Vladimir Sterzer: Christmas in minor - Weihnachten in Moll

After my first listen to Vladimir Sterzer's Christmas in Minor - Weihnachten in Moll, about all I thought was that the songs were really short (the 16 songs clock in at just under 19 minutes) and that the album may not have been worth posting about.  During my second listen, things clicked when "Santa's Coming Tomorrow" came on and I started thinking that it sounded like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" done in a minor key - at that point, the full meaning of the "minor" in the title hit me like a ton of bricks and the entire album suddenly became much more interesting.  Yes, this is a collection of German Christmas carols arranged in a minor key!  I don't know if knowledge of music theory is required to really appreciate something like this - I am by no means an expert on it, with just a couple of high school and university courses under my belt - but I'm pretty sure that most people would pick up on the fact that there is something different about these versions of "Silent Night" and "O Christmas Tree", to cherry pick a couple of familiar songs.

I still think that the album is too short, but at this point it's because I feel like it has barely whet an appetite I never knew I had - I'd love to hear more Christmas songs done like this!  What do you think?  Do you like the sound of Christmas carols done in a minor key?  I'm sure it's not for everyone, but for those like hearing Christmas carols done a little differently, this is definitely worth a listen.  Happy listening!

URL:
http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/102525

Christmas 2011

Hey everyone, how's it going?  I've been listening to Christmas music for a couple of weeks now, and I think I'm finally ready to start writing about it.

I haven't had a lot of time for blogging this year (in fact, I think I only managed to make one post on my other blog all year, and that was back in January), but I'm hoping to be able to make some time for Christmas music posts over the next few weeks.  I think one reason I've been so hesitant to post anything is the fact that I like to be very thorough about things, which ends up being very time consuming - it takes multiple listens to an album before I feel ready to write about it, and it also takes a long time to write the actual post.  I'm going to try relaxing a bit this year - posts probably won't be as long and detailed as in past years, and I won't be overly concerned with having to say something about every single song on an album.  In a way, this could end up being even more challenging for me than trying to write a new post every day!  But for the love of free Christmas music (which hasn't diminished a bit - I still find myself scouring multiple sources whenever I have the time, looking for new songs and interesting takes on old songs), it should be a lot of fun.

While I finish figuring out just how I'm going to approach this, I welcome any comments that anyone may have.  Is there anything you'd like to see posted here - maybe a song, an artist, or a style that hasn't been covered before?  Got a link to some good Christmas music?  Please post it!  After all, this blog would not exist without you, my readers, so if there's any way I can make it a better experience for you, please let me know.


Also, just for fun, I've decided to create a Google+ page about the blog.  There's nothing there yet, and to be honest I'm still not certain what kind of content will be there, but if you're on Google+ and would like to circle the page, please do!

The Machine - "Coming Back To Life (w/ Auld Lang Syne)"

Normally at this time of year, I make a post rounding up all of the different versions of "Auld Lang Syne" that I came across during my search for free Christmas music in the last year.  However, this year has been anything but normal, so I'd like to do something a little different.

In February of this year, my father passed away very suddenly.  Not a day goes by that I don't think of him, but I've found myself thinking of him more than usual today, as last New Year's Eve turned out to be the last time I ever spoke to him.  Dad was a huge Pink Floyd fan (so big that he actually wanted their music played at his funeral; my brother, two of our uncles, and I granted that request when we sang "Wish You Were Here" for him), and I've spent more time listening to their music this year than I ever have before.

I also downloaded quite a few shows from a Pink Floyd tribute band called The Machine.  As fate would have it, one of the shows was recorded on New Year's Eve 2008 and features "Auld Lang Syne" incorporated beautifully into the intro and guitar solo of "Coming Back to Life".  "Coming Back to Life" itself is a pretty special song to me, as it's from The Division Bell, which was the first Pink Floyd album that I ever experienced alongside my father; I was too young to appreciate their other albums when they were released, but he picked up The Division Bell when we were on summer vacation the year it came out, and the album became one that we listened to regularly on our vacation drives.  This is a great version of the song, and the two little excursions into "Auld Lang Syne" work extremely well, making it a very appropriate song for this time of year.

I'd like to close this post with one of my favourite quotes that took on an entirely new meaning for me this year:

"We get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that's so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more. perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless."
--Paul Bowles

If you haven't talked to your father lately, please do so as soon as you can and let him know how much you appreciate him.  Life is definitely anything but inexhaustible, so take the time to appreciate the things you hold dear while you still can.

I love you, Dad.  I'll always miss you, but thanks for the lifetime of memories, especially the ones revolving around Pink Floyd!

URL:
http://www.archive.org/details/tm2008-12-31