Ringing in Your Ears

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/12/2010 (5725 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Christmas is the time when bells finally get their due.

There are silver bells, sleigh bells and jingle bells ring ring ringing in songs played endlessly during the month of December. The instruments even have their own song: Carol of the Bells.

Do you hear what we hear?

If you don’t, there are plenty of new holiday albums filled with songs about things that go ring-a-ding-ding to choose from this year, with almost every genre of music represented and everyone from pop star Mariah Carey to the cast of Glee spreading their versions of goodwill towards everyone and wishing for joy to the world.

With so many artists and labels hoping you’ll part with your holiday bucks to make them the soundtrack to your tree-trimming and merriment, the jolly elves at the Winnipeg Free Press have listened to every new seasonal release we received to ensure your silent nights are filled with only the brightest stars and sweetest jingles.

The ratings are from one to five snowflakes, with one snowflake representing a big lump of coal and five meaning peace on earth, which really would be the best present ever.

Discs were reviewed by Wendy Burke, Emily King, Beverley Lunney, Brad Oswald, Alex Paul, Ashley Prest, Paul Samyn, Carol Sanders, Chris Smith, Rob Williams and Jill Wilson.

Have a musical Christmas, everyone.

 

SUSIE ARIOLI FEATURING JORDAN OFFICER

Christmas Dreaming (Spectra Musique)

The offering: Montreal singer Arioli applies her minimalist approach to a dozen tunes with the aid of excellent guitarist Jordan Officer. Arioli’s delightful voice easily carries the songs without the need for the oh-so-common orchestration.

Classic chestnuts: Popular tunes such as Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Winter Wonderland and I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm sound great in this pared-down form that accentuates the voice and lyrics.

New jingles: Call Collect on Christmas, a bluegrass number, Roger Miller’s Old Toy Trains and the title track, a lesser-known Christmas tune originally recorded by Frank Sinatra, are all a treat. 4 snowflakes

— Chris Smith

 

BOWFIRE

Holiday Heart Strings (Lenny Solomon Productions)

The offering: Canada’s Bowfire plucks and bows its way through a mostly upbeat collection of holiday medleys and stand-alone jingle singles.

Classic chestnuts: The album opens with a melodramatic version of Carol of the Bells followed by a haunting take on Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies. There’s a by turns moving and spirited arrangement of I Saw Three Ships, and after that the mostly contemporary fare — Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Felice Navidad — is meant to get your feet tapping.

Coal in your stocking: Smashing together Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir with Do You Hear What I Hear is animal cruelty — using cat gut to make a racket like this should be outlawed. Even with added instrumentation, all those strings start to feel a whiny and frenetic after a while. 2 snowflakes

— Wendy Burke

 

SUSAN BOYLE

The Gift (Sony)

The offering: The famously Unplucked Virgin of Blackburn smoothes out your seasonal bumps with sweet vocals and gentle arrangements on a mix of traditional seasonal and contemporary not-so seasonal tunes.

Classic chestnuts: O Come All Ye Faithful, The First Noel, O Holy Night. Her chaste vocals are child-like and well-suited to songs in the choral style.

Street jingles: As sweet as her sound is, she’s unable to convey any real emotion in Leonard Cohen’s achingly sexual Hallelujah and she’s emotionally flat on Crowded House’s Don’t Dream It’s Over and Lou Reed’s Perfect Day. This album is proof that the cloistered life is a detriment to artistic expression. Time to get out of the cathedral and live it up a little. 2-1/2 snowflakes

— Wendy Burke

 

MARIAH CAREY

Merry Christmas II You (Island/Universal)

The offering: Mariah Carey, possibly just looking for an excuse to wear the tight-fitting Santa dress from her 1994 Christmas album again, serves up a holiday platter of soulful tunes.

Classic chestnuts: O Little Town of Bethlehem, Little Drummer Boy, The First Noel, Charlie Brown Christmas and other famous carols are beautifully performed, and makes this album worthwhile.

New jingles: The truly annoying Oh Santa! is clearly out of place, but is made up for by Christmas Time is in the Air Again and One Child. 4 snowflakes

— Beverley Lunney

 

CELTIC THUNDER

Christmas (Universal)

The offering: Irish vocal pop sextet/PBS stars Celtic Thunder don’t exactly make a big noise on this slick, smooth adult contemporary collection. With the exception of some Irish accents scattered throughout, there’s nothing at all remotely Celtic-sounding here.

