Even so, and putting that little bump on the road to grandma's house aside (strictly in the interest of fairness of course), on much of the rest of this album Dylan does just fine.

Christmas In The Heart begins with sleigh bells — Sleigh Bells, for crying out loud! But by the time you hear Dylan, in all of his croaking glory sing "Here comes Santa Claus! Here comes Santa Claus!," you really can't help yourself from cracking up. Or, at least I couldn't.

Elsewhere, on songs like "I'll Be Home For Christmas" and "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" (complete with the most syrupy sounding female backup vocals you're likely to hear this side of the Lennon Sisters on the old Lawrence Welk Show), Dylan's croak substitutes for Crosby-esque croon surprisingly well.

And for the record, no, he doesn't tackle "White Christmas." Dylan always was a smart sumbitch'. Elsewhere, Dylan's take on "Must Be Santa" borders on beer-barrel polka, while he offers up surprisingly credible versions of such traditional fare as "Little Drummer Boy" and "Silver Bells."

So it's an acquired taste to be sure. But since Dylan's doing this album for charity — all present and future royalties from the CD will go to the hunger fighting folks at Feeding America — I'm willing to cut him a break here. Besides, the CD actually isn't that bad, and in some cases ("Here Comes Santa Claus" for example) is actually pretty damn hilarious.

Just make sure that you dig "the croak."

Article Author: Glen Boyd

You'll find Blogcritics assistant music editor Glen Boyd sharing his Thoughtmares on his personal blogs The World Wide Glen, and The Rockologist. In a previous life, Glen was a music professional and journalist whose work has appeared in The Rocket, SPIN, Pulse!, and The Source. …

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