12.22.06

It won’t seem like Christmas (without this review)

Posted in back catalogue, some albums we done liked others we ain't - December 22nd, 2006 at 10:55 am by Mimi

It’s the holidays. Suck it up and cope. Shopping sucks. Going in the debt for the beginning of a new year sucks more. But there are cookies and parties where you get drunk and embarrass yourself in front of your colleagues to look forward to (and if you’re really lucky, you’re the one taking the embarrassing pictures instead of the one starring in them).

And in salute to the season where it’s acceptable to be drunk in the middle of the day and people break down crying for no discernable reason, I’m going to review three very different Christmas albums. (And if you think these suck, then drop us a line and send us what you think is a decent holiday record. They are not easy to come by, Judgey McJudge.)

Cricket, incidentally, loathes Christmas music, cementing my place as the Pollyanna of this outfit. [Bah humbug.—Cric]

First up in this holiday madness is Sarah McLachlan’s recent Wintersong. Look, it was really tempting to just go with the soundtrack of The Muppet’s Christmas Carol and spare myself the torture of pop music Christmas albums, but I took on for the team here.

Now, the thing with Sarah McLachlan is that she is very much like the red cashmere sweater your aunt makes you for Hanukkah. On one hand, it’s red cashmere and homemade, which is sweet and also awesome. On the other hand, it’s got these buttons on it shaped like Scottish terriers. I mean, the sweater’s gorgeous, but those buttons are both inexplicable and hideous.

So here you have Sarah covering a range of winter-themed songs. “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” is a lovely little cover of a standard pop music Christmas song which is more sonorous than the original. “What Child Is This” is the sort of song made for someone with Sarah’s vocal rang and timber, and she executes it beautifully with accompanying harpsichord and flute to a very rich effect.

Joni Mitchell’s “River” is one of my favorite Christmas-themed songs. “It don’t snow here, it stays pretty green. I’m gonna make a lot of money and then quit this crazy scene.” I think encapsulates the stranded in no-winter feeling that a lot of people who move out of the snowbelt feel during the holidays. Again, Sarah McLachlan has a resonant, rich voice, and her vocals on this cover are rich and expressive. The production, though, is strangely wistful layered by bad pop music “texture” that adds nothing to the track. This song works better sparse. The echoing “piano” has to go.

I think Christmas is the season of over-produced tinselly butter-rich music. The trumpet on “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” is perfect, candy silver bell on top of an ice sugar cookie. Ok, I will stop with the excruciating food metaphors now.

“In the Bleak Midwinter” is again a solid track with a traditional English feel to it. She should do a whole record of this sort of tune. Maybe fairy-themed? I don’t know, it seems like something her demo would enjoy. I’m just giving suggestions here.

This album is actually worth it for the better tracks. Judge for yourself if I’m being assy about the production here.

*

Next up is Elvis’ The Christmas Collection. I won’t even attempt to lie about this: Elvis’ Christmas music is the soundtrack of the Christmases of my youth, and I have very little ability to be reasonable about it. How can anyone born since WWII hear Elvis’s version of “Blue Christmas” and not instantly either warm or have flashbacks to Christmases of yore? His inflection of those lyrics always make me laugh to myself because it’s just so Elvis.

“Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me)” has that delicious retro feeling about it that so many acts right now to reproduce and just fail with all their silly “irony” robbing their music of the free-flowing cheese that makes all the real classics of schlock so truly fun.

Elvis’ version of “White Christmas” also doesn’t disappoint in the wonderfully Velveeta stakes.

”Merry Christmas Baby” is one of those almost-sexy in a weird sort of white people ripping off soul music way that Elvis was an expert at. Who doesn’t want Elvis to kiss them under the mistletoe (especially if you get a car out of the deal)?

The best tracks on this album are the sacred songs. There are far too few of them, but all three are old stand-bys of Deep South Protestantism: “O, Come All Ye Faithful,” “The First Noel,” and “Silent Night.” Only “Little Town of Bethlehem” is missing to make this like the play list from every caroling expedition I went on with my youth group.

You probably either already own this or wouldn’t touch it with someone else’s severed hand, so I guess I just got to talk about Elvis for a bit.

*

Finally, Jennifer Daniels, A Thrill of Hope. We met Jennifer Daniels at a show she preformed in Nashville and she was so awesome we decided to keep her. Her home base is Chattanooga, but she tours most of the year, so there’s a good chance you can see her with her side man Jeff Neal somewhere by you soon(ish).

So, why should you buy this besides the fact that she’s a working musician who needs the money more than The Man?

If you like original songs about the holidays, the first track, “Word About the Star” is a moody, singer-songwriter piece about relationship issues, god, Christmas, and life in general. Her voice here is nearly transcendental, especially the end of the track where her voice is layered over itself to create a harmony that reminds me of Damien Rice (in a good way).

Her “O Holy Night” is a stunning rendition, and I honestly can not overstate how resonant and moving her voice is.

“O Come Emmanuel” isn’t a carol I am very familiar with, so I was a little shocked to hear this creepy re-imagining of it. There’s a crawling, plodding, looming feel to this song. Even as she sings “Rejoice!” it sounds more like the cast of “Nightmare Before Christmas” attempting to get into the holiday “spirit” than your standard pious nightmare of a Christmas carol. This song works on a level that is far more complex than the plucky, relentlessly cheerful pap we normally get this time of year.

“Silent Night” wraps the EP up by echoing the tone of the first track, all sparse guitar and clear, moving vocals. This has an almost alt-country feel to it, probably only there because of Jennifer’s slightly country vowels on some words. Beautiful.

Buy this album and support a great indie artist.

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