Classic chestnuts: Silent Night, Winter Wonderland, It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas, Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow.

New jingles: A syrupy version of When You Wish Upon a Star will make you wish Jiminy Cricket was in the group; Wham’s Last Christmas gets the AM Gold treatment; and the group’s musical director Phil Coulter contributed the snappy Our First Christmas Together and ballad Going Home for Christmas, which both fit in perfectly. 2 snowflakes

— Rob Williams

 

SHERYL CROW

Home for Christmas (A&M/Universal)

The offering: A warm collection of mostly modern standards given the Memphis soul treatment by Crow and her crack band.

Classic chestnuts: A choir beefs up the bluesy Go Tell It on the Mountain, and there’s a swingin’ rendition of Merry Christmas, Baby, a struttin’ version of Blue Christmas, and an O Holy Night that’s a soaring showcase for Crow’s pure vocals.

New jingles: Crow’s There Is a Star That Shines Tonight is a lovely, string-laced tune with a gospel tinge and a message of peace. 4 snowflakes

— Jill Wilson

 

JACKIE EVANCHO

O Holy Night (Sony)

The offering: More of a multimedia promotional package than an actual Christmas-music collection, this CD/DVD combo features just four audio tracks along with video versions of Evancho’s America’s Got Talent performances.

Classic chestnuts: Silent Night and O Holy Night are beautifully delivered on the brief audio CD, and it’s actually better to listen to the immensely gifted 10-year-old than watch her on video, because seeing her onscreen adds the distracting task of trying to figure out how a talent so big can come out of a package so small.

New jingles: The audio component is rounded out by the operatic Panis Angelicus and Pie Jesu, which are also stunningly beautiful. 4 snowflakes

— Brad Oswald

 

OLIVER JONES, RANEE LEE, MONTREAL JUBILATION GOSPEL CHOIR

A Celebration in Time (Justin Time)

The offering: Montreal stalwarts — pianist Oliver Jones leading his trio, singer Ranee Lee fronting her quartet and the Jubilation Gospel Choir — take turns over nine tunes and join together for the 10th, Oscar Peterson’s classic Hymn to Freedom.

Classic chestnuts: The standard fare runs from Silent Night to Little Drummer Boy, to We Three Kings, all with a jazzy tinge thanks to the crack bands of Jones and Lee.

New jingles: Folk music Gras Bonye/Seigneur J’élève Ton Nom, featuring the Daphnée Louis Singers from Haiti, is added to the seasonal mix. 4-1/2 snowflakes

— Chris Smith

 

FLORENCE K

Havana Angels (Red Blues)

The offering: Breathy Montreal bossa nova artist Florence K travels to Cuba to add some true Latin rhythms and jazz to her bilingual holiday-themed collection. Sand, palm trees and above-zero temperatures not included.

Classic chestnuts: Spicy versions of Blue Christmas, Santa Baby, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, I’ll Be Home for Christmas.

New jingles: Five of the 13 tracks are K originals and she covers Olha Pro Ceu by bossa nova pioneer Antonio Carlos Jobim and La Peregrinacion by Felix Cezar Luna and Ariel Ramirez for some extra authenticity. 3 snowflakes

— Rob Williams

 

ANNIE LENNOX

A Christmas Cornucopia (Decca/Universal)

The offering: The former Eurythmic goes the Sting route with a collection of Ye Olde carols that eschews secular commercial fodder — not a single Frosty or Rudolph here — and sticks with religious fare, albeit with a modern sonic twist.

Classic chestnuts: These are ancient oldies — The Coventry Carol, The Holly and the Ivy, Silent Night — and Lennox’s chilly vocal style and the icy electronic backing lends them a mournfulness that’s sometimes more bleak than celebratory. Which is kind of nice, actually.

New jingles: Lennox penned the bland Universal Child, but she shows more zeal at reinventing God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen as a crazy Middle-Eastern trance track and adding African instrumentation and the African Children’s Choir to less-familiar British carols. 4 snowflakes

— Jill Wilson

 

KATHARINE MCPHEE

Christmas Is the Time to Say I Love You (Universal)

The offering: Season 5 American Idol runner-up Katherine McPhee (who lost to Taylor Hicks) attempts to kick-start her stalled music career with a pleasant, if unsurprising and unassuming, collection of standard holiday favourites showcasing her big voice.

