Christmas Curio - Well, Christmas is certainly a time for nostalgia, and it s hard to imagine a more nostalgic collection than this yuletide anthology. The Ames Brothers, Sergio Franchi, Julie Andrews, Perry Como, Mario Lanza, Eddy Arnold and more: starts to sound like an ED SULLIVAN SHOW holiday special. For those nostalgic for or curious about the 50s and 60s, this could be worth checking out. Aside from Franchi and Lanza, who sort of straddle the high culture realm, there are also tracks by the Robert Shaw Singers and the Boston Pops to lend the proceedings something of an air of class. But this holiday smorgasbord may just be a little too diverse for any one listener s taste. Most of the selections are appealing in and of themselves, but the record does not work as a whole.I tend to view discount CDs--including holidays CDs, heck maybe ESPECIALLY holiday CDs--as inexpensive samplers. But a motley array such as this probably does no one justice. The inclusion of the Robert Shaw Chorale s gorgeous version of O Magnum Mysterium and the Pops choral version of Silent Night, however, do point up some of the weaknesses of the poppier tracks. By comparison, even relatively classy singers like Julie Andrews suffer, since the overstuffed arrangements, so typical of the era, actually detract from the vocals. Country stalwarts Eddy Arnold and Jim Reeves actually fare somewhat better than, say, the operatically inclined Franchi and Lanza. The country gentlemen s relatively straightforward readings of their popular carols help them to rise above the kitsch.