My Review on “Cameron and Michael Sleigh Christmas”.

I might have made a mistake coming into this album listening with a headache, but nevertheless I made it through the entirety of “Cameron and Michael Sleigh Christmas”. These boys are the epitome of the idea that “anyone can record a Christmas album”. There were several hidden gems, but also some rocks that maybe should have stayed hidden. I would rank all of the songs, but that might require me to go back and listen to them again, so instead I will reveal my top 6 with explanations.

Top 6

6.Sleigh Ride (ft. Drew): Drew did very well delivering this song. It may have been one of the cleanest on the album. I find Drew’s voice oddly soothing and decent. I would have maybe liked to see some more humor out of the boys for this song, but overall well done.

5. Where Are You Christmas (ft. Logan and Trevor): something about this odd rendition of the usually sad song made me laugh. The song was almost done in a very angsty early 2000’s boy band fashion. I enjoyed it more than I expected.

4. Christmas Shoes (ft. Mattathias): Mattathias nailed this song. I felt so much emotion coming from this guys soul (it’s funny because he is also a red head). Mattathias totally embodied and impersonated the original singer. Very well done. Almost brought me to tears, but then I remembered this is a Christmas album recorded by some nerds.

3. Dreidel (ft. Nate): Nate brings a ton of hilarity and emotion to the album in just under a minute with this Hanukkah classic. Though he isn’t Jewish I like to think that Nate did the community proud with this little number. I’ve never heard a lad so hype to spin a wooden top.

2. The Christmas Song (ft. Sawyer): Does this one even need an explanation?

1. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas: I might be biased, but this is my favorite Christmas song of all time. It also happened to be the ending song, praise Jesus (who was featured in track 2). I think this was a nice sentimental wrap up to the album and had that nostalgic feel that this song needs.

Problems I had with the album:

-Why did Jonah not get his own song? This was perhaps my #1 tragedy. It seems like all of “Friends Group” got a song except Jonah. Yes he got speaking roles, but I wanted to see if we could uncover some talent from the kid. I feel like his humor could have added something. Oh and I guess Loar didn’t get a song, but I don’t really know him so that doesn’t phase me.

-Some of the microphone work was a little off. That’s to be expected with first albums though. Also I think someone coughed into the mic? That was weird.

-I would have liked to see the individual personalities of the boys come out more. These are funny guys and I feel like we lost some chances for humor with so much concentration on some singing. But I did enjoy the humor I was given.

Final Conclusions:

I enjoyed this album a lot. I like seeing what these boys come out with. One of my favorite things (And trust me there weren’t many)* was the little narrations between songs. The album was a pretty raw and realistic view of these boys. It was no Michael Buble, but it might rank in my top 8 Christmas albums. I hope on the next one to see some original songs or perhaps just funny bits in classic songs. Producing a 16 track album is hard, but these boys kind of did it. The comedy within theses boys will always be some of my favorite. Well done Michael, Cameron, Friends Group, and some others.

Overall Rating:

7/10

 

*A joke. Probably.