Tony Bennett – Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album [$13.98]

Tony Bennett is a classic, and this latest reissue of his Christmas album Snowfall does nothing to hurt, nor particularly enhance, that reputation. Originally released in 1968, Snowfall is a lovely bit of crooning, running the gamut from the joyous (“Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town”) to the reflective (“Snowfall”). The addition of a couple of those peripherally-related songs that weren’t actually meant as Christmas songs but have come to be known as such, like “My Favorite Things” and “Where is Love” add a little bit of variety, and the whole thing is over in half an hour, before Bennett’s excessive vibrato and slippery style has a chance to grate on you. This 2007 reissue adds a bonus DVD with a few selections from the long out-of-print video Tony Bennett: A Family Christmas, though generally, the visuals don’t add too much to Bennett’s distinctive stylings. The DVD could only be called essential if you’re an archivist. Still, if a previous iteration of Snowfall has never found its way into your Christmas collection, now’s as good a time as any to correct that little oversight.