(via Shutterstock)
Christmastime by Trisha Yearwood
(courtesy Apple Music)
Trisha Yearwood’s new album Christmastime is as good a reminder as any that it’s best to always hold onto your expectations loosely and to never let them get in the way of experiencing something new.
Initially dismissed by this reviewer because country and western is not a favoured genre of music, something compelled me to listen to the album, drawn perhaps by the track selection – now wrong can you go with the Peanuts-centric “Christmastime is Here”, “Blue Christmas” and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” – but also by a sample of one of her non-festive songs which illustrated well and truly what a beautifully emotive voice the Georgia-born singer possesses.
Paired with warmly cosy retro arrangements that recall the favoured big band sound of Christmas without sounding unimaginatively beholding to them, the songs on Christmastime feel like the season poured into 12 perfectly curated tracks that meld seamlessly but memorably into each other.
In an article on American Songwriter, she is quoted as saying that:
The album I have to play every Christmas is A Charlie Brown Christmas. I love every single song, and I’ve always wanted to record “Christmas Time Is Here.” I knew it had to be on this record.
The spirit and flavour of that much-loved special is all through the album with artist going on to say:
What I love about that song is it really does talk about all the things that make Christmas Christmas, and especially the spirit of Christmas. … We seem to be kinder to each other during the holidays—we’re nicer in traffic.
Believing that the spirit of Christmas can last beyond the season, Yearwood has poured her seasonally bolstered love and optimism into every track of Christmastime, or at least it sounds that way, because there’s a warmth, joy and contentment that goes beyond songs that sound like delightful festive hugs.
We all want to feel like Christmas is something special and Yearwood has taken that idea, one she personally subscribes it, and not only because she got married to her husband of twenty years, country singer Garth Brooks, in December 2005 to “Christmastime is Here”.
She included her husband on the album, recording “Merry Christmas, Valentine” with him, a song which is sung with a hushed tenderness and cosy inclusivity that suggests a couple who have well and truly keep the spirit of love well beyond 25th December.
It’s a lovely idea to think that love isn’t just a Christmas thing, though it seems to get a starring role at this time of year, and Yearwood makes a strong case for it with this beautiful track.
But the artist is also happy to have some fun too, throwing in a cheeky rendition of “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and “Candy Cane Lane” which point to how much lightness and giddy joy there is in the season too.
Christmastime does a beautiful job of summoning the season, both its deep sentiment and its buoyant playfulness, wrapping it all up in a cosy warm blanket of emotional truthfulness that makes this feel like a passion project worth listening to well beyond the season (and yes, that is allowed).
(courtesy Apple Music)
I have long loved the way in which Verve has reinvented a slew of Christmas classics by a dizzyingly impressive roster of artists including Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.
All of these deservedly lauded artists have a home on Verve // Remixed Holiday which, like previous releases in this series, combines old recordings with some modern production sheen courtesy of artists at the cutting edge of contemporary sound.
Here’s the approach the label took in creating the latest mix of the old and the new in a festive setting;
Inspired by the beloved 2008 release, this vibrant reimagining of classic holiday tracks from Verve Records’ legendary catalog features five brand new remixes from a cutting-edge lineup of DJs and producers: Ginton, Bolden., Tourist, Two Another, and DARGZ. Their genre-blurring interpretations bring new life to beloved recordings, fusing modern electronic textures and grooves with jazz, soul, and holiday nostalgia. (Verve)
The label goes on to say:
This release offers a renewed celebration of the season—where vintage vocals meet forward-thinking production. From cozy fireside vibes to festive dance-floor energy, Verve Remixed Holiday bridges generations of sound and spirit in one holiday essential you will be putting on all year long. (Verve)
Sure that’s straight off the Verve store page and it’s meant to sweep off your feet with an eagerness to buy the album but the thing, while it could be dismissed marketing hyperbole, it absolutely works as promised and yes, there’s a very good chance this release will be an all-year-round affair.
Bringing together five remixes from the original 2008 Christmas remix album with five new remixes, Verve // Remixed Holiday come together in one gorgeously organic whole with David Ireland at Magnetic Mag perfectly observing that:
The newer cuts—especially the Bolden., Two Another, Tourist, Ginton, and DARGZ remixes—bring a little more texture and rhythmic modernity without going over the top. You’re still hearing Nina, Ella, Billie, Louis, Dinah, Shirley, Mel—but now in a context that fits neatly into a late-night jazz bar set or a sophisticated cocktail playlist.
The sound quality is beautiful, the songs richly and newly alive, and while this is very much a Christmas release, it would make for a perfect accompaniment to a dinner party in the very un-festive depths of June or September.
Verve // Remixed Holiday is a blissful release that takes the sounds of the holiday we rightly love and gives them a fresh sound that Ireland observes allow for the “classic performances [to] breathe, [and keep] the room tone is still there, … [with] the electronic elements sit around the vocals rather than bulldozing them, for the most part anyway” and makes for a freshly traditional take on a season that loves its traditional sound but needs some spitting and polishing to keep it interesting and vital.