2023-12-18 02:00:13
THE MORNING LIST
A few days before the Christmas holidays, we offer you a selection of songs and albums that evoke this period, whether with originals, some specially designed for this 2023 vintage, or covers of classics of the genre.
“Christmas Time Is Here”, a Christmas with country folk authenticity with Alela Diane
Pochette de l’album « It’s Always Christmas Somewhere », d’Alela Diane & The Hackles. RUSTED BLUE RECORDS
Revealed in 2006 with the album The Pirate’s Gospel, released on the late French label Fargo, the Californian-born folker Alela Diane, six elegant albums later, is now beginning her quarantine with a traditional Christmas album. A coherent artistic choice, an extension of the beautiful and intimate Cusp, published in 2018 (AllPoints/Believe), which discussed her motherhood.
Recorded with Oregon folk trio The Hackles – Kati Claiborn, Luke Ydstie, Halli Anderson – It’s Always Christmas Somewhere (Rusted Blue Records) revisits a dozen seasonal standards (including Silent Night et River, by Joni Mitchell), arranged with a sober Americana veneer. The worthy descendant of Karen Dalton notably has the very good taste of playing the guitar Christmas Time Is Heretheme composed by pianist Vince Guaraldi for the soundtrack of l’intemporel A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965. Ms. C.
The magic of “Fairytale of New York”, performed by Glen Hansard and Lisa O’Neill
Shane MacGowan, the punk poet of the Irish folk-rock group The Pogues, is no more. Died on November 30 at the age of 65, the songwriter left behind a plethora of timeless compositions (A Pair of Brown Eyes, Summer in Siam…), but there is no doubt that Fairytale of New York, the Christmas hit of 1987, resonates particularly at this end-of-year period. This sentimental and irreverent ballad, originally performed as a duet with the late Kirsty MacColl (1959-2000), rises to the top of the charts every year across the Channel, despite its lyrics being censored by the BBC (the words “cameo slut” et “old faggot” are beeped).
Friday, December 8, during the funeral of Shane MacGowan, worthy of a head of state and broadcast live, in the church of Nenagh (Ireland), many musicians took turns to pay tribute to him, including the surviving members of the Pogues and Nick Cave. When Dublin figures Glen Hansard and Lisa O’Neill take their turn Fairytale of New York, a light seems to cross the nave, relatives improvise a few dance steps. Magic. Ms. C.
Swedish trombonist Nils Landgren and his friends celebrate Christmas for the eighth time with “Christmas With My Friends VIII”
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