If you insist.
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[4.17]
Josh Langhoff: Right around the time Gavin DeGraw was emitting a sound like a sleigh scraping across brick, I was longing to be nestled in bed with a martini and some Joyce Carol Oates. How do we as a society decide which forms of abrasiveness are “homey” and which make us feel like we’re actually home?
[5]
Thomas Inskeep: “Celebrate Me Home” is one of those unlikely holiday classics, originally the title track of Kenny Loggins’ 1977 solo debut, co-written with smooth jazz titan Bob James, only its opening line “Home for the holidays” even really giving it a holiday patina. But yet, it perked the ears of holiday radio programmers, thanks to that opening line, and its theme of family and togetherness. Over the years it’s become a Christmastime radio touchstone, especially as most Adult Contemporary stations go all-Xmas from late November to early January. Unexpectedly, LeAnn Rimes and her pal Gavin DeGraw give it a soulful spin (the organ helps) which totally works in service to the song (one of the strongest in Loggins’ catalog). This feel warm, and makes me feel good, like Christmas, and what more do you want?
[8]
Megan Harrington: Sad Christmas! Lonely Christmas! Christmas waging war on behalf of American imperialism! Do you ever wonder why no one sells a support the troops turkey for Thanksgiving? Why is there no recipe for pointless, destructive war pie? Christmas is kind of shouldering an unfair amount of families-torn-asunder-by-the-military-industrial-complex weight and it’s done no favors when LeAnn Rimes and Gavin DeGraw yell “celebrate!” at each other from their individual home studios. Not a classic.
[3]
Brad Shoup: Well, I guess you can’t spell “Christmas” without an “I”.
[2]
Alfred Soto: Sporting a studio rock production complete with rolling piano lines and melismatic hysteria, “Celebrate Me Home” smacks of “rebranding.” Good luck.
[4]
Will Adams: I’ve been fortunate to celebrate Christmas with my family every year of my life, but there’s always a moment during the day when — whether I’ve been drinking or not — I feel lethargic and totally over the holiday. “Celebrate Me Home” is the aural equivalent of that.
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