MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: REID JAMIESON - SONGS FOR A WINTER'S NIGHT

Missing that perfect new Christmas album this year?  The one you play over and over again, trimming the tree, the one you can't wait to  play when friends and family come over?  Look no further, I've got it.  It is, of course, the grand reunion of John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John...  Nah, I'm kidding.  Don't go there.  Instead, check out B.C.'s Reid Jamieson.  His holiday offering is called Songs For A Winter's Night, after the beloved Gordon Lightfoot song, covered here.  It's a collection of some well-known, but surprising choices, and a few of his own originals. 

Jamieson is finishing up a month of shows where he was once again the featured musical guest on Stuart MacLean's Vinyl Cafe tour, helping bring the Christmas spirit to folks from Toronto to Vancouver.  The  magic of his new collection is in the very different cover versions chosen, certainly not the usual set.  The theme is really more about winter and the season than Santa, and that opened up the songbook for some gems.  Bruce Cockburn's Coldest Night Of The Year fits for sure, as does Gene MacLellan's Snowbird.  Another smart move is the old classic, Canadian Sunset, popularized by the late Andy Williams, with its classic soft-jazz feel.  You might remember the song Winter Time, on Steve Miller's huge hit album Book Of Dreams, a completely different sound than you'd normally hear on a seasonal disc, with its quiet, atmospheric mood.  Originally a guitar-overdub piece, Jamieson makes it more of a relaxed ballad, bringing out the sweet melody.

It's his treatments that draw you in.  Recorded at his home studio, the album has a warm, personal feel, with Jamieson's calming, emotive vocals shining.  The best, and bravest recasting is found on Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas.  We've heard it a thousand times, but not like this, stripped of the bombastic gang approach, made mellow, so that we can focus on the lyric, which actually has the power of a strong protest song.  The job done on Tori Amos's Winter is strong too, and you'd certainly not recognize it from his acoustic reading.

The originals are in the same mood, and all are good additions.  Written with his wife and musical partner Carolyn Victoria Mill, who sings, plays, helped produce and chose the tracks, Sentimental Song opens the disc and sets the tone with its heart-warming melody and sweet-but-sad lyrics about memories of mom during the season.  Songs For  A Winter's Night accomplishes the three important goals for a grand Christmas album.  Everybody will like hearing it in your home, you'll like listening to it when you're alone, and you'll want to pull it back out next year.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: A VERY SPECIAL CHRISTMAS 25 YEARS

The A Very Special Christmas series has presented a lot of great Christmas collections over the years.  We've heard new songs recorded by major stars, and some rare b-sides and such made easily available, making over $100 million for the Special Olympics.  The very first collection in 1987 featured some of the biggest stars of the day, including Bruce Springsteen, Sting, U2, John Mellencamp, and The Pretenders.  There was usually a few people worth listening too, if you were a music junkie, mixed in with more mass-appeal folks like Whitney Houston, Bon Jovi, and Madonna.  No matter your tastes, you could usually hold your nose for the odd cut or two that didn't fit your style.  And there were always some special treats, like Run-DMC giving us Christmas In Hollis.

That mostly continued through the years, except that in those days it was very rare to hear new artists doing classic covers, such as U2 doing Phil Spector's Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).  Now, everybody has done it, and there's isn't a track out there that hasn't been beaten to death in the stampede of Christmas albums of the last two decades, in no small part due to the V. Special Christmas series.

For the 25th anniversary, they would have had the choice of doing an anthology of great tracks over the past releases, but they have already done that, plus all the original albums are still available.  So this does feature new stuff, but boy, has the pot been diluted.  These used to be CD's I'd be glad to play at least a couple of times over the holidays, but aside from a couple of tracks, there's not much to get excited about.  The compilers have eased into a middle-of-the-road format, similar to dozens of other compilations that will come out this year, and line the shelves from seasons past.  It's the adult contemporary crowd, including Amy Grant, Vince Gill, Rascal Flatts and Martina McBride from the country side, and in the pop world, the always-present Michael Buble, Christina Aguilera, and Jason Mraz.  There are names I've never run across, such as Wonder Girls, Graydon Sanders and Jono, and Francesca Battistelli, none of whom make me care that I don't know them, or even lead me to Google them.  Dave Matthews is about the hippest name (**clears throat**), with a live version of his Christmas Song from a 2010 concert.

