Emma: ***.5
Charlie: ****
Emma: Why is Johnny Cash's distinct sound kind of innately Christmas-y? It's weird, but it's true. This album varies in quality and style, and includes a couple classic attention-seeking "spoken word over music" tracks, but it all kind of works. Kind of.
Charlie: This is apparently what Bob Dylan was trying to emulate when he made his famously horrendous Christmas album. Unlike Dylan's hamfisted, poorly-produced steaming pile of insincerity, however, Cash seems to revel in the weirdness of this combination of traditional carols (replete with 1930s-film-music-style orchestrations), down-home call-and-response originals, and, yes, the occasional how-I-remember-it-back-home spoken-word piece. It's uneven, to be sure, but Cash carries it off in the end. Ultimately recommended, although well-mixed with other tracks for safety's sake.
New Section! "Would you add it to your annual household festive playlist?" YES.
No comments:
Post a Comment