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I knew I'd be getting another Christmas Album--since I saw Robyn pick it up at Target. (I pointed it out to her in fact--but more on that later.) Still, we were in Sam's Club Wednesday night picking up a few last-minute things we needed to take to a Christmas Eve Party tonight. While my lady-love was perusing the books (as she is wont to do) I checked out their (limited) music selection. Like everything else Sting's Christmas Album had been priced to clear. (We also picked up a really nice Christmas Tree Skirt (for 1/3 the original price)--but that's a story for another post--and not a good one at that).
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I have to be honest--when I heard Sting was doing a Christmas Album I was somewhat less than sanguine. The "Stingster" just doesn't seem like the type for Holiday joy. Anyone looking "fa-la-la" or a "holly jolly Christmas" won't find it here--and Father Christmas is conspicuously absent from the fifteen cuts. On A Winter's Night is a rather solemn (often downbeat) album yet it still has an austere beauty. None of the songs are above mid-tempo and there is little (if any) in the way of amplified instruemts. There are a few jazzy licks here and there and a some contemporary-style arrangements on the songs but most of them are done on period instruemnts--giving the album a soft, inimate quality. What emerges is a contemplative counterpoint to the glitz and frantic glamour of the season. Most of the music is traditional English Folk Songs although some are new musical settings of poems. Sting composed a couple of winter-themed songs for the album. Will On A Winter's Night go down as one of the "Great" Christmas Albums of all times? Probably not: it is simply too esoteric to have a broad appeal but it is still makes a fine counterpoint to the often phoney "joy" of the season. FINAL GRADE: A
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Every few years the Trans-Siberian Orchestra rolls out a new album--each more bombastic and overblown than the last. You can count on a mix of Carols, well-known classical pieces and original tunes framed around a story you have to read (or maybe see live) to comprehend. You'll have your fuzzy guitars with amplification "turned up to eleven" and synthesizers backing rock vocalists and there's alos the orchestra and choir to give it some depths. For fans of their style--Night Castle won't disappoint.
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For me, I found myself wanting something more. Night Castle is an ambitious double-disc album with a story I simply couldn't follow. The "Christmas" elements are kept to a minimum here (I only recognized a few bits from The Nutcracker) but there are some interesting "rocked up" classical pieces (they were born to play Bach's Tocata and Fugue and their take on Carmina Burana was pretty cool too) but I couldn't escape the feeling that I'd heard it all before (maybe on their last three albums?) Maybe I'm an old grump or maybe the Trans-Siberian boys have just run out of ideas. I guess we won't know until their next ablum. FINAL GRADE: C+
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I hope your Christmas got a Final Grade of A+ and your New Year is rated A+++. Brightest blessings to all my "loyal" readers and everyone who chooses to drop by now and then.
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'nuff said.
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