I'll single out two songs which I liked.  The big number here is a new track from Train, and I must admit their Joy To The World is a different and cool take on the usual.  The one real piece of fun belongs to the always-entertaining Cheap Trick, who have re-made their classic I Want You To Want Me into I Want You For Christmas.  It's the only song that rocks, too.

It's too bad this is what has become of the Very Special Christmas series, but I have a feeling they know what they're doing.  They've certainly made a ton of money over the years for the good cause, and this is probably what will sell the most.  It's too bad it sounds likes almost every other Christmas compilation out there.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: THE WHO - LIVE IN TEXAS '75 (DVD)

1975 was a year of transition for The Who.  The previous major tour for the band had featured the latest Pete Townshend major work, Quadrophenia.  But it had failed to match, and replace, the rock opera Tommy as the band's set piece.  Disastrous live shows saw backing tapes fail, frustrating Townshend's ambitions for the drama on stage.  Inter-band tension was also building, Roger Daltry looking for more big rock songs to belt, and Keith Moon's life spiraling out of control, threatening to disable the effort at any moment. 

The compromise was a non-thematic album, Who By Numbers, a collection Daltry was allowed to select from the various numbers Townshend presented. Although a chart and sales success, it was not full of memorable songs, and when the band hit the road again, they found themselves repeating most of the old favourites.  And the old albatross was back; Tommy was a hit once again, thanks to the recent Ken Russell movie.  Now a whole new audience, especially in the U.S., were braying for Pinball Wizard and See Me, Feel Me.  Quadrophenia was scrapped, save for one lone tune, Drowned, and a mid-show set of Tommy highlights was back in its place.

Filmed with just two cameras at a Houston venue, the restorers have done yeoman's work on this nearly-two hour concert.  Long-time Who associate Jon Astley remixed the sound to fine results, and the less-than-industry standard visuals are made to work almost as well.  It's only one camera for the first few songs, one from the left, slightly above, and only able to zoom in at times.  It takes some desperate dissolves to get through.  Thankfully, the second cameraman arrives, and gets some better, straight-on shots to go with it.  But compared to today's 9 or 19-camera shoots, this is bare-bones.  Then again, so is the show.

It's the four guys, the songs the crowd knew then, and you know now:  Substitute, I Can't Explain, Behind Blue Eyes, Baba O'Riley.  The new album is dealt with near the start.  The radio hit Squeeze Box is tossed off as the light-weight piece it is, and two more numbers follow, with Who By Numbers not spoken of again in the show.  So far, so-so.  But then "Thomas" is introduced, and the old magic is back.  However sick they must have been of it, they never failed to pull it off, Daltry especially relishing his front man role, able to rivet attention with his powerhouse performance.  After that, they've got the crowd where they want, and knock it out of the park with more classics, including Summertime Blues, My Generation, Magic Bus and Won't Get Fooled Again.

After seeing this group doing concept tours so many times, it's interesting to watch them simply playing.  They are enjoying themselves, especially Moon the Loon.  On this night, he's on his game, and quite funny.  Yelling joke comments from behind the kit at the others, standing and demanding applause at his stool, even coming forward to invade Daltry's space and make song introductions, he's quite hilarious.  Sadly, he would barely be able to play within two years.  Having that one fixed camera on the left turns out to be a bonus for John Entwistle watchers too (if such a type exists).  He's happily in view for his big number, Boris The Spider, and I've never noticed how many harmonies he provided on the 60's songs especially.

There's no quintessential Who moments here; Townshend's theatrics are kept to windmill or two, and a couple of nice leaps.  Nobody trashes guitars or drums.  The sun doesn't rise during Listening To You.  There are a handful of rare live numbers, including Naked Eye, Roadrunner, However Much I Booze and Dreaming From The Waist.  Yet its excellent in itself, proof that night-in, night-out, The Who almost always delivered as one of the greatest live acts ever.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: ROD STEWART - MERRY CHRISTMAS, BABY

This should be a pretty easy decision for you.  If you like the Great American Songbook disc, okay fine.  If you wish he still sang Maggie May, he doesn't here either.  It's the usual holiday songs, backed by an orchestra and produced by David Foster.  That's like adding sugar to your egg nog.  In case you are still holding out hope Stewart might inject a little soul into the proceedings, all there is is a decent duet with Cee Lo Green on the title cut, but it barely gets moving, a rote version of this overdone favourite.  Elsewhere, the guests keep showing up, including the ubiquitous Christmas elf Micheal Buble, Chris Botti, and Mary J. Blige. 

Stewart also commits sacrilege, doing one of those duets with the deceased, grafