Jars of Clay is a new band destined for greatness. Okay, so after nine full CDs, they're not exactly new. But they continue to surprise us. Christmas Songs is their first album on their newly-created label, Gray Matters/ Nettwork Records.
Christmas Songs opens up with the minute-plus instrumental, The Gift of St. Cecilia. It's fitting as she is the patron saint of musicians. It sets the tone for the album, and you know instantly that this is not your average Christmas CD.
Jars takes on a big responsibility with A Wonderful Christmastime. They do the song justice, with a little more solemn twist than the original. It’s peaceful, with an air of contentment about it. The mood IS right. One of joy and contentment, of acknowledging the gift that God the Father gave the world and celebrating it. With no disrespect to the original author (Paul McCartney), I like the tambor of this version better. It feels like less fluff and more substance. That sentiment might be applied to the whole of the album.
We go straight into the next song, Love Came Down at Christmas, the most commercially attractive cut on the album. This is pure Jars of Clay, and those buying the album looking for that definitive JoC sound will find it here. There's a poppy beat, a bouncy vocal, and some fun guitar work. It has a great hook that will be difficult to get out of your head. Dan Haseltine's vocal is exactly what we've come to expect from him, but there's a nice tag on the end counting down their own version of the twelve days (loves) of Christmas. Many of us grew up with the poetry of Christina Rosetti. She was a prolific writer whose faith came through everything she wrote. While most everyone is familiar with “In the Bleak Midwinter”, Love Came Down at Christmas is a nice surprise. It's the most radio-friendly song on the album, and I expect to hear it on every Christian station in the next few months.
Their arrangement of Little Town of Bethlehem follows. There are some fantastic layered background vocals throughout, but it opens up with an annoying keyboard beat that distracts from the song, especially when you're listening on headphones. It's too bad because without the unrelenting beat, it's a lovely song. Although they put their own spin on it, the song is instantly recognizable as the classic. The instrumentation at the end is a full wall of sound, with intricately placed bells and strings.
Right out of a Bing Crosby movie is Hibernation Day. This is definitely a mood song, harkening back to days when life was slower and relationships were paramount. The girl's voice is perfect for the air of the song. You can see these two on the stage, cooing back and forth. Hibernation has a great 40s feel to it, from the expansive strings and big band sound to the clarinet that gives just the right sassiness to the song. Christine Dente is the perfect choice for the female backup. She drips her honeyed voice across an old time mike, and we completely believe that they're ready for that cozy day of cocoa and a big roaring fire. Thoroughly enjoyable.
Can a 3-minute song with only one sentence be effective? Looking at the lyrics, I wouldn't think so. But it's the song that sticks in your head - mostly a repeating chorus. Winter Skin is beautiful, puts you into the scenery, and is annoyingly catchy. It's the song you'll be humming after the CD is turned off. The production makes this song. It would be very easy for the repetitiveness to get old, but it doesn't. The bells become that snow, the strings and keyboard the landscape, and Haseltine's voice those who are strolling. For something that is so seemingly simple on first listen, there are a lot of subtleties going on here.
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The second strong radio cut is Peace is Here. It has a great hook, and an excellent piano part. This will get a lot of radio play just for the hook. That's good because the listeners will be repeating the rest of the words as well. There's a bit of a U-2 sound toward the end, that detracts from what is otherwise very close to perfection.
God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen is one of those added-bonus songs that you don't expect to be surprised over. This is a happy, ubeat arrangement, keeping the original intact yet giving it a distinctly JoC sound. The guitars carry the song along, with a fine keyboard and strings behind them.
Nice production touch on the instrumental, Evergreen. If you're old enough to remember albums rather than CD, there was often a very subtle sound as the needle moved. It's here, taking us back. There are voices on the track, but they're used as instruments, so this is in fact an instrumental. It effectively brings down the mood for the back half of the album.
If the next song sounds familiar, it's because we've all heard it year after year on A Charlie Brown Christmas. There's full sound here, building on that initial guitar twang into a whole wall-of-sound feel. It's so full that at times it has an experimental feel, like a kid in a production candy shop.
Another classic, Drummer Boy, is next. It's adequate, and shows the growth from their first rendition. The traditional carol, Gabriel's Message, follows. It's beautiful and tender, with a four part harmony that would probably have been almost as beautiful accapella. Its length (right about two minutes) means that it will miss out on radio play, but I'm sure that it won't miss out on CD spins.
I really hate going to the ballgame and hearing some clueless-but-talented singer butcher the National Anthem with their own 'rendition'. There are some songs that really should be sung the way they're written. In the Bleak Midwinter is one of them. This is a moving and solemn rendering of the carol. The vocal is clear, strong, and full of awe. The backing parts echo the mood with old-fashioned backups and delicate instrumentation including a tender and longing French horn. Though this is way back in song order, it's well worth the wait.
The album ends with I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. It's a perfect closer. Jars definitely considers lyrics when they choose songs. It's one of their hallmarks. They've done well here. The last line on the album is definitely last for a reason - given their collective social consciousness, it's fitting that it should end with the slowed down, bare bones, make-you-listen wisp of a voice softly singing, "Peace on earth, Good will toward men."
The whole album has a mellow, peaceful feel. This is a perfect ‘listening’ album, to put on as background music for a party, or to lie down with headphones and just enjoy. The album is a testament to real reason for Christmas, cloaked in tradition. There is near perfect continuity on this album, even down to the replay. There's not a single song that you'll be running to your CD player to skip. Because of that (and the quality of the songs), it's the perfect CD to leave playing at your Christmas parties. And, while it's definitely a Christian CD, it's the sort of subtle messages that most of us could get away with playing at work. It's pleasing to see that rather than pack their first independent release with bland-but-commercial-sure-money songs, they instead chose to record good music for music's sake.
LYRICS SHOWCASE
Hibernation Day
Pogostick Music (BMI)
I don't want to get out of bed
You don't want to go out in the snow
We don't have to do the things Eskimos do
Let's have a hibernation day, me and you
The snow is climbing up the door
(so much higher than before)
The weatherman is sure there will be more
(I don't want to go out in the snow)
These blankets make a cozy little cave just for two
Let's have a hibernation day
I love the snap of winter air
and the snowflakes on my face
How the snowdrifts make the cars
Disappear without a trace
I'll take a day dressed in pajamas
in a room without a view
If I can spend the day
curled up next to you,
next to you (next to you)
I don't want to get out of bed
You don't want to go out in the snow
Let's have a hibernation day
We don't have to go out in the snow
Let's have a hibernation day, me and you
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