SOUNDTRACK: INDIGO GIRLS-Holly Happy Days (2010).
I know I bought this for Sarah for Christmas a few years ago (I like that it looks like a present). Sarah and I have both been fans of the Indigo Girls (and we’ve both seen them, but at different events). This seemed like an obvious fun record for the holidays. But we both felt a little let down by it.
I’m not exactly sure what’s not quite right, but after listening again, I think the record is just too much of a downer for Christmas. I mean even the Indigo Girls’ more serious songs counterbalance with lively singing, but much of this album feels very dirge-like to me.
The main unexpected thing for me is that the record is largely bluegrass-inflected–not something I expect from the Indigo Girls–or Christmas music.
But that’s just how it opens–banjos and fiddle and whooping on “I Feel the Christmas Spirit” a song I didn’t know before. It’s fun, just unexpected. “It Really is (a Wonderful Life)” reminds of Barenaked Ladies for some reason (not their voices obviously). It’s folky and is another a song I didn’t know. I like it–it’s fun having new Christmas songs.
“O Holy Night” has a very weird quality to it. I usually love this song, but I don’t really care for the way they did this one–it feels flat or something. Or maybe it’s the violins and folk trappings? Actually, the middle part (with their great harmonies) sounds really good–I guess it’s just the opening I don’t like.
“Your Holiday Song” sounds more like a”real” Indigo Girls song–great harmonies, cool chord progressions. (This one was written by Emily Saliers, so that makes sense). It’s the first song I really like on the disc.
It’s the middle of the disc that really loses any steam it had. “I’ll be Home for Christmas” is certainly a sad kind of song, but their version is practically suicidal. Oh it’s such a downer with that slow violin solo. Who would want to listen to this version of this song?
“Mistletoe” is an Amy Ray original. Coming right after the downer of “I’ll be Home” this one is also slow and a downer. I find that Ray’s voice also sounds really different on this song–I would never have guessed this was her.
“Peace Child” is the third downer in a row, and you just want to give up on your festive mood after this one.
But it picks up with a rollicking bluegrass “The Wonder Song” (written by Amy Ray). It’s the most fun song on the disc and while it doesn’t scream Christmas, it is a holiday song.
Obviously no one is making “In the Bleak Midwinter” into an upbeat poppy song. Their version is quite pretty, and their harmonies are wonderful.
Perhaps the strangest song is their cover of Woody Guthrie’s “Happy Joyous Hanukkah.” It feels very Guthrie, which means it should be done in a folk style (which it is). The surprise is the full bluegrass rendition of a Hanukkah song (how many Hanukkah songs have whooping in them? It’s fun, though.
“Angels We Have Heard on High” sounds great with their harmonies. Although the mandolin solo kind of brings the song down to earth in a weird way.
The disc ends as it middled, with a slow, mournful song,”There’s Still My Joy.” While I know that not everyone is happy at Christmastime, this record goes a bit too far into the darkness for my liking.
[READ: December 2, 2014] Tib and Tum Tum
Here is another translated comic. It is done with great flair by Carol Klio Burrel who also did Nola’s World. This story is aimed more at kids though (but is not existential at all–see yesterday’;s post about translated stories). The biggest surprise for me with this is that it is actually a series of one page strips rather than a long graphic novel (I think). Well, there is a long story arc, but every page seems to have a “punchline” as if the story was sequential rather than continuous.
It’s a very simple premise. The book is set in caveman days. Tib is a small boy with a giant birthmark on his face. The other kids make fun of him for this. His mother is overprotective (the joke about him always being safe is very funny) and his father is an oblivious storyteller (whoppers of tales, I must say). In that first strip, Tib runs into Tum Tum, a baby dinosaur. He is adorable (and a little scary too, of course). And Tib decides that this red guy is pretty cool. Tum Tum spends most of his time chasing (an eating) butterflies.
When Tib tells the elders about the dinosaur they tell him of course that dinosaurs are extinct. (I love that the story is set in caveman times but that they talk in a more or less contemporary way (no grunting) and are knowledgeable (there’s a sewing joke which is very funny). When he tries to show Tum Tum to them, the dinosaur hides so no one can see him. Eventually his mom thinks he has an imaginary friend. (more…)
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SOUNDTRACK: JAMES VINCENT McMORROW-Tiny Desk Concert #151 (August 25, 2011).
I don’t know McMorrow. He is an Irish singer who plays acoustic guitar. His singing voice switches between a kind of raspy voice and a keening falsetto.
I Just Read About That... 