Every 2024 Eagles Christmas Album song reviewed, as they come out

The third — and maybe final — Eagles holiday album is called A Philly Special Christmas Party and it’s due out in its entirety on Nov. 22.

The album again features now retired Eagle Jason Kelce plus his fellow offensive linemen Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson, plus special guests including Stevie Nicks, Devon Gilfillian and Mt. Joy. It’s produced by The War on Drugs drummer Charlie Hall, who directs a band of many of Philly finest musicians.

The project will benefit Children’s Crisis Treatment Center and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and other local charities. More info about the album, which comes out on Vera Y Records, can be found at phillyspecialchristmas.com where preorders are now being taken.

I will be reviewing one song per week as they’re released on every Friday leading up to Nov. 22, starting with the first single, “It’s Christmas Time (In Cleveland Heights).”

“It’s Christmas Time (In Cleveland Heights)” is a Kelce brothers special. Jason and Travis Kelce debuted as singing siblings on their 2023 update of the Pogues, “Fairytale in Philadelphia.” Now they’re back on this melancholy holiday tune written by Dr. Dog keyboard player Zach Miller, who’s been a core player in the Philly Specials band for all three Christmas albums.

But the star power doesn’t stop with the Kelce bros. Miller’s moody pop-R&B tune also welcomes Boyz II Men into the Philly Specials fold. Shawn Stockman, Nathan Morris, and Wanya Morris of the Philly vocal trio add trademark vocal flourishes to Miller’s story song about coming home for the holidays only to find that your old stomping grounds aren’t what they once used to be — and neither are you.

The song is the Eagles Christmas album 3.0’s most star studded moment, save for the future duet with Stevie Nicks and Jason Kelce on a track whose title has not yet been revealed, but will drop as one of the singles that will be released every Friday this month in advance of the full album coming out on Nov. 22.

Miller’s tune is the second full-fledged original Christmas song to be written by a member of the Philly Specials cast who work under the direction of producer Charlie Hall. “Santa’s Night,” on last year’s A Philly Special Christmas Special, on which Kelce cosplayed as St. Nick, was written by the former Eagles center himself.

“It’s Christmas Time (in Cleveland Heights” is well designed as a vehicle for the Kelces, named as it is after their suburban hometown outside of Cleveland that also inspired their New Heights podcast.

The song begins with Boyz II Men’s swooping, sumptuous vocals over a percolating drum machine, leading into a Travis Kelce spoken intro.

Taylor Swift’s boyfriend leans into his lover man voice: “This is a shout out to everyone all around the world who’s thinking about home this Christmas,” he intones. “That’s right, it’s Christmas time.” (If there’s a new Eagles Christmas album, it must be.)

Travis, who’s a naturally self-confident vocalist, takes the first verse about “wandering the streets of my hometown, must have been years since I’ve been home.” Jason, who’s more workmanlike but improving every holiday season, takes the second: “All the empty stores and shopping malls I remember different in my mind / I think about the lives I left behind.”

Then Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men soars on the third on a the third verse song that fits in with the tinged-with-sadness tradition of such Christmas classics as “I’ll be Home For Christmas” and “Please Come For Christmas,” while adding its own spin about how “home” is a malleable concept, even when it comes to holiday tradition.

Did the Eagles get Taylor Swift to sing on their Christmas album? No, but they do have Stevie Nicks. The second single from A Philly Special Christmas Party teams retired lineman Jason Kelce with the two time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, who came to Elm Street Studios in Conshohocken to trade verses on Ron Sexsmith’s hopeful “Maybe This Christmas.”

The charming two-minute gem features some stellar pedal steel guitar playing by former Low Road leader and current John Train member Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner. The song, penned by the Canadian songwriter Sexsmith, was originally the title track of a 2002 holiday compilation that raised money for Toys For Tots.

Philly Specials producer Charlie Hall, who brought the song to Kelce, sung its praises in a statement, applauding “the shape of the melody, the way the chords have their own melodic arc, the feel,” as well as its “message of hope and forgiveness.”

“It’s a very beautiful song,” Kelce said in an interview in September. “Charlie played it for me and we knew we needed a really good female vocal lead on it. We heard that Stevie might be a possibility, and we floated it and sure enough, she came through. She’s an icon of rock and roll. To say that she’s on an album with three offensive linemen from the Philadelphia Eagles is pretty crazy.”

“Maybe This Christmas” expresses modest hopes for healing and reconciliation. A sentiment particularly resonant this year as the holiday season approaches, and the nation tries to recover from a bitterly divisive election year.

It’s a tender duet. “Maybe this Christmas will mean something more,” Kelce sings in the first verse, “maybe this year love will appear deeper than before.” Nicks follows with “Maybe forgiveness will ask us to call someone we love, someone we’ve lost for reasons we can’t recall.” That isn’t too much to wish for, is it?

Philly band Mt. Joy’s “Astrovan” gets a holly jolly makeover on the third single from A Philly Special Christmas Party.

It’s another Jason Kelce special, with the retired Hall of Fame-bound center pairing off with Mt. Joy singer and lyricist Matt Quinn, with new lyrics that transform the original song’s hippie Jesus into a weed loving, Eagles rooting Saint Nick.

The Mt. Joy singer takes the first verse in a vocal duet with Kelce that was recorded in Conshohocken before the band’s cofounder Sam Cooper and other band members finished off their parts in Los Angeles with producer Caleb Nelson.

Quinn sings of “reindeers smoking cigarettes” over a strummed acoustic guitar and a Santa Claus who cruises towards Broad & Pattison listening to Jerry Garcia.

Kelce comes in along with the booming drums, singing about missing lost loved ones over the holidays, before Quinn sings of his wish that one day “a doobie smoking Santa puts me on his nice list.” The song pulls off the nifty trick of adapting one of Philly’s biggest band’s signature songs and bringing it into the Philly Specials universe.

