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Check
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around Winnipeg tonight! |
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Check
out this week’s
online CD reviews by our
music staff |
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Harry
Connick Jr.
Harry For The Holidays
(Columbia)
B+
Website: harryconnickjr.com
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Oddly terrifying
as a serial killer in Copycat, and very unfunny as Leo on
Will and Grace, Connick Jr. has forsaken acting for the moment
and returned to what he does best — crooning, Sinatra
style. This time Harry is laying down some serious lounge-lizard
versions of Christmas tunes, Southern Comfortably sung over
top of a big band (which he conducts). The big-band approach
works well on the jaunty tunes, such as Frosty the Snowman,
but loses some of its appeal on such solemn classics as Silent
Night and O Little Town of Bethlehem. Connick Jr. also adds
four songs of his own composition and which prove only that
Christmas carols may be a closed genre. Modern attempts often
come off as lame and overly cute, and The Happy Elf is a perfect
example. Nevertheless, the big-band treatment and smooth voice
salvage any misses, making this disc a future classic.
Mike Warkentin |
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The
Mediaeval Baebes
Mistletoe and Wine
(Nettwerk)
A
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The name of this band
is half right, unless we’re talking about style, in
which case it’s totally correct. The Baebes Christmas
CD is a lot like listening to three or four Enyas singing
with a bunch more Enyas softly playing mediaeval instruments
in the misty background. The result: A layered, harmonic album
that will give you flashbacks to scenes from Robin Hood: Prince
of Thieves and perhaps the occasional mediaeval-themed acid
trip. Mistletoe and Wine is dreamlike and melodic, smooth
and trance-inducing; the kind of record you put on at 3 a.m.
on Christmas Eve when it’s time to mellow out. The harmonies
are exquisite and the delivery is crisp and haunting. A flagon
of mead for the minstrels.
MW |
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Various
Artists
Christmas Remixed
(Six Degrees)
C
Website: www.veryspecial.org
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A long-time criticism
of classic Christmas music is you just can’t dance to
it. Bing Crosby might sing a wicked Silver Bells, but sometimes
you just wanna shake it around the Christmas tree and it’s
like Bing never heard of a bass drum or turntable. Well, no
more. Six Degrees has changed music forever by setting all
your parent’s holiday favourites to kicked up beats,
samples and scratching. They claim to want to expand music
and blend genres, and they have succeeded at that. However,
if you aren’t on the cutting edge of holiday dance music,
you might be checking this disc for scratches during Andy
Williams’ It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the
Year. A novelty disc for the modern Christmas par-tay.
MW |
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Various
Artists
A Very Special Acoustic Christmas
(Lost Highway)
B
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The sixth in the A
Very Special... series, this instalment features country greats
doing acoustic versions of Christmas classics. Pretty standard
fare here; no real surprises, naughty or nice. Alan Jackson,
Patty Loveless, Willie (The Man) Nelson and Ricky Skaggs all
kick in a tune for this Special Olympics fundraiser. A Very
Special... 6 is worth a listen simply because it’s a
standard Christmas CD that offers a change from Boney M without
abusing the genre. There are two instrumental gems to be found
here; Sam Bush performing Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It
Snow! on mandolin, of course, and Earl Scruggs making the
banjo your favourite instrument with Jingle Bells. If only
the Man In Black was here...
MW |
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Pavlo
Frostbite: Music for the Holidays
(Sleeping Giant Music)
C
Website: www.pavlo.net
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I first drank tequila
via a seemingly innocent but ultimately malignant concoction
called tequila poppers. These involved cheap Mexican spirits,
Canada Dry ginger ale, banging your glass on the table (hand
covering the top) and downing the frothy contents. Fun at
first, not pleasant after three or four. Pavlo’s Christmas
album feels like that experience — at first it’s
a zesty, spicy novelty to hear songs such as Away in a Manger
and Little Drummer Boy played by a Latin guitarist to a rumba
beat. After a while, however, the novelty is gone, the music
becomes cloyingly sweet and the urge to flee to the nearest
rec room bathroom comes over me. OK, not quite, but this collection
does become rather tiresome very quickly.
John Kendle |
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Whitney
Houston
One Wish: The Holiday Album
Arista/BMG
C
Website: www.whitneyhouston.com
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After nearly 20 years
I guess it’s impossible to hope Whitney Houston will
one day get over herself (and/or break free of her husband
and handlers) and put together a simple album of unvarnished
singing. A record of Christmas tunes, you’d think, might
have been a perfect opportunity for this girl to just stand
there and belt it out. But no. She has to include cameos from
her kids; several overproduced, lame-ass dance treatments;
and the usual over-the-top vocal histrionics on almost every
cut, as if she was an Idol contestant or something. Yes, she
can sing; yes, she has a great voice — BUT WOULD SOMEBODY
PLEASE TELL THIS WOMAN THAT LESS IS SOMETIMES MORE. Thanks
in advance.
JK |
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Various
Artists
hOMe for the Holidays
(OM Records/Distribution III)
B+
Website: www.omrecords.com
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Here’s a different
twist, at least. U.S. boutique deejay/electronic label Om
Records has commissioned 11 songs from 10 of its artists (Kaskade
has two cuts here) and put together a rather atypical Xmas
album. These aren’t just reworkings of Christmas songs
— they are remakes from top to-bottom, replete with
ambient grooves, deejay scratches, soundscape pastiches and
totally new beats. In fact, in most cases it’s hard
to tell this is even a Christmas cut. Play it for your kid
brother, tell him it’s a new chill-out vibe you just
picked up and he won’t be any the wiser. Better yet,
play it at your parents’ place while the turkey’s
being carved — just to see the reaction.
JK |
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Ashanti
Ashanti’s Christmas
(The Inc/Island Def Jam)
B
Website: www.ashantimusic.net
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Oh, here’s a
new idea — take a relatively new R&B sensation and
cash in on her newfound success with a quickie Christmas album.
This time around it’s the turn of Ashanti Douglas, a
studio singer who sang backups for the likes of J.Lo and Big
Pun before getting her own deal. Though she’s being
treated as a cookie-cutter talent with this project, there’s
enough charm in these treatments to make you realize that,
behind the empty headed money grab of this album, there is
a real vibe and personality. Now let’s hope she’s
hooked up with some songs and producers who will take her
even further with her next studio album.
JK |
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Various
Artists
Maybe This Christmas Too?
(Nettwerk Productions)
A
Website: www.maybethisxmas.com
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OK. After all the
ranting and raving of previous reviews it’s time to
get nice. Every year, one Christmas album does indeed stand
above the others. It’s usually not a vanity project,
like those of Whitney, Ashanti and Pavlo, and it’s usually
a compilation which happens to capture the passion of performers
who dare to take on Yuletide tunes already loaded with meaning
for most people. This is that album. From Rufus Wainwright’s
Spotlight on Christmas through Guster’s campy Donde
Esta Santa Claus, this Nettwerk Productions compilation is
a true gem. Check out The Flaming Lips’ White Christmas
or Oh Susanna’s Go Tell it on the Mountain if you want
some true musical personality this year. And did I mention
that Winnipeg-raised Chantal Kreviazuk outsings Avril Lavigne
on O Holy Night (a song Chantal produced)? Or that a portion
of proceeds go to buying toys for needy kids? Now I have.
JK |
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