Over the course of 14 upbeat and brassy odes to home and hearth, the relentlessly eager-to-please “Legendary Christmas” starts to feel almost oppressively cheerful. The celebrative, chirpy, old-school-soul mood never lags from there, for better or worse. Vocally, it’s surprising how much of a dead ringer Legend can be for Nat “King” Cole at times, but the idea is more like, what if Cole made a Motown Christmas record? That idea is literalized right at the outset with a cover of “What Christmas Means to Me,” with a harmonica outro from Stevie Wonder that sounds practically sampled from his ’67 original.

(Legend’s bow tie is not made of mistletoe, like Bing’s was, but close enough.) Beyond the cover, it’s not Crosby that he’s chasing in the grooves here.

John Legend, “A Legendary Christmas” (Columbia)īig points, first of all, for the album cover, which has Legend paying direct homage to a famous illustration of Bing Crosby in a Santa hat and bow tie on one of his iconic album covers.

Best holiday albums 2018