Music well done, however may dissappoint some listeners.
G. Davis | 01/23/2010
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I write this review as someone who does not care much for contemporary and commercial holiday music. I am also not that much into the choral format of holiday music. The holiday music of Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band is both traditional and vibrant; and yet modernly relevant. It is music for both the masses and for courtly kings and queens. It evokes images of Christmas times long passed. Maddy Prior has the voice of an angel and is well suited to the singing of carols.
Overall, the music on "Ringing the Changes" is extremely well done. However, my main disappointment is with the songs themselves for which I have docked the CD 1 or 2 stars. My complaint is that I prefer the format of Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band's first two holiday CD's ("Carols and Capers" & "Tapestry of Carols") which are exclusively comprised of traditional carols. Instead, Maddy Prior and company are now mostly writing their own holiday songs with social commentary. This can be risky as I feel that the best holiday songs have all been written and it is very rare for anyone today to write a genuine carol in the traditional fashion that will endure. It is as though time itself chooses which songs have endured of which many are anonymous.
Of the songs on "Ringing the Changes", my favorites are "Bring Us In Good Ale" and "Ring the Bell, Watchman" which (although both traditional) are only holiday songs in an indirect sense. The best original songs I believe are "Bright Evening Star" and "The Gift". "Stuff" is more of a comedy piece with a touch on Monty Pythonism which may appeal mostly to a British audience. The rest of the album is recorded well but over all it does not give me that transcendent feeling of being in another time and place when Christmas was a seriously festive and magical time. Their other holiday CDs do accomplish this transcendence. I will give this CD more of a listen next Christmastide and maybe I shall revise my review for the better.
In the meantime, I hope that Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band continue to record together but I would prefer and recommend that their next holiday CDs be comprised mainly of the many traditional carols that they have yet to record. Their medieval, renaissance and Old World/New World traditional treatments will only enhance the majestic pageantry of such songs as "Auld Lang Syne" "Deck the Halls", "Hark the Herald Angels Sing", "Good King Wenceslas", "First Noel", "O Holy Night", "Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella", "On Come All Ye Faithful", "Silent Night", "We Three Kings of Orient Are", "Carol of the Bells", "Angels We Have Heard on High" and even the "Twelve Days of Christmas" in which I would love to hear Maddy's voice belt out the "five golden rings" part. There are also plenty of more traditional songs that have fallen out of use that good be tapped into such as "March of the Kings", "Wexford Carol", "The Wren", "Leaping and Dancing", "Bitter Withy" to name a few. In addition, the live CD's include "Masters in Hall", "This Endris Night", "The Truth From Above" and "Sing, Sing All Earth" that appear nowhere else but are worth having.
My point above is that there is much traditional music they can still record and I believe the general audience would prefer this approach over original material. I originally purchased "Capers and Carols" on a whim and I was greatly impressed with its contents and was looking forward to more. I was not disappointed with "Tapestry and Carols" and I even enjoyed "Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh" which only contained one or two traditional carols. I liked their interpretation of the Magi traveling to Bethlehem but I still prefer the previous two releases. I understand the need for artists to explore and the need to create their own but they also need to be aware of their audience. In this case, the audience are people who want hear traditional Christmas carols performed in a traditional but refreshingly vibrant manner which this band does best...and these CD's will sell under that approach.
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Track Listings (14) - Disc #1