Every year, new holiday fare is released to the public to satiate their never-ending desire to hear Christmas music. It amazes me how the music industry continues to recycle the same Christmas songs year after year in various packages, by every conceivable artist known to man, and we keep buying. From James Galway to N'Sync and everybody in between, Christmas music sells and sells and sells. One of the nice things about this time of year is we all enjoy music by artists that we would never otherwise think of listening to the rest of the year. A case in point is my daughter. She knows nothing about Nat King Cole except for his Christmas album and his perennial chestnut (pun intended), "The Christmas Song." While she enjoys this standard holiday tune very much, she would never consider listening to anything else he recorded without poking fun at the old folks who realize that Cole was one of the great jazz and pop singers of his era. At what other time of year do adults voluntarily listen to and sing along with novelties like "The Chipmunk Song" and "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" rather than changing the radio station. Keeping the above in mind, following are reviews of seven Christmas CDs, old and new, worthy of your consideration.
NEW AGE: ****Ottmar Leibert -- Christmas Santa Fe (Epic Records) released 2000
This terrific release by acoustic new age guitarist Ottmar Leibert was my favorite new Christmas release of 2000. On every track Leibert plays his usual laid back guitar while briefly blending his own original compositions, all with titles related to the season, into the midsections of traditional holiday tunes which include "The Holly and the Ivy", "Deck the Halls," "What Child is This," "Silent Night," and nine others. The percussion is tastefully light, maintaining a jazzy beat while using bongos and other assorted beat keepers in lieu of full drum kits. Deftly placed muted horns embellish the airy arrangements. This disc is great as background dinner music or for roasting those chestnuts over Nat King Cole's open fire.
Christmas Santa Fe is just a tad better than his 1991 Christmas release, Poets and Angels, Music 4 the Holidays, because its song selection is better and the slightly southwestern feel it offers the listener (hence the title) makes it far more original than most acoustic guitar-oriented albums. A pleasure all around.
POP: ***Jewel -- Joy: A Holiday Collection (Atlantic Records) released 1999
What a surprise! This album is superior to either of Jewel's two regular releases because the singer-songwriter shows what she can do with really good songs that demonstrate her flair as a talented interpretive singer.
Jewel has always demonstrated a wide range in her vocal abilities, singing the low parts as well as she can sing the high ones. Her voice lacks power but her several octave range more than compensates. Nothing displays her vocal prowess better than her treatment of "O Holy Night," a very difficult song to master and the highlight of the CD. Another gem is the rarely recorded "Go Tell It On The Mountain."
The album sags toward the end as Jewel tacks a couple of her own non-Christmas songs on to the disc, although lyrically they seem marginally appropriate within the context of the rest of the album. Why she includes her hit song "Hands" in this collection is a mystery. The Christmas version of "Hands" is only made to seem like a holiday song by the addition of seasonal bells placed throughout the arrangement. Am I quibbling? Maybe, but this album is still worth checking out.
These two CDs contain 20 classic songs, 10 on each disc. All were top 40 hits or million sellers over the decades since they were recorded. Most have become perennial classics, heard every December, over and over again.
Volume 1 contains Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" and Gene Autry's original version of Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Also included are "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," from 1952 and featuring one hit wonder, 12 year old Jimmy Boyd, plus Eartha Kitt's "Santa Baby."
Volume 2 is even better due to the presence of much loved Christmas songs such as "Jingle Bell Rock," "The Chipmunk Song," Elvis's "Blue Christmas," Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," "Nuttin for Christmas," and the aforementioned tune about Grandma's misadventure with one of Santa's reindeer.
These two great discs highlight the fun side of Christmas, but beware. Each loses a star because the CDs are very short. All of the music featured here could fit easily on one CD. The combined playing time for both discs is under 60 minutes. Because each disc retails at regular CD prices consumers are victims of a major ripoff.
NEW AGE: **** John Boswell – Festival of the Heart (Hearts of Space Music) Released 1992
In short, Festival of the Heart is one of the best Christmas albums ever recorded. Even the cover art is gorgeous. The crystal clear production of this totally instrumental CD is only one of the many wonders you will notice upon listening to John Boswell’s beautiful arrangements of fourteen immortal Christmas classics plus two of his originals.
Most of these traditional songs are heard so often over the holiday season one tends to forget that many of these carols are some of the best melodies ever written. Boswell’s sparse arrangements remind you that Christmas carols are music and not just audio decorations that complement your nutcracker and tree ornaments. His intensely melodic piano playing makes you understand and appreciate just how beautiful the melodies to “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “Silent Night,” “What Child Is This (Greensleeves),” and “O Holy Night” really are.
Boswell’s supporting cast enhances each track while playing such instruments as the penny whistle, guitar, English horn, flute and synthesizer. The exotic percussion instruments played by Omar Faruk Tekbilik provide “The Little Drummer Boy” with a very original Middle Eastern treatment.
Festival of the Heart is readily available through many Internet websites, with Amazon.com providing audio clips where you can sample this wonderful piece of work.
ROCK: **** Chicago – Chicago 25: The Christmas Album (Chicago Records) Released 1998
It’s been a long time since Chicago, the American rock band that ranks second only behind the Beach Boys in terms of commercial success, was on the cutting edge of rock music. Newer fans may not realize how eclectic and influential the band was in the early 70’s. Their artistic peak came so long ago that the group’s more recent fans were only familiar with the power ballads that featured the now departed Peter Cetera on diva-like lead vocals while the band played over-produced, bombastic arrangements in which the brass section was treated only as an accessory that no longer provided any musical substance. If you were a fan of their vintage period the drippy Cetera ballads became very hard to take.
Therefore, I was both happy and very surprised to hear Chicago 25, The Christmas Album, their best release of the 90’s. Despite the fact this disc is influenced more by their later pop-rock style than their early psychedelic, blues-rock and jazz days that launched them to stardom in 1969, I must give the group credit: they play these popular Christmas songs and carols with a verve and spirit I haven’t heard from their ranks in years. A band that issued years of formulaic drivel strictly for commercial purposes appears to have upped its artistic goals a degree.
The horn section still consists of all three original members. Section leader James Pankow on trombone, Lee Loughnane on trumpet, and Walter Parazaider on saxophone and flute, have more influence on the recording process than at any time in the last two decades. Except for their 1995 release Night and Day: Big Band you would have to go back all the way to 1974's Chicago VII to find a time when the horns were this involved in every aspect of the production. They are even soloing again. Loughnane plays piccolo trumpet on the CD's only original song, his own "Child's Prayer," and he rocks out on "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow." Parazaider's flutes are everywhere. He is featured on both C flute and alto flute while playing a duet with himself on “O Come All Ye Faithful.” All of this is very good because Chicago has proven too often that they were just another generic rock band when the horns were de-emphasized.
Original member Robert Lamm and longtime replacement members Bill Champlin and Jason Scheff all share lead and background vocals while arranging duties are shared with the horn section. The combination offers the listener a diverse set of songs that are mostly upbeat treatments of traditional carols and holiday standards. Hearing Chicago play Christmas songs everyone has heard time and again in their unique style is a real treat. Highlights include “Let It Snow," in which the horn section generates enough energy to light up a city street, a nice R & B version of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" with Champlin on lead vocal,” and "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town."
The Brian Setzer Orchestra takes their loud, rocking big band formula and applies it to some classic holiday music, revitalizes it, and makes it totally their own. If you missed this CD upon its initial release last year you must grab your wallet, run to the Christmas music section of your local CD store, and lay down your holiday green so you can start your party early this year.
Setzer’s flaming, frantic, greaser rock guitar dominates many of the hard rocking charts while always meshing perfectly with the brass and reed sections on the such seasonal standards as “Sleigh Ride,” “Winter Wonderland” and “Jingle Bells.” Setzer welds his leather jacket and tattoo persona perfectly into the lyrics of the latter classic by changing the closing line to “Oh what fun it is to ride in a '57 Chevrolet.” These songs are always overplayed every Christmas but the fresh, hard rocking arrangements Setzer offers up make you believe you have never heard any of them before.
Not every track roars at breakneck speed. The pace slows down a bit for guest Ann-Margaret who can still act like a sultry vixen while singing a sexy counterpoint with Setzer on “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” Another highlight is the most eclectic piece the orchestra has ever recorded, a seven minute jazz-influenced arrangement of “The Nutcracker Suite” originally written for the Les Brown big band in the 1950s. Setzer’s version, replete with many tempo and key changes is more jazzy than classical and it even rocks a little too. It is also wonderful. “So They Say It’s Christmas” is Setzer’s only original song on the disc and is a welcome ballad after all the bombast, and never in his entire career has Setzer been as serious as when he recorded an emotional version “O Holy Night” recorded with a thirty voice choir. You could sing this version in church!
This is a great CD from start to finish. Mostly it is fun, but it is also frequently very moving.
SOFT ROCK: *** James Taylor– A Christmas Album (Hallmark) Released November 1, 2004
James Taylor's first ever Christmas CD, simply titled A Christmas Album, is now available only at Hallmark stores. I have bought some of these Hallmark Christmas CDs in past years and they are usually mediocre or worse, partially because only half of the tracks are by the featured artist. The remaining tracks usually feature the London Symphony Orchestra who, at least on these Christmas CDs, is a group with very plodding arrangements. However, this year Hallmark has outdone themselves. A Christmas Album features JT on all 11 tracks, is produced by jazzman Dave Grusin, and features trumpeter Chris Botti on "Winter Wonderland," Natalie Cole on "Baby It's Cold Outside," and harmonica player Toots Theilemans on “The Christmas Song.” Other jazz stalwarts such as guitarists John Pizzarelli and Michael Landau are prominently featured throughout the album as is Grusin’s piano. This is Grusin’s CD almost as much as it is Taylor’s because he did all of the producing and arranging and wrote the CD's only original song, “Who Comes This Night.”
The CD’s tone is typical Taylor, meaning it never strays too far from his trademark soft folky rock but this one has a touch of smooth jazz sprinkled throughout because of the Grusin influence. Taylor tries to kick it up a notch at least once every album and this time he pulls it off with a bluesy version of “Jingle Bells.”
As always, the CD will be sold this year in Hallmark stores only, and next year at non-Hallmark stores that carry its product line, and then it is over. Done! Finished! Out of print forever! I have a feeling Taylor's will sell much faster than than any of the previous Hallmark Christmas CDs so run out right now and buy your copy because this may be the last Taylor music we see for awhile. For the first time in his long career he is without a label. He and Columbia parted ways after releasing October Road in 2002.
I know this sounds like a commercial but the word needs to spread. The album is $10.95 if you purchase it alone but the price drops to $6.95 if you buy three greeting cards. This time of year most of us will probably purchase at least that many so this disc is a potential steal.
Both JT and Grusin have seen to it that this album is far superior to any of the previous Hallmark limited edition holiday releases. If you like James Taylor you will like this album.