You can listen to A Philly Special Christmas Party and still win at Whamageddon. That’s the game in which players aim to avoid hearing Wham’s 1984 hit “Last Christmas” for as long as they possibly can, in the run up to the holiday starting on Dec. 1.

But here’s the thing: Covers don’t count! So Eagles Xmas fans can spin this perfectly pleasurable Jordan Mailata-sung version of the George Michael-penned holiday classic to their heart’s content. The Christmas Party singles released before the album drop this year have all featured the perfectly adequate vocals of Jason Kelce. This opening track of the album is a reminder that Mailata is the singular singer in the bunch.

The first hit version of the Christmas classic written by Johnny Marks in 1945 was by singing cowboy Gene Autry. So it’s appropriate that Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson, the Texas native who is the Philly Specials’ country specialist, tackles the tune.

It’s a no frills, nothing fancy, cheerful take on the classic fable about an antlered outcast whose shiny proboscis turns out to be just the headlights Santa needs to save Christmas from white out conditions. Johnson is a charming presence on the mic, with a delivery that would have fit in nicely with 1950s era country crooners like Autry.

Technically, this is not a Christmas song. And the Philly Specials, joined by saxophonist Nasir Dickerson, don’t bastardize Sam Cooke’s 1962 hit with any sort of jingle bellish holiday decoration. Instead, producer Charlie Hall wisely pairs off the gifted Mailata with Gilfillian, the equally agile vocalist who grew up in Delaware County and is now based in Nashville. The track is a joyous workout on Cooke’s hit that is also a Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes’ staple. Should there ever be full fledged Philly Specials Christmas concert, this is the encore.

It had to happen. Kelce, Mailata, and Johnson as Alvin, Simon and Theodore. Originally released as “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” in 1958, the enduring novelty was written and recorded by Ross Bagdasarian (under the pen name David Seville). It gives the singing Eagles the opportunity to goof off and interact with their offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, who’s credited on the album as “spiritual advisor.”

Kelce of course, steps into the attention-loving role of Alvin, who can’t be found when the recording session begins, causing Stoutland to call out his name in exasperation, and later to scold him for singing “a little flat.” (Hey, he said it, I didn’t.) Looking forward to seeing Philly Specials cover artist Hannah Westerman’s drawings of the vocal trio rendered as chipmunks.

Jordan Mailata doesn’t speak Spanish but you wouldn’t know it from the mellifluous way he sings the “Mis Diseos” intro to Jose Feliciano’s 1970 bilingual Christmas song. The inclusion of that intro — which translates to “My Wishes” — is inspired by the version recorded by Canadian crooner Michael Bublé with Mexican singer Thalia for his mega-selling Christmas album.

This take on Feliciano’s joyously simple holiday staple — the singer just wants to wish you a merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year — is a typical, high quality Philly Specials production, with a light-on-its-feet arrangement, and Mailata joined by Idaho-born, New York-based singer Emily Braden, who also sings on “Last Christmas.”

Along with “It’s Christmas Time In Cleveland Heights,” “Loud Little Town” is the second brand new bespoke Christmas song written for Jason Kelce to pair off with a duet partner. It’s penned by Brandon Beaver, the guitarist who’s been a key player in the Philly music scene with indie bands Buried Beds, mewithoutYou, and Make A Rising.

Kelce’s duet partner this time is …. surprise! … his wife Kylie. The song is a gentle gem that tells the tender tale of a couple through the years at Christmas, from the pitter patter of children’s feet heard around the tree, to the kids being gone and the house filled with ghostly quiet. Kylie Kelce makes the most of her Philly Specials debut with a sweet vocal turn that balances out her hubby’s gruff rumble.

On the first Eagles Christmas album in 2022, Jordan Mailata teamed with Lady Alma on “Merry Christmas, Baby,” the R&B hit by jazz and blues pianist Charles Brown in 1947, which was later recorded by Otis Redding and Bruce Springsteen.

Now, Mailata moves on to another of Brown’s signature holiday songs, 1960′s “Please Come Home For Christmas.” (It should also be noted that the song was also recorded in 1978 by a rock group with a familiar name: The Eagles.) James Poyser of The Roots is on keys, guitarist Kevin Hanson plays the blues. and Mailata puts his own confident stamp on one of the most timeless, bittersweet classics of the holiday season.

Leroy Anderson’s rondo was originally performed by the Boston Pops and recorded by the Andrews Sisters and Ella Fitzgerald before The Ronettes cut the best known version in 1963, for Phil Spector’s A Christmas Gift For You.

For the Philly Specials’ lightly funked up version, 6 foot 8, 360 pound Mailata is the nimble vocalist navigating tricky rhythmic terrain as the songs scoots over the snow-covered countryside with plenty of “giddy up, giddy up, let’s go!” Upper Darby-raised rising star jazz sax player Immanuel Wilkins’ solo makes the chestnuts go “pop, pop, pop!”

In the booming holiday music business, a plaintive goodbye song that’s an alternative to “Auld Lang Syne” is needed. Enter “The Parting Glass.” The 17th century Scottish traditional song has been recently recorded by Celtic Woman, boygenius, and Ed Sheeran.

Jason Kelce takes the lead on this a cappella version, with Mailata and Johnson supporting him in harmony. It’s a poignant closing track on what’s planned to be the final Philly Specials album, with lyrics that likely resonate with the band of brothers as they put their unlikely musical adventure behind them. And for Kelce who has moved on “from the camaraderie of the gridiron” on-field.

“Of all the comrades that e’er I had, they’re sorry for my going away,” Kelce sings. “But since it falls unto my lot that I should rise and you should not, I gently rise and softly call: Good night and joy be to you all!”