Year

The award for the most original Christmas album for 2000 goes hands down to the three Osborn sisters--Kristyn, Kelsi, and Kassidy--of Shedaisy for their ambitious pop-rock mini-masterpiece Brand New Year. Exemplary rewrites, rearrangements, and rewired standards such as "Jingle Bells," "Deck the Halls," "Sleigh Ride," and others may tug at your holiday heartstrings for a whole other set of reasons. Add a handful of memorable and sometimes mesmerizing originals and rediscovered gems such as "Christmas Children" from the 1969 musical Scrooge and you've got a record that, at times, almost tries too hard to be too innovative, arty, and occasionally even Beatles-inspired (check that dense harmony and musical interplay/production on "Tinseltown" and the breathtaking arrangement of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing/Carol of the Bells"). Still, this is an immensely gratifying album even with its slight misses: creative, sometimes caustic, playful, and always full of changes that demand your attention. You won't be disappointed; its rewards for those who stay tuned are many (including a ghost track of a stirring a cappella arrangement at the end). Wow! --Martin Keller