Of course, following up that particular album was always going to be tricky business. After all, Merry Christmas produced the Carey-penned All I Want For Christmas Is You, the instant classic that's just been voted the favourite Christmas song of both American and British music fans (as a sign of the song's reach, in America its total single sales are more than double the number two song).
That album also went on to sell more than 12 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling Christmas albums of all time. So, Carey had set herself a rather high standard for her follow-up to aspire to.
The bad news is that she doesn't quite get there. The good news is that, because no contemporary artist "does" Christmas as magically and festively (all wrapped in that glorious five-octave voice), this is still a must-have album if you're one of those people who only need one (or two – get the first one too!) Christmas albums in your home.
The album's first single, the peppy Oh Santa! was the number one holiday single in the USA in its first week of release, and kicks the album off with an infectious spring in its step.
Other highlights include the Nat King Cole-esque Christmas Time is in the Air Again (another Carey-penned original), Carey's versions of The First Noel and Charlie Brown Christmas, and the dancey album-closer (which we'll no doubt be hearing in every club on the planet every New Year's Eve from here on out) Auld Lang Syne (The New Year's Anthem) – on which Carey can be heard slurring what we all think every year: "Does anybody really know the words? Might as well sing along...".
An "Extra Festive" version of her mega-hit All I Want For Christmas Is You is included too, and of course that gem of a track can never be played enough.
This reviewer's personal favourite, though, is a track fans have been waiting 20 years (since Carey's debut single hit number one in 1990) to hear: O Come All Ye Faithful/Hallelujah Chorus, a song on which Carey sings with her opera-singer and vocal coach mother, Patricia Carey, for the first time. Hearing these two singing powerhouses play off each other, backed with lush instrumentation and a soaring background choir, is a vocal treat that just gets better with each listen.
Carey loves to tell interviewers she's the "queen of Christmas festiveness" — and Merry Christmas II You certainly secures her hold on her title!
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