Classic chestnuts: Tasteful versions of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Jingle Bells, White Christmas, Silver Bells.

New jingles: McPhee co-wrote the ballad It’s Not Christmas Without You, and the title track might not be new, but it is a rarely covered tune originally written recorded by Billy Squier in 1981. Yes, that Billy Squier. (The original is actually quite good.) 2-1/2 snowflakes

— Rob Williams

 

THE O’JAYS

Christmas with the O’Jays (Saguaro Road)

The offering: A recently recorded collection of festive tunes by original O’Jays members Eddie Levert Sr. and Walter Williams Sr., both 68, that bears little resemblance to the multi-layered R&B stylings that made the group chart-toppers (with Back Stabbers and Love Train) back in the ’70s.

Classic chestnuts: Levert and Williams trade off the lead-vocal duties on versions of The First Noel, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Joy to the World, Silent Night, Jingle Bells and Oh, Holy Night that sound, sadly, rather thin and a bit forced.

New jingles: I’m What You Want This Christmas and ‘Cause It’s Christmas are instantly forgettable. 1 snowflake

— Brad Oswald

 

OX

Silent Night and Other Cowboy Songs (Cosmic Dave’s Record Factory)

The offering: Only a folk music fan will have heard of or care about Ox, a.k.a Mark Browning of Sudbury. Ox tramples Christmas cheer with his dreary, dragging, weed-induced take on the holiday. The promotional material calls it “the equivalent of Christmas morning on drugs.” What??

Classic chestnuts: Unrecognizable, hideous versions of Silent Night, Little Drummer Boy, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear. O Holy Night is a disaster.

New jingles: Xmas In the Jailhouse is a dumb song that drops the ball on its potential to be funny; Christmas With The Band is just stupid, with gutter-dwelling lyrics like — cover your ears, kiddies — “Wrapped up all the dope and tied with bows ready to smoke.” It’s all smelly, like Ox excrement. 1 snowflake (Note: single snowflake only because the liner notes include interesting history of the Christmas carols.)

— Ashley Prest

 

THE PRIESTS

Noel (RCA/Sony)

The offering: Fans of the popular trio Irish priests will love this album, and anyone who wants the sound of an old-fashioned Christian Christmas will want to add this to their Christmas mix. Think choral singing with voices like angels.

Classic chestnuts: Traditional British carols like The Holly and the Ivy, along with old favourites like Away in a Manger. If you go to church on Christmas Eve, this is the CD you want to listen to after the service.

New jingles: None, but some copies have the German version of Silent Night (Stille Nacht, heilge Nacht) and Shane McGowan of the Pogues stands out on a version of Little Drummer Boy. 5 snowflakes

— Alex Paul

 

QUARTETTO GELATO

The Magic of Christmas (Sleeping Giant/Linus)

The offering: Toronto’s avant-garde classical group Quartetto Gelato serves up orchestral and operatic renditions of oft-heard carols along with songs from the Nutcracker and a mini concerto. The 17-track disc is divided between instrumental selections, while Peter DeSotto’s soaring tenor handles the vocal heavy lifting on others.

Classic chestnuts: Exquisite versions of I’ll Be Home for Christmas, White Christmas, The Christmas Song, O Holy Night.

New jingles: Nothing is new, but the group veers from the regular fare with tunes from The Nutcracker, and this album might be the only holiday release this year to feature Arcangelo Corelli’s six movement Christmas Concerto, dating back to the 17th century. 3-1/2 snowflakes

— Rob Williams

 

QUINZY

Presents Feast! Quinzmas Live at the West End

The offering: A six-song document of the annual Christmas concert thrown by local popsters Quinzy, recorded in 2009 at the West End Cultural Centre.

Classic chestnuts: None. This EP of all-original material isn’t destined turn up on carollers’ set lists, but it has an enjoyable, all-hands-on-deck vibe that’s a good time any time of year.

