Over the Rhine - Snow Angels
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CD Details
Artist: Over the RhineEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2007-10-02
Music Label: Great Speckled Dog
Soundtracks:
- All I Ever Get For Christmas Is Blue
- Darlin (Christmas Is Coming)
- White Horse
- Little Town
- New Redemption Song
- Goodbye Charles
- Snowed In With You
- North Pole Man
- Here It Is
- One Olive Jingle
- Snow Angel
- We're Gonna Pull Through
Music reviews of Snow Angels
Music Review: An unconventional gem of a Christmas album
Rating: 4 Stars
This is not your usual Christmas album. With the exception of two songs that incorporate lyrics (but not the melodies) from the traditional songs "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and "Jingle Bells" respectively, the entire album is comprised of originals. Creating a Christmas album with nothing but original music is, to put it lightly, a bold move. But composers Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist pull it off with much grace and emotion.
Like their original Christmas album, "The Darkest Night of the Year," this new Christmas album may not be for everyone. Many of the songs have sobering, downcast themes, so this set may not be the joyful affair that one may associate with (and require from) a Christmas record. This is probably not the type of Christmas record to play at egg nog parties. From the very start, with "All I Ever Get for Christmas is Blue," the mood is set. This is a stylish, jazzy number that is note-perfect in its execution (Bergquist's voice just keeps getting better and better, as does Detweiler's piano playing), and the song would not have been out of place in Billie Holiday's repertoire.
"Darlin' (Chrismas Is Coming)" is a jaunty track that follows up on the lyrical theme of "Blue" somewhat, but with a bit more verve and optimism. It starts out with the words "So it's been a long year/Every new day brings one more tear/'Til there's nothing left to cry." The chorus, however, soars with love and reconciliation, and has one of the best lines on the whole album: "Darlin', the snow is falling/Falling like forgiveness from the sky." That's just a great line and it conjures up some wonderful imagery for me.
Next comes the exemplary, soaring "White Horse," one of the very best tracks on the album. The lyrics, the way the beautiful verses build to the chorus, everything on this track is perfect. Bergquist's phrasing is spot-on and never overdone (a rarity these days in the age of female vocal-histrionic show-offs). I can play this track over and over. It's gorgeous.
"Little Town" uses the first stanza of "O Little Town of Bethlehem," set to a different, delicate melody, and then takes off from there to original lyrics written by Detweiler. It brings the story of Bethlehem into the modern age with all of its strife and war, juxtaposing Jesus' original message with the depressing reality that is Bethlehem (and the Middle East) today. One of the best -- and sobering -- verses of the song is, "The wounds of generations/Almost too deep to heal/Scar the timeworn miracle/And make it seem surreal." Things have gone astray, haven't they?
"New Redemption Song" is a great gospel-infused track, asking the Lord for guidance.
"Goodbye Charles" is a wonderful instrumental track, a tribute to Charles Schulz through the music of Vince Guaraldi (think Schroeder's jazzy playing in "A Charlie Brown Christmas.") Detweiler wrote this original tune, and he completely nailed it -- it sounds exactly like something off of the Charlie Brown soundtrack album.
"Snowed In With You" would have been perfect for Ella Fitzgerald. A jazzy favorite track on this album, with Detweiler's piano playing as one of the highlights.
The album starts to drag just a little bit for me after this, though the quality is still relatively high...
In "North Pole Man," Bergquist attempts to seduce Santa. "It takes perspiration/To melt the snow." It's a very sparse, slow blues number with just bass and guitar, and ends up being a bit too sparse to really fit in well with the rest of the songs. It is not one of my favorites here, as I am not a big blues fan, and the melody and chord progression are standard stuff that we've all heard a thousand times. Having said that, it is not a bad track by any means, just not my cup of tea.
"Here It Is" is a rock number that reminds me of Lucinda Williams, or maybe even some Johnnette Napolitano. "I'm wrappin' up my love this Christmas, and here it is." It's a fine number but, again, too familiar-sounding and not one of my favorites.
"One Olive Jingle" is the only track I skip over, almost every time. It is "Jingle Bells" in lyrical content only, sung to an annoying blues melody, with equally annoying phrasing and enunciation by Bergquist. What can I say? I just don't like it, at all. You may feel differently if you are more of a blues fan than I am.
Finally, things return to the stellar quality of the first half of the album with the song, "Snow Angel." This is a sad, sad song, almost suicidal in its lyrical content (which admittedly will put off some whose idea of a Christmas song is definitely not THAT). But...it is a thing of fragile beauty. The main character in the song has lost her true love, a soldier who died in the war. The song is one of the very best on the album; a real gem.
The album closes with the hopeful "We're Gonna Pull Through."
Over The Rhine has created a mature work of art and an album that holds many treasures for the attentive listener. And it does require attentive listening to truly appreciate its gifts. Do not just slap this CD on as background music while you decorate the tree. Sit down, take it in, read the lyrics as you listen, and really digest it. You will be rewarded.
Description of Snow Angels
Finally, the perfect CD for music lovers who appreciate a great song, and are burnt out on typical holiday fare. Over The Rhine's Snow Angels is unlike any holiday record you've ever heard. This collection of ten, brand new, original songs, many of which feel destined to become modern Christmas classics, conjures the Joni Mitchell's "The River" or John Lennon's "The War is Over," and yet the recordings embodied in Snow Angels have a unique groove all their own.Jazz CDs
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