Annie Moses Band - Bethlehem House Of Bread

Bethlehem House of Bread by the Annie Moses Band is an album I have been meaning to post about for a while now, but I have been trouble coming up with words to describe it.  Noisetrade lists the genre as "Pop: Chamber" and says that it is for fans of Josh Groban, Nickel Creek, Alison Krauss, and Celtic Woman.  I have Josh Groban's Christmas album, and I can kind of hear some similarities to that not-quite-classical, not-quite-pop sound.  It also delves into a country/bluegrass sound at times - "Jingle Bells/Go Tell It On The Mountain" and "Christmas On Cripple Creek" would not sound out of place on a Dixie Chicks album.

On the whole, I think the album has a very unique and beautiful sound that needs to be heard to be appreciated.  Many thanks to Chris for notifying me about it via email!

Happy listening!

URL:

http://noisetrade.com/amb

Free Christmas music from classical.com

Earlier this year, I wrote a post about classical.com's selection of free music on my other music blog.  I have continued to come back to that site each and every week since then, and I've downloaded quite a bit of excellent music from it.  This week's free album is a collection of Christmas music performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vaughan Meakins, and featuring a mix of singers and choirs.  There is a nice variety of music on the album, with some of my favourite songs like "Away in a Manger", "The First Noel", and "Good King Wenceslas", as well as some I've never heard before like "Shepherds Pipe Carol" and "Donkey Carol".

If you've never been to classical.com before, you will need to register for an account with the site before you can download anything; registration is free, and, among other things, it enables you to download free music from the site every week, so it is well worth doing.  The free downloads are typically kept on the site for two weeks before they get replaced by something else (although I have noticed exceptions, such as Beethoven's 9th symphony, which is still available after more than two months), so it's best to grab it as soon as possible.  Happy listening!

URL:

http://www.classical.com/free-music-download.php?download_id=113419

Album Spotlight: James Edwards - Christmas Bells

James Edwards' recently released Christmas Bells album is a collection of ten traditional Christmas songs arranged for solo classical guitar.  The end result is stunning in its simplicity.  For the most part, the arrangements are very faithful to the source material, but they are played with a great flair that makes them well worth listening to, no matter how many times you may have heard some of these songs before.

Even though it is not reflected in the titles, a lot of these songs are actually medleys of two or three songs.  For example, "Silent Night" begins with "The First Noel", and "A Merry Christmas" has elements of "Good King Wenceslas" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".  I love medleys, and although these are short, they are still fun to listen to.

Christmas Bells is the type of album that can work in a variety of situations.  It makes great background music, but the songs are so well performed that you can hear new things in them each time you listen to them.  Personally, I have found that it makes wonderful lullaby music for putting my 2 year old to sleep.  However you choose to listen to it, I hope it helps to make your Christmas a little more special.  Happy listening!

URL:
http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/56082