Christmas Kind of Town
Hark! The Philly Brothers Sing! Introducing a 20-song holiday feast that, while it's as out of right field as Mannheim Steamroller remakingWhite Light/White Heat, is the perfunctory accompaniment to your Bing Crosby and Johnny Mathis wintertime mash. Prolifically concurring with its fifth recordIf You Didn't Laugh You'd Cry, Marah integrates E Street soul and 6 Train rock-and-roll into a stew of old-time favorites and newly composed originals, toasting the celebration with friends and family in a loose-knit routine of music and parodies. Centered on their adopted hometown of New York, the Bielanko brothers liken the Big Apple to a "yuletide merry-go-round" in "New York is a Christmas Kind of Town" and offer up "a glass of cheer" in "Holly Jolly Christmas," a chug-a-long number that practically begs for thePoguesto cover. "Baby It's Cold Outside" is a seductive back-and-forth duet (with guest Christine Smith) and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Xmas" turns into a Peanuts-like sing-a-long, and by New Year's, when your "Auld Lang Syne" is an instrumental Dublin pub romp, you'll thank Marah for making this the most wonderful time of the year.--Scott Holter