Wednesday's christmas listening

[bunrab]

The Jethro Tull Christmas Album. Jethro Tull, I can hear you wondering? As in Aqualung? Yes, that Jethro Tull, but this is a wonderful album. Ian Anderson's flute can make anything sound great. There are a few original songs on here, and several instrumental medleys of traditional carols that come off surprisingly nicely. Some of the surprises: just how much accordion there is in here - I hadn't remembered Tull having that much accordion. Tull's introduction in the leaflet, where he describes his own beliefs, or lack thereof, in Christmas. "A Christmas Song" which starts out with a couple of lines from "Once in Royal David's City" (which hymn the Bel Air Community Band is playing for its concert in 11 days). Some of the high points: Anderson's arrangement of Fauré's "Pavane for a Dead Princess" which isn't at all related to Christmas, but sounds holiday-ish here. "Fire at Midnight" which is a winter song, not specifically a Christmas song. And "Ring Out Solstice Bells" - long been one of my favorite Tull songs. And of course the Bach Bourree is on here.

Dave Grisman's Acoustic Christmas. Grisman is an excellent mandolin player, and this album is nice, but a little too peaceful, especially after hearing the Tull. Some of this could be mistaken for mall background music. Not all of it, though. It's almost all instrumental, just a few seconds of voice. A couple of swing arrangements of things. Surprise moments: excerpt from Respighi's "Ancient Aires and Dances." The presence of a pretty complete crumhorn ensemble. Bela Fleck. The hurdy-gurdy version of "Good King Wenceslaus" - definitely not background music there.

Halfway through listening to the Klezmonauts - report on that will be included in the next post.