Director Alfredo De Villa's Nothing Like the Holidays is a comedy drama examining the lives of a Puerto Rican family gathered for Christmas in Chicago, which provides the impetus for this "music from the motion picture" collection of tracks by various artists. The different generations of the family seem to have their favorites, dating back to the old-school rap of
Doug E. Fresh & the Get Fresh Crew's 1980s hit "The Show" and the new jack swing of
Color Me Badd's 1990s hit "I Wanna Sex You Up." Salsa is represented by
Eddie Palmieri ("El Molestoso II") and
Celia Cruz ("La Medicina Cubana"). The background score for the film is credited to
Paul Oakenfold, and while this is not a score album,
Oakenfold's hand is all over it, as producer of
Axxent Featuring Boi's Latin rap "Mi Familia" and co-writer of
Spitfire's "Latin Lover";
Oakenfold is also credited as the performing artist on "Parranda Christmas Medley: The First Noel/Oh Come All Ye Faithful" and "The Humboldt Park Suite." The latter, an eight-and-a-half-minute track, actually does sound like scoring, and it suggests a warm and sweet, if non-traditional, approach to the holiday season.