Chicago - Chicago Christmas

Chicago Christmas finds the legendary horn band writing their own holiday songbook, a 2019 album that favours fresh originals over the usual carols.

Also known as Chicago XXXVII, it's the band's fourth Christmas collection, and it began as a plan to cut a few bonus tracks for a reissue of an earlier holiday record. The ideas kept coming, and the members ended up writing most of the album themselves, a rare move for a veteran band's holiday record. Trumpeter Lee Loughnane produced, and it was the first Chicago studio album for singer Neil Donell and bassist Brett Simons.

Opener "(Because) It's Christmastime" sets a celebratory tone with bright brass, while "Merry Christmas, I Love You" appears in two versions, an R&B take and a heartfelt ballad. Among the handful of covers, a soulful "What the World Needs Now Is Love" carries a gentle, timely message, and "Sleigh Ride" gets the full horn-section treatment.

Those horns remain the heart of everything, with Robert Lamm, James Pankow and Loughnane anchoring a lineup that still sounds unmistakably like Chicago, all punchy brass and warm, layered harmonies.

It's a cheerful reminder that this band never stopped writing, even five decades in, and a warm addition to any shelf of holiday records.