Leave it to Michael Franks to put a new spin on holiday tunes.  Rather than cover the tired and true, Franks gives us a set of new original tunes to get us through the entire winter season, making the album title Watching The Snow appropriate for its general overall mood.

While there are some Christmas songs on the album (“I Bought You A Plastic Star for Your Aluminum Tree,” “Christmas in Kyoto,” and “Island Christmas” with Veronica Nunn), others are more oriented toward the colder months of the year (“Said The Snowflake” and the title track).  Franks is in his trademark smooth downtempo mode on many of these tracks, making this one of those great late night fireside albums.