Yule Be Miserable
The Yuletide washes in the many moods of the season andYule Be Miserablemakes a great attempt at capturing those darker holiday sentiments that come with the holly and the ivy. Still, the title's slightly misleading--even with its cool liner notes by comic book icon Harvey "American Splendor" Pekar. While some of these blues tunes (like the renownedBillie Holiday's "Stormy Blues" andSpike Jones' whiney "My Birthday Comes on Christmas") are decidedly down and out, the performances generally will knock off those stockings hung with care. For every tune likeAaron Neville's pleading "Please Come Home for Christmas" orBilly Eckstine's "Blue Christmas," there's more light-hearted fare such asLouie Armstrong's inimitable "'Zat You, Santa Claus?," the two spirited tracks fromElla Fitzgerald("Santa Claus Got Stuck in My Chimney," "Baby, It's Cold Outside"), andB.B. King's torn-up "Merry Christmas, Baby." Misery this bad never sounded so good. --Martin Keller