Month: December 2009

Music Box: On The 3rd Day Of (Jeffrey)Christ-mas…

…Jeffrey gives to you…Bob Dylan’s “Must Be Santa”! BOB DYLAN?!?! Yep.  Dylan. The bard of ages. The poet laureate of the past 4 decades. Yes. That Dylan.

At first listen, Dylan’s first venture into seasonal music might appear disconcerting, as if you’re not sure his interpretation of hymnals as disparate (for him) as “Little Drummer Boy”, “Oh, Little Town Of Bethlehem” and the ilk is a middle finger-in-cheek to the traditionalists who he had to know he’d piss off for the sheer audacity.  But spelunking the negative reviews online, one has to laugh – it’s as if this is the first time they heard Dylan sing.  Non-Dylan fans have always disparaged his voice; CHRISTMAS IN THE HEART is perfect fodder for them.  For the rest of us who love Dylan, it’s as cozy, comfortable and warm as roasting chestnuts on an open fire with your favorite grandpa…snockered on too much eggnog, but endearing and heartfelt enough.

Even for Dylan’s worshippers, initially hearing the CD was uneasy. As a carol lover, I couldn’t imagine hearing Dylan’s aged croak (which of course is superlative within his own work) singing some of my favorite holiday tunes. But then something happened. I listened to it again. Then again.  And I realized that there wasn’t a smidgen of cheekiness, not a dash of a smirk, nor a soupcon of irony.  Here was a man who appeared passionate about this latest endeavor – whether it’s the yearning of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” or the jocular “Christmas Island”, I can’t recall the last time his reading of others’ work were sung with such honesty, wit and melancholia juxtaposed with shameless joviality. CHRISTMAS IN THE HEART is not for everyone. Some will hate it, and it’s definitely not the tool to convert a non-practicing Dylanite. You can consider it a sorta 30-year happy conclusion to his artistically sterile “born-again Christian” albums SLOW TRAIN COMING, SAVED and the dreadful SHOT OF LOVE .

Also, kudos to Dylan for his charity – all proceeds from the sale of the CHRISTMAS IN THE HEART go to the Feeding America foundation to end hunger.  So, Merry Christmas, indeed…

I admit I’ve never heard “Must Be Santa” before Dylan’s cover, but already it’s becoming one of my favorite seasonal jams, my life-long antipathy for Polka notwithstanding.  Watching the frenzied, exuberant nonsensical video, which could be an unknowing homage to Albert Finney’s “Thank You Very Much” from the musical “Scrooge”, only enhances the sonic pleasures of the track.

Music Box: On The 2nd Day Of (Jeffrey)Christ-mas…

The Christian ~ D’Onofrio Residence, December 2008

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…Jeffrey gives to you…something he, himself, is totally bamboozled by – Mariah Carey’s “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing/Gloria (In Excelsis Deo)”.

It’s a personal opinion, of course (and for years I was in the minority, though not so much anymore), but there hasn’t been a listenable album in the whole of Mariah Carey’s archives – she morphed from Mrs. Tommy Motolla’s conservatively-clad fembot with a piercing, wheezing voice millions mistook for a prodigious range, to a scantily clad hip-hip earwig, selling her breast implants and porn tics to the masses with nary a memorable hook in earshot (I re-christened her curiously heralded “comeback” THE EMANCIPATION OF MIMI as THE ATTACK OF THE SCREAMING MIMI).

It’s actually no real surprise that the only memorable CD in her catalogue is her wonderful MERRY CHRISTMAS anthology, released back in 1994 while still under the influence of her Svengali husband.  If nothing else, Motolla kept Carey’s public image thwarted of the overt sexual histrionics (not that sexuality is a negative, of course) that would plague her post-divorce output.  MERRY CHRISTMAS is chock full of exhilarating holiday staples and wondrous originals; her composition “All I Want For Christmas Is You” stands tall with the most ineradicable holiday classics and was going to be my (Jeffrey)Christ-mas Day 2 selection.

But the one track I am continually drawn back to – hence its inclusion here – is her interpretation of “Hark!” which is, in a word, magnificent. She doesn’t allow the self-infatuation with her own voice to negate the beauty of the arrangement, instead allowing it to be the vessel for the song’s exquisite simplicity.  The song ends when it should, with no typical Careyisms, no vocal acrobatics, no diversion from the melody to belabor her usual solipsism.  MERRY CHRISTMAS is a treasure trove, and “Hark…” one of its most shimmering pieces.

Music Box: The 12 Days Of (Jeffrey)Christ-mas

Another year, another Christmas.  My feeling about the holidays always border on mercurial. Mostly, I bask in the beauty of the spirit, but there are those moments in time when I could feel the soul of Ebenezer creep in. Such is human nature, I surmise, but more often than not, I love the spirit that  ’tis the season and find myself bathed in  its emotional pull.

Okay, I’ll admit it.  When it comes to the holiday and holiday music, I’m a big fat sap.

Which, as a logician, and thus a non-believer, puts me in an odd situation.  Some decry or belittle my passion for Christmas and its seasonal tunes – I’m often accused of hypocrisy; “How? You’re an atheist – a non believer!! Blah blah blah!!!” Fair enough (those same town criers say the same because of my love of gospel), but as I alluded earlier, it’s the spirit (yes) but also the ideal of the holiday, and what it should bring out in mankind. It often fails, apparently, but there’s no harm in the yearning. So, I love religious carols too, despite the doctrine. Oh well, it is what it is.

Which brings me here. Because of my unabashed joy of the season, I decided to bring to you these next 2 weeks the 12 Days of (Jeffrey)Christ-mas…a fête, if you will, of some of my favorite carols and canticles, religious and secular, holly and jolly, happy and bittersweet.  Now, these selections are not always sung by the most obvious of artists, and not necessarily performed by household names, and a few might or might not be standards, while others have been played to death.

But all hold a special place in my soul – and that is the common denominator.

As a footnote, I will say this – I could easily have written the 20 Days of (Jeffrey)Christ-mas, or even the 30 Days of (Jeffrey)Christ-mas.  There are literally hundreds of other songs I could have posted and the aesthete would have been the same.

Happy holidays to you all, believers and non-believers alike.

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On the First Day of Christmas, Jeffrey gave to you…Darlene Love singing “Christmas Baby (Please Come Home)” live from last year’s David Letterman appearance.  It’s been a tradition for many years – Letterman invites Love on his show to perform this seminal seasonal classic from what is arguably (or inarguably, if you ask me) the greatest Christmas CD of them all,  A CHRISTMAS GIFT TO YOU FROM PHIL SPECTOR.  Forget U2s smarmy version (Bono? Smarmy? Noooo!!), the Love original – or any live performance thereof – are the only readings of this song you’ll ever need to hear.

Her canon is rich with some of the most indelible Rock and Roll classics, and her voice has held up better than most women half her age – the most amazing thing about Love is that year after year she never loses her innate joy in her recitals and you realize that the thrill isn’t only in our listening.  Like the song, Love remains eternal…