Advent reviews 5:

'Christmas in the Stars' (Star Wars Christmas Album)

Emma: **
Charlie: *.5

Emma: I'll allow that some people are most likely incredibly fond of this due to nostalgia. And that's ok. But I think we can all agree there's nothing to be fond of musically in endless awkward robot babble over mediocre children's choir. Sure, titles like "What do you get a Wookie for Christmas (when he already has a comb)" seem endearing, but not for an hour. Not really for four minutes, even.

Charlie: I came to this having heard only that is was better than you'd expect, given how bad the Star Wars Christmas Special is. (I also haven't seen the SWCS— all I've heard is that it's even worse than you'd expect.) In this case, I have to say: it isn't. Better. Than you'd think. It is exactly as bad as you might expect. Lazy in execution, obviously thrown together to make a buck rather than out of love for the Star Wars universe; its redeeming quality is a bit of musical playfulness and a teaspoonful of humour stretched out thinly over the vast expanse of the album's length.

Adding it to the list: Nope, sorry.

Advent reviews 4:

'Christmas Time is Here' by (the) Canadian Brass

Emma: ****.5
Charlie: ****.5

Emma: Wow. I didn't think I had heard this before, but turns out I have, when I was young enough to absorb every whimsical bit of festive brass fancy. A bit cheeky sometimes, but playfully, and genuinely beautiful sometimes too. I love this one.

Charlie: This fantastic album ticks all the boxes: beautiful performance, great arrangements, traditional warmth and modern flair/weirdness. The arrangement of 'Für Elise' in particular is a study in the kind of music we can't do anymore, because copyright. It's like sampling, using 19th-century technology (i.e. written sheet music). Brass players would have the strength and balance of character to pull something like this off, wouldn't they? Excellent, all 'round.

Would you?: YES

Advent Album Review #3...

"Christmas on Death Row"

Emma: *

Charlie: **.5

Emma: Well. This one sure has an unfestively scary title. The music, however, is decidedly unscary, just kind of run-of-the-mill hip-hop uncomfortably squished with Christmas Classics. More cheese than fear. Not good.

Charlie: The album art would have you believe that this is some kind of terrifying thrash-metal/gangsta rap hybrid. Apparently the title has to do with Death Row Records? In any case, this smooth-R&B compilation would have done better to go under a different moniker. It's unbearably melismatic at times, but on the tracks where the wailing is kept under control it's a bunch of Xmas tunes that would serve fine as background music. Worth listening to, but probably not going to make the playlist for repeated listening.

Add it to the list?: NOPE

Xmas tunes review 2!

Album: Johnny Cash: The Classic Christmas Album

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.

ADVENTIMES 2014!

Hello everybloggy. You thought this blog was dead. Oh, you said, that old blog? It's dead.

But. Guess what?

It's not. It's not dead. It was just... waiting. Like advent. Like advent is all about waiting, so too was this blog all about waiting. Waiting for advent, actually. The magical 24/5 days a year when this dormant-like-a-cicada-larva blog springs back to life. And, that time, that advent time, IS NOW.

So. What is it this year? What AdventAdventure? Well, this year it dawns on us that, every year, come December, we basically have Bing Crosby, Boney M, and Charlie Brown on repeat. Which can get a little bit tiresome. So, this year, we are:

LISTENING TO A NEW CHRISTMAS ALBUM AND THEN REVIEWING IT HERE!  Every day. So we can all re-stock our playlists and stay festive at the same time.

And today is Day One. And Album number one, as recommended by one Ben M., is...



"Christmas on The Big Island" by The Blue Hawaiians!

STAR RATING!
Emma: ***
Charlie: **

ONE LINE REVIEW!
Emma: Classic Hawaiian Christmas instrumental style, with more surprising minor chords than you'd expect; not bad for background, but not very festive either.

Charlie: Not bad as background music, but doesn't really rise above the "What if we took A and added B" formula. As Emma mentions, the stranger tunes and major/minor playing is the highlight of this album.

Top Track: "We Four Kings"