Neil Diamond [ tickets ]'s entry into the holiday album sweepstakes isn't nearly as shocking or surprising as labelmate Bob Dylan's. In fact, Diamond released two previous Christmas albums in the '90s (1992's "The Christmas Album" and 1994's "The Christmas Album Volume II"). What is surprising is that eight of the 14 tracks on this effort are remastered versions of recordings from those sets.

Though Diamond, like Dylan, is a pop music legend, at various points in his career he's traveled the middle of the road with a long string of cheesy and over-produced efforts before he joined forces with Rick Rubin, stripped everything down, and rediscovered his cool. Despite a title alluding to his 1966 breakthrough hit, neither the newly recorded title track, nor anything else on "A Cherry Cherry Christmas" swings with the energy of classic Diamond, save for the wildcard cover of Adam Sandler's "The Chanukah Song." In that track, Diamond embraces his Jewish heritage, redeems himself for the schmaltz, and shows off the sense of humor that spurred him to make self-effacing cameos in a few films over the last decade. During the spoken-word intro, he sounds nearly as stiff as William Shatner, who is referenced later in the song's list of famous Jews. Yet, once the track kicks into gear, Diamond gives a full-throated performance that's bound to make Adam Sandler proud--that is, if he's not annoyed that N.D. had the chutzpah to put a "don't" in front his pro-pot statement "smoke some marijuana-kah."

Elsewhere on "A Cherry Cherry Christmas," you get Diamond crooning his way through holiday classics backed by session pros like Waddy Wachtel on guitar and Beck's father, David Campbell, handling string and vocal arrangements. It's all very nice and pleasant, but one can't help but wish that Diamond had enlisted Rubin to help make this a hipper holiday party.