Hanson

SNOWED IN

(Mercury)

This is exactly what kids like Hanson should be doing -- making Christmas albums. Keeps 'em off the street and in the studio making music that's meant to be corny and contrived. Keeps 'em away from trying to write serious material about aching hearts and soul searching, two things we really don't need to hear about from a trio of teens. And keeps 'em focused on something they do well, which is light (as in white) soul- and R&B-flavored pop as cute and cuddly as Rudolph and his little red nose. In the tradition of the big-pop-sensation Christmas album, Snowed In relies primarily on genre classics, from the Beach Boys' "Little Saint Nick" to Irving Berlin's "White Christmas," all done up in the style of Phil Spector's jolly juggernaut. And it's peppered with a handful of originals, the best of which -- "Everybody Knows the Claus" -- makes Santa out to be some kind of bad-ass with a big appetite in amusing couplets like "His cookies and his milk are his pride/Or anything that can be deep fried/Don't get me wrong now he's a nice guy/But you don't want to get on his bad side." Told you, Christmas songs are right up Hanson's alley.

-- Matt Ashare

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