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Kacey Musgraves wraps Christmas in retro tunes

Album cover for Kacey Musgraves' "A Very Kacey Christmas"
Album cover for Kacey Musgraves' "A Very Kacey Christmas"

A-Kacey Musgraves

A Very Kacey Christmas

Mercury

photo

Album cover for R. Kelly's "12 Nights of Christmas"

Singer-songwriter Kacey Musgraves is just what Santa ordered ... if Santa wanted a Christmas album that's at home in a midcentury modern-cum-kitsch setting. It's playful, a little serious, a little silly and a musical delight.

Musgraves taps a retro feel with modern twists. The songs include classics such as "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," a song imbued with melancholy and a sense of hope. Musgraves delivers it well, her keening vocal underpinned by a moody steel guitar.

The singer also knows her way around the dance floor, as she brings the Hawaiian-theme "Mele Kalikimaka" to life with a western swing-inspired arrangement. This, and other tunes, show how the clever Musgraves can embrace kitsch without turning it into camp.

And what's Christmas without Willie? The rather silly, but charming "A Willie Nice Christmas" features Willie Nelson, with his familiar guitar work and vocal. Another Musgraves original, "Present Without a Bow," gets a soulful lift from singer Leon Bridges.

As she evokes the past, Musgraves doesn't feel bound by any tradition. She emerges as an artist with a vision and an album that should be around for a long, long time.

Hot tracks: "Mele Kalikimaka," "Present Without a Bow," the Chipmunks' "Christmas Don't Be Late," the mariachi groove of "Feliz Navidad"

-- ELLIS WIDNER

A-A Tribe Called Quest

We Got It From Here ... Thank You 4 Your Service

Epic

We Got It From Here ... leads the way by a long distance in 2016's "better than it has any right to be" sweepstakes. The first album in 18 years by the early 1990s Native Tongues rappers, who seemed to be out of commission even before rapper Malik "Phife Dawg" Taylor died in March, turns out to be an effortless-sounding, acutely intelligent, joyful offering that never comes off as overbusy or cluttered even as it packs in cameos from Busta Rhymes, Elton John, Jack White, Kanye West, Andre 3000 and Kendrick Lamar.

The latter three fit into the category of rappers influenced by Tribe's expansive musical palette and Phife, Q-Tip, and Jarobi White's dexterous verbal gymnastics, which are fully on display here on an album the group was working on in secret before Phife's death. Serious matters are discussed, starting with the opening tour de force, "We the People ... ," in which both Q-Tip and Phife rhyme about police violence and intolerance. But the whole album floats with Ali Shaheed Muhammad's light-as-a-feather throwback beats. We Got It From Here ... arrives with a sense of purposeful optimism that's most welcome and surprising on an album the surviving band members say will be their last.

Hot track: "We the People ..."

-- DAN DELUCA,

The Philadelphia Inquirer

BR. Kelly

12 Nights of Christmas

RCA

You might expect, given R. Kelly's track record, that his first Christmas album would be raunchy, over-the-top camp, complete with double entendres.

But Kelly always does the unexpected, and he delivers a surprise here with a charming collection of original songs that could be future Christmas classics.

The album starts off with "My Wish for Christmas," and it has nothing to do with bumping and grinding -- it's a heartwarming, soulful plea for love and peace. There's a quick pivot to romance with "Snowman," a sweet, innocent ditty about a search for the perfect woman made of snow.

Now, that's not to say there isn't any sex talk, but it's not explicit, just PG-rated references to lovemaking that won't make grandma blush at the holiday gathering. "Flying on My Sleigh" is a great example -- the midtempo throwback song sounds like it could be a Smokey Robinson "Quiet Storm" outtake as Kelly sings of "making love on a bed of clouds." "Christmas Lovin'" hearkens back to classic Chicago R&B as he sings of making love "under the Christmas tree." And on the slow groove "Mrs. Santa Claus," he keeps it relatively tame, promising to make "holiday love" and "unwrap you," surely making the North Pole hotter than it has ever been.

With 12 Nights of Christmas, Kelly has written and produced an album of sexy and soulful tunes.

Hot tracks: "Flying on My Sleigh," "Snowman," "My Wish for Christmas"

-- NEKESA MUMBI MOODY,

The Associated Press

BGarth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood

Christmas Together

Pearl/Gwendolyn

Country star Garth Brooks and his singer-songwriter wife Trisha Yearwood have each done Christmas albums, but they haven't teamed up on one -- until now.

Christmas Together has a unique selection of tunes that largely features diverse songs instead of holiday classics.

A highlight is a pair of Brooks and Yearwood duets on "Baby It's Cold Outside" and "I'm Beginning to See the Light."

Both artists, however, get a chance to shine.

Brooks has the fun song "Ugly Christmas Sweater" that features the humorous lyrics he has been known to write on hits like "Friends in Low Places." This time he sings, "There's really nothing better than a beautiful girl in an ugly Christmas sweater." Brooks also has a spirited version of "Feliz Navidad" and offers a duet with James Taylor on "What I'm Thankful For (The Thanksgiving Song)."

Yearwood gives her signature country slow-song treatment to "The Man With the Bag" and has her own fun with "Santa Baby."

Hot tracks: "Santa Baby," "Ugly Christmas Sweater," "Baby It's Cold Outside"

-- CARYN ROUSSEAU,

The Associated Press

Style on 11/29/2016

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