02. I’ll Be Home For Christmas
03. White Christmas
04. Silent Night
05. It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
06. What Child Is This?
07. Winter Wonderland
08. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
09. Happy Christmas And Many More
10. O Holy Night
AMAZON
ARTIST SITE
Scott Weiland is the front man for Seattle grunge band Stone Temple Pilots. The Stone Temple Pilots burst onto the music scene in the early 90s with a couple of absolutely brilliant albums--"Core" and "Purple"--led by the hauntingly wonderful song "Plush" and it looked as though a very bright future was ahead. It didn't exactly turn out that way, though. Legal problems and, specifically, Weiland's drug related issues pretty much derailed the band. Although later efforts yielded flashes of the brilliance of those earlier works, there really didn't seem to be the same promise ahead as once seemed certain. The group split up early in 2003 but reformed and, in 2010, released an eponymous album that was critically well received and justifiably so.
Weiland has long wanted to do a crooner styled Christmas record, as he sort of implied when he first sang "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 2006. 5 years later, "The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year" is released. Whether Weiland's crooner stylings can carry through an entire album is likely to be a matter of personal taste. There's no doubt he does a very credible job on "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas". I like the arrangement of "Silent Night" and Weiland gives a reggae beat to "O Holy Night" (it was said last year that he'd recorded a reggae version of "Little Drummer Boy" but, if he did, he didn't include it here). The rest is pretty traditional fare with pretty traditional arrangements.
My personal reaction to Weiland's set is comparable to the reaction of others to Bob Dylan's Christmas album (which I love) a few years back. If you grew up when Stone Temple Pilots were at their peak, you'll likely enjoy this set. Me, I can't help but listen again to "Plush" and think about a Christmas album that could've been. Just sayin'.