RINGtone

I'm a sucker for Christmas music. Every year I buy at least 2 new CDs of the same old tunes sung by different artists. So it's no surprise that I picked up Sarah McLachlan's newest release, the Christmas-ish "Wintersong" which features the soulful, sorrowful songbird singing sentimental seasonal sonnets. (Okay, that was just me having fun.)

Sarah had fun too, with her syrupy vocals lingering over timelss ballads like a cloud settling on a cold winter night. I love her voice. She has a haunting, measured, and beautiful sound. Her talent is without question. But despite the holiday theme, "Wintersong" is more Xmas than Christmas.

Let's start with the title. "Wintersong." Brings to mind "Winter Solstice" more than "Winter Wonderland." Sarah's always been a hippie at heart, emerging from the alterna-rock/college radio (ooh, she's from Canada!) crowd. She woos the masses with her wispy ballads and her Earth-Mother empathy. She's a nymph, a pixie, but one who's built like the comfortable girl at the coffee shop. So it's no surprise that "Wintersong" evokes a children-of-the-planet conciousness.

She starts off the CD with John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War is over)," a timeless pacifist fantasy that, instead of flowers, wears snowflakes in its hair. Then she merges "What Child is This?" with the Irish ballad "Greensleeves," last performed by the witchy Loreena McKennitt on the album "The Visit."

But wait.

Here's where she deliberately interferes. I do seem to remember a line in "What Child" that goes like this: "The King of Kings salvation brings, let loving hearts enthrone Him." Alas, it's nowhere to be found. Sarah has decided to go all progressive on us by using modernized verses to eliminate those pesky reminders that we even need to be saved in the first place. Hmm.

She then adds the original song "River" and the title track "Wintersong," to the mix, cementing this as a not-so-traditional holiday offering. "I'll be Home for Christmas" (one of my favorite secular Christmas songs) follows next, taking full advantage of her lucid vocals.

"O Little Town of Bethlehem" is finally included (thanks for remembering!), seeming to center us on the real reason for the holiday. And she does give us "Silent Night" as a peace offering.

Then we get the new "Song for a Winter's Night" followed by "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," which promises us sugar and carbs full of religion-free fuzzies. Yet again her voice talents shine through on "In the Bleak Mid-Winter," a sad little tale of wallowing in cold sorrow, a mood on which Mrs. McLachlan is a pro. Finally she warms us back up with the frothy "Christmas Time is Here" featuring Diana Krall, just to kick one out to the other female demographic that might not spring for Sarah's usual fare.

So, in the end, the track count goes like this:

Religious Christmas: 4 tracks
Secular Xmas: 8 tracks (winner by a 2 to 1 margin!)

So, Merry Chris- er... I mean, Happy Holi-, ooh, um... let's see.
What's non-offensive... oh yeah!

Enjoy the Season!

Oh brother. Here we go again.

posted by Steve Kwant @ 8:22 PM