songs are well-known, the vocals are definitely professional, and overall, it’s nice to hear something like a Christmas album, which have become increasingly rare recently, brought back into the mainstream.
Starting off with the opening song, “Happy Holiday”, listeners are quickly introduced to the traditional Bing Crosby-esque feel of the album’s instrumental parts which perfectly fits along with MacFarlane’s Frank Sinatra-like voice. Avid chionophiles will note, however, the more modern tone of the song and the rest of the album, which clearly reminds of the nature of the LP’s modern release.
The album then goes through 12 other familiar holiday songs, from “Frosty The Snowman” to “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.” Personally, though, apart from certain successes like the well-made “Here Comes Santa Claus”, I think that much of the album is plagued by Gillies’ Disney-like voice. Being an actress in hits like Victorious or Dynasty, it is not hard to understand why Gillies has such a stage-ready voice, but honestly, it does not go with the spirit of Christmas music very much.
MacFarlane’s performance is very nice, as mentioned before, but again, it is constantly combined with the album’s Gillies’ part, which is honestly most similar to Idina Menzel singing a Christmas song. I’m sure there are a couple Glee fans out there that would kill to hear that, but most people would likely just find it a little annoying and irksome.
In the end, it’s not an unpleasant album. MacFarlane definitely delivers and the melodies are nice, but Gillies’ addition somewhat ruins the experience, taking listeners out of their imaginary winter wonderland and instead forcing them to listen to a Broadway musical. Only time will tell if this album ends up sticking or will just be brushed aside, as other ones have been, to make space for Dean Martin or Andy Williams.
