Dreamers Christmas

[mikestack]

Picked it up at Downtown Music Gallery when I was in Manhattan this weekend-- spun it three times thus far.

Early impressions are really positive-- JZ seems to have embraced holiday music for what it is. While the pieces certainly have a depth to them and are quintessentially Zorn, no one is going to accuse him of losing the root of the pieces or attempting some sort of deconstruction. It is a bit of a shock in a way, I mean, this is John Zorn after all, but many Christmas songs have a timelessness to them that's unfortunately devolved into schlock (for your more moody pieces) or saccharine (for your more upbeat ones). It's nice to hear a recording of these sorts of pieces well executed.

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

[mikestack]

As an aside, it was kind of odd driving on a sunny, 80 degree October day with Christmas music on.

[sarahv]

I think my comment on Facebook was something along the lines of "While it's obviously their worst album, I still enjoyed listening to it." I love the Dreamers and it's a nice album to listen to, but I don't think it's anywhere near as good as their other three. I think the limitations of playing the tunes fairly straight didn't allow them to show off their best abilities.

That said, it's still good. I thought Jamie Saft really did an especially nice job. And I like bells, so the ridiculous amount of fabulous bells on this record makes me happy.

I'm not a fan of Christmas music generally, so I wasn't expecting to love it... if I were the sort of person who liked that sort of thing I'd probably be thrilled to have this in my collection. I was going to give a copy to my sister-in-law (she has a special love of Christmas music) until I got to the last track, which.. eh.. I don't think he quite pulled off the vocals. I found that one vaguely creepy.

I think if you compare it to Christmas music generally it's really a special album... compared to other JZ music it's kind of in the middle somewhere.

As an aside: Chanukah and Christmas overlap this year, which would be a great opportunity for a Dreamers concert featuring their music from the Christmas album and their Book of Angels album, no? ;D