Bob Dylan - Christmas In the Heart
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Bob DylanEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); German (Published)
CD Release Date: 2009-10-13
Music Label: Sony
Product features:
- DYLAN BOB CHRISTMAS IN THE HEART
- Here Comes Santa Claus
- Do You Hear What I Hear?
- Winter Wonderland
- Hark The Herald Angels Sing
- I'll Be Home For Christmas
- Little Drummer Boy
- The Christmas Blues
- O' Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)
- Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
- Must Be Santa
- Silver Bells
- The First Noel
- Christmas Island
- The Christmas Song
- O' Little Town Of Bethlehem
Free Music Notes for Christmas In the Heart
Free Music Review: While not for everyone, it's perfect for some!
Hit: 5 Stars
Why five stars? Because of the pure joy this album has given me since I first started listening to it a couple of weeks ago. I was in a Barnes and Noble the weekend before Thanksgiving, checking out some sales, surrounded by swirling Christmas shoppers, and then the music started . . . It was "good" Christmas music, by some notable artist or group that hit every note exactly right and sang each song exactly in the spirit traditionally intended. But suddenly the room started spinning and I knew I had to get out. By the time I got home, I told my wife I was through shopping this Christmas (I hadn't even started). I was desperate for an antidote, something to pull me out of the seasonal doldrums. What could there be out there? Then it hit me: what about that Dylan Christmas album that so many people disparaged last year? Surely he would have a different take on things, right? He certainly doesn't disappoint in that regard.
For starters, he sends visual clues before you even play the album. The front is pure, secular Americana. The back is very traditionally religious. And then you open it, and, well . . . if that isn't Betty Page in the most tastefully seductive Christmas outfit I've seen in a long time! So what's on the album musically? Traditional secular songs, traditional religious songs, and some things that are just plain fun.
Then there's the sound. I honestly don't get people complaining about his voice. This is Bob Dylan, after all. Were they really expecting him to suddenly sound like Nat King Cole? (I've tried to imagine how the conversation went at home: "Honey? I bought the new Dylan Christmas album. Guess what? He still sounds like Dylan! Damn!")
He was nearly 70 years old when he recorded this. He's been straining those vocal chords publicly for over 50 years now. Why in the world would you expect anything different? For whatever reason, at this point in his life, he decided to record a Christmas album. Is it possible that this is exactly what the title proclaims--his expression of the varieties of what Christmas means to him, from his heart? Personally, I find some of these to be the most genuinely heartfelt renditions I have ever heard, precisely because they come from Bob Dylan. (One reviewer said that if this was recorded by some nobody named "Bob Smith," we wouldn't care and would agree that this is a "terrible" album. To which I ask, "What's your point?" Objectively speaking, how "good" musically are Johnny Cash's final albums? But those of us who loved his music over the years love those last offerings as well especially because we know he was singing from the heart and soul more than from whatever was left of his voice.)
Maybe I have always been more tolerant of Dylan's voice because of other voices I have loved, especially among the blues artists he admires so much. Listen to Son House, Reverend Gary Davis, Skip James, Robert Pete Williams, etc. Their voices aren't immediately accessible in the usual sense. They don't always hit the right notes, and it's often hard to understand them. But as you do come to understand them, both their music and their words, you discover a depth and an authenticity that far exceeds that of supposedly more accomplished artists. Which is why they, like Dylan, have been so influential on musicians more agreeable to the ears of the general public.
As I write this, 151 people have given this album 5 stars, 110 have given it 1 star. About 100 other people are scattered evenly through the other ratings. Can you imagine anyone other than Bob Dylan so polarizing music fans?
So what's the bottom line? If you like Bob Dylan, the most important thing I want to impress upon you is that you owe it to yourself to give it a sympathetic listen before dismissing it. (Listen carefully for the interesting, often subtle, twists he gives to some of the lyrics.) You may in fact find it to be as horrible as some have delighted in writing. Then again, you may find it a wondrous relief in the midst of another miserable Christmas season. Remember: Dylan has been angering/disappointing/annoying people for almost 50 years. And the odd thing has been that the people he has irritated the most have often been those who proclaim themselves to be his fans. (Notice how many of the 1 star critics attempt to establish their street cred before ripping away. And remember how often his fans have been the bane of his existence.)
The common theme through the years is that whenever he has dared to do something different, something he himself liked for whatever reason, many of his supposed fans, instead of honoring his right as an artist to grow, change, and explore (whether it be going electric, turning religious, exploring country music, or whatever), have felt the right, indeed the need, to pronounce profound and absolute judgment. How many times does this man have to hear someone yell, "Judas!"?
Instead, I say, Merry Christmas, Mr. Dylan, and thank you. God bless us everyone. (Amen.)
Christmas In the Heart Poster
2009 holiday release, the first Christmas album from the legendaryFolk/Rock singer/songwriter. Christmas In The Heart is Dylan's 47th album and follows the worldwide success of his album Together Through Life. In a commitment to ending hunger, all of Bob Dylan's U.S. current and future royalties from sales of Christmas In The Heart will be donated in perpetuity to Feeding America, guaranteeing that more than four million meals will be provided to over 1.4 million people in need in this country during this year's holiday season. 15 tracks including 'Here Comes Santa Claus', 'Winter Wonderland', 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas' and many others.Miscellaneous Music CDs
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