New jingles: Everyone likes to Feast during the holidays, and the winter-hibernation theme of the pretty, propulsive The Decemberwolf’s is vaguely topical. The peppy, Polyphonic Spree-esque This Is Not a Circle namechecks Christmas and has a message of rejuvenation that fits the season. 3-1/2 snowflakes

— Jill Wilson

 

STRAIGHT NO CHASER

All I Want for Christmas (Atlantic/Warner)

The offering: What started as an a cappella men’s singing group at Indiana University hits all the right notes with this collection of festive favourites, traditional hymns and plenty of creative cheer. Serve up this double-disc set straight as the perfect chaser for your Christmas.

Classic chestnuts: Sprinkled among their strong harmonies is everything from a little Elvis to a shaken, not stirred, James Bond theme to a mean Mr. Grinch. But the performance deserving encore after encore is their rendition of The 12 Days of Christmas and its lyrical fun that ends up morphing into Toto’s Africa.

New jingles: The included DVD features a non-Christmas performance featuring their take on the likes of Bohemian Rhapsody, How Deep is your Love and Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours. 4 snowflakes

— Paul Samyn

 

TAYLOR SWIFT

The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection (Big Machine)

The offering: Swift indeed — this festive disc has just five songs, so it won’t take long to play it.

Classic chestnuts: There are three pop and traditional carols, like Wham’s Last Christmas, Santa Baby and Silent Night sung with Swift’s crystal-clear voice and twangy country guitar.

New jingles: The super-sad Christmases When You Were Mine (“I know this shouldn’t be a lonely time but there were Christmases when I didn’t wonder how you are tonight…”) and the upbeat, religious Christmas Must be Something More (“So here’s to the birthday boy who saved our lives / It’s something we all try to ignore…”). So why didn’t she call the disc her Christmas Collection, for heaven’s sake? 3 snowflakes

— Carol Sanders

 

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album (Sony)

The offering: A Glee-ful package of fan-friendly Christmas fare for die-hard Gleeks.

Classic chestnuts: Just when you thought Christmas couldn’t get any more commercial, TV’s high school sweethearts take on over-polished arrangements of God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman, Jingle Bells, Angels We Have Heard on High and O Holy Night.

New jingles: Deck the Rooftop is a wildly overproduced signature mash-up of Deck the Halls and Up on the Rooftop featuring Lea Michele and Cory Montieth. A particularly lame You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch with guest vocalist k.d. lang and a sappy Matthew Morrison deserves a Slushie facial. Don we now our gay with the best cut on the album, Chris Colfer’s and Darren Criss’ cheeky and charming version of Baby, It’s Cold Outside. Gleeks will sing its praises this year, but it won’t become a Christmas classic. 3 snowflakes

— Emily King

 

VARIOUS ARTISTS

We Wish You a Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year (Armoury)

The offering: If you hate the Carpenters and Perry Como but love Christmas and metal, this is the perfect album for you.

Classic chestnuts: Dez Fafara of DevilDriver breathes new life into Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer with passionate, angry death metal vocals. Alice Cooper’s spooky Santa Claws is Coming to Town is a warm reminder of his Welcome to my Nightmare album: “He sees you when you’re sleeping…he knows what’s under your bed.” Silent Night, sung by thrash metal vocalist Chuck Billy of Testament, is the song you crank to get rid of sloth-like guests who stick around too long after dinner but won’t help with dishes. Of 16 tracks, there was just one disappointment: Canada’s metal pioneers Anvil suck on Frosty the Snowman, with Steve (Lips) Kudlow’s sad, off-key vocals.

New jingles: None. 4 snowflakes

— Carol Sanders

 

VARIOUS ARTISTS

World Christmas Party (Putumayo)

The offering: A wildly cross-cultural collection of festive tunes that ranges from a traditionally bluesy version of Christmas Comes But Once a Year by Charles Brown, to a Maori rendition of Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town by New Zealand’s H.K. Crew featuring KIINA. An uneven but intriguing sampling from around the globe.

Classic chestnuts: A Creole spin on Deck the Halls, a reggae version of We Wish You a Merry Christmas, a ukulele-driven, Hawaiian-ized Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree and a Brazilian-flavoured Winter Wonderland.

New jingles: New Orleans’ famed Heritage Hall Jazz Band serves up the Mexican-inspired Barra de Navidad Blues, and African native Costa Neto contributes a world-beat groove on Boas Festas Moçambique (Happy Holidays Mozambique). 3 snowflakes

— Brad Oswald