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Various Artists - The Hotel Cafe Presents...Winter Songs
- An all female singer-songwriter holiday album. That sounds like such an interesting idea. Singer-songwriters singing new and interesting music that they wrote. Instead we get almost half of the album as covers of classic songs and the other half are originals songs. The execution of this compilation is fifty-fifty. Half of it is great. The other half is horrible.
There is a variance between the artists and each of them sound like themselves. Lenka is still Lenka, with a very sugary-pop sound. Colbie Caillat is slow and smooth; her song sounds just like “Bubbly.” KT Tunstall’s version of “Sleigh Ride” sounds similar to arrangement to her song “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” but with Christmas bells. Fiona Apple is a little too happy for my taste.
The best songs off of this album are “The Heartache Can Wait,” “Blue Christmas,” and “Maybe Next Year”. Brandi Carlile laments beautifully with her piano. Nicole Atkin’s rendition of “Blue Christmas” reminds me of classic 50s/60s country singers like Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton with a little bit of a modern arrangement. It’s very true to the Elvis original. “Maybe Next Year” is a very modern song where instead of talking about family and good, Meiko talks about how she was a bad girl. It’s reminiscent of Finoa Apple’s “Criminal” with a Christmas twist.
This album has made me lose a little respect for Katy Perry. Her version of “White Christmas” is horrible. The quality of the track sounds bad. Katy slurs through words and attempts different runs, albeit unsuccessfully. Listing to this song, I wished that someone like Bjork sang this song because she would master interesting arrangements and interesting vocal runs. Instead we have Katy wailing around attempting a few runs during the middle. If this track was live, maybe it would be better, if it wasn’t then they should have picked a different take.
What makes “Winter Song” a winter song? It basically asks “Is Love Alive?” and although love is part of a holiday, it’s also sounds like something that a writer wrote at a random time. I thought that many songs could be converted over to a Christmas song just by adding jingle bells in the background and “Winter Song” is one of those. This song could be called “Autumn Song” and replace one word and I’d still believe it.
The album overall is an interesting concept. With all these new era singer-songwriter females, it’s nice to see all of them on one album together. If you’re only a fan of one or two of the artists, buy the single track instead. Separately, the tracks are good, but together Katy Perry brings the whole album down.
Track List:
1. Winter Song - Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson
2. The Heartache Can Wait - Brandi Carlile
3. All My Bells Are Ringing - Lenka
4. Sleigh Ride - KT Tunstall
5. Silver Bells - Alice Smith
6. Blue Christmas - Nicole Atkins
7. Frosty The Snowman - Fiona Apple
8. I'll Be Home For Christmas - Holly Conlan
9. Maybe Next Year (X-Mas Song) - Meiko
10. White Christmas - Katy Perry
11. Mistletoe - Colbie Caillat
12. Silent Night - Priscilla Ahn
13. Winter Wonderland - Kate Havnevik
14. The Christmas Song - Catherine Feeney
15. Auld Lang Syne -Jesca Hoop, Butch Walker, Buddy, Anya Marina, Cary Brothers, Greg Laswell, Lenka, Holly Conlan, Ingrid Michaelson, Jim Bianco, Jonah Matranga, Joshua Radin, Laura Jansen, Meiko, Sara Bareilles & Tim Jones
Reviewer: Michael Pascua
new
Reviewer's Rating: 7.5
Reader's Rating: 9.00
Reader's Votes: 3
Added: 27-Nov-2008
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