Pete Lawrence – Christmas Playlist 2003
December 16th, 2003 by susanna
The Kings Singers – Christmas (Signum)
Moving on from the days when you’d see these boys on the Val Doonican Christmas special doing their unique covers of tracks such as ‘Life On Mars’ in their bow ties and black dinner jackets, the very wonderful and very underrated Kings Singers are back with an album celebrating the more spiritual side of Christmas. With material here by Tavener, Bach, Part, Vaughan Williams and more choral delights, this is a deep and rewarding album. Radio 3 called it ‘smooth as a baby’s bottom’. As one of their top fans, Fred Deakin can’t be wrong.
Jocelyn Pook – Blow The Wind – Pie Jesu (Real World)
With Melanie Pappenheim in fine voice, augmenting a vocal sample taken from Kathleen Ferrier singing ‘Blow The Wind Southerly’ this delicate opus is scored and underpinned by some sensitive playing and arranging from Pook herself.
The Watersons – Sound Sound Your Instruments of Joy (Topic)
Hard core ‘finger-in-ear’ Yorkshire accent accapella from the first family of folk. If you want a drop of the hard stuff dive in deep for renditions of carols and other seasonal songs that will have you spinning back through the decades and ending up somewhere on the windswept north Yorkshire moors.
Joseph Spence – Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (Rounder)
Probably the most extraordinary version of this Yuletide classic that you’ll ever hear, performed by the late, great Bahamian guitarist who was one of Ry Cooder’s greatest influences (his ‘Jazz’ album has a couple of Spence covers). His angular staccato guitar style is unique enough in itself but is actually bettered here by Spence’s extraordinary vocal, barked spasmodically, framing a word here and producing a strange gutteral grunt instead of a word there. Guaranteed to stop any vibey Christmas party in its tracks.
George Winston – December (Windham Hill)
Considered well uncool and too new agey for some, by pass the music of George Winston at your own peril. That’s unless you’re at all a fan of supremely well recorded, moving solo piano music. Bach’s ‘Jesu Joy Of Man’s Desiring’ gets the Winston emotional treatment as does that old chestnut ‘Kanon’ by Pachelbel. Plus two bonuses not on the original vinyl.
V/A – Cool Yule, The Swinging Sounds Of Christmas – a fine feast of festive folk, beatnik bossas and icy electronics (Invisible College)
This is a warm blast of tunage to get you grinning, compiled my music nut Martin Green. Lalo Schifrin’s ‘joy To The World’, Mystic Monks’ ‘Swoning Bells’ and Soulful String’s ‘Sugar Plum Fairy’. Light-hearted, frivolous and fun.
Ulrich Schnauss – Blumenthal (City Centre Offices)
A gem of a track, taken from his latest album ‘A Strangely Isolated Place’ Ulrich heads off on a spiritual voyage, accompanied by sleighbells, acoustic guitar. Big, warm, life affirming music that soars, glides and dives, in slow, majestic motion. An electronic slow waltz anyone?
Gabriel Faure – Cantique de Jean Racine op11 (Deutsche Grammophon)
Starts with a distant organ, the sort you’d hear as you would walk into church which gradually gets louder as the organist was warming up. Then add in the most graceful tight harmonising, as the melody unfolds, bringing with it over a century’s worth of knowledge, passion, energy and life. Not a million miles away from Global Communication’s 12:18, that wonderful lingering choral track that ended the seminal ’76:14′ album.
Ray Conniff – Christmas Caroling (Columbia)
In contrast to the rather intense music of Faure, this is the stuff Tesco’s were meant to play, but sadly don’t. The Conniff ‘wall of sound’ at its most synthetic and muzak-friendly, with his ‘angels’ in fine fettle, covering all the cheesiest carols with their immediately identifiable ensemble sound. Ray’s death this year was a great loss to many of us – well me and Tops at very least. May this music ring out throughout the world’s shopping malls until kingdom come. Brent Cross here I come ….
Tom Middleton – Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (CDR)
From that classic Christmas concert in Union Chapel two years ago. A definitive cover in the style of Sakamoto’s original from the early 70s.
