Faith Evans was fresh off the success of her fourth gold-selling album, The First Lady, when her first-holiday album, A Faithful Christmas, hit stores. As is the norm with holiday releases, A Faithful Christmas is a collection of Christmas songs. It contains various traditional and modern Christmas songs, such as “White Christmas” and “Santa Baby.”
Faith and her daughter found the time to compose two new Christmas songs for the project as a gift for her fans. These songs are entitled “Happy Holidays” and “Christmas Wish.” The song I chose from the project for this week’s Slow Jam Saturday is Faith’s take on blues group Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers, “Merry Christmas Baby.”
A stick-to-your-gut type of song, “Merry Christmas Baby” is a standard that vocalists such as Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ike & Tina Turner, Otis Redding, B.B. King, Elvis Presley, Bruce Springsteen, Christina Aguilera, Melissa Etheridge have all performed. While all the artists perform the song well, I have a special memory of Faith’s version.
In 2005, as you know, I was stationed in Europe during my Air Force enlistment. While I wasn’t deployed, I had decided to spend Christmas that year across the pond instead of returning home. The local NCO club had requested my services for Christmas Eve, and since my only plans were a DVD double feature of the classics Lethal Weapon and Die Hard (yes, both are Christmas movies), I took them up on the offer.
My set consisted of the usual Christmas music, and towards the end of the night, I played “Merry Christmas Baby.” I didn’t think anything of it, but as I was packing up my equipment, an elderly couple approached me and thanked me for playing the song. They informed me that the husband was retired. During his active duty time, they were apart during the Gulf War at Christmas, and James Brown’s version helped them cope. There is nothing complicated about the lyrics of the song.
Due to no fault, someone has been separated from the one they love most for a long time. For Christmas, all the singer wants is to spend time with that person who makes them feel cherished. I loved how Faith put her foot into the song and evoked powerful soul riffs. The horns in the production are also on fire.
A Faithful Christmas rarely receives mention outside of Faith’s core fans. Nevertheless, songs like “Merry Christmas Baby” are a worthy addition to your R&B Christmas playlist.
Final Grade: B
“Merry Christmas, Baby” from A Faithful Christmas is on all streaming platforms.
Songstress Ashanti was experiencing significant success with two platinum albums at the time of the release of her inaugural holiday project, “Ashanti’s Christmas,” on November 18, 2003. Her label head, Irv Gotti, produced most of the album. This project comprises four original songs co-written by Ashanti, in addition to six cover versions of traditional Christmas standards and carols.
Vocal quartet A Few Good Man contributed two songs to the project: a cover of “Silver Bells” and the ballad “Merry Christmas My Dear,” both of which were produced by Daryl Simmons. Demail Burks, David Morris, Aaron Hilliard, and Tony Amey were the members of the group, and after introducing themselves in the festive video for “Silver Bells,” it was only fitting that they delivered a ballad on the album.
R&B legend Luther Vandross had already solidified his place in R&B when he released his first holiday album, “This Is Christmas. Arriving in stores on October 24, 1995, “This Is Christmas” validates Vandross’s ability to sing anything.