Search - John Fahey, Terry Robb :: Popular Songs of Christmas & New Year's

I Can't Lie - it's Kitsch

P. Bryant | Nottingham, England | 07/04/2000

(2 out of 5 stars)

"But you can't blame the guy. He's got to eat just like the rest of us. Back in 1968 he noticed that Christmas records just sell and sell and sell, so he recorded one ("The New Possibility") and wouldn't you know, it became his best seller - not Blind Joe Death, not Railroad, not The Yellow Princess or any of those other masterpieces. So he put out more Christmas albums over the years (I think I count five) and this is the ickiest one of the lot - can you stand "The Skater's Waltz" or "Do You Hear what I Hear"? The music is mostly duets with Terry Robb, and most mellifluous they are too. And I guess guitarists will like the arrangements. But as a Fahey record, this is for completists."

Very Interesting Album

Charles A. Cooper | Jacksonville, Florida USA | 11/15/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is actually a very interesting album, Christmas aspect aside. Fahey, as always, is the master of tunes in standard and waltz time. (I actually believe he could not play a note out of tempo if he wanted to.) His affinity for waltzes is well evidenced here with "The Waltz you saved For Me" standing out as one of his all-time best efforts ever in this genre. Another jewel is his read of "I'll be Home for Christmas", which he transforms from the usually smalzy, maudlin treatment into an almost disturbing lament. This shift of sentiment is pure Fahey. Even when he plays the over commercialized "Chirstmas Time Is Here" he manages to get a little past the unavoidable echoes of the chipmunks to reveal the tune in it's more Germanic influences. On the whole I think Fahey gets well beyond the Chistmas genere on this disc, and that may explain its unpopularity. (I picked it up for four dollars recently in a cutout bin) Very under rated. Four bucks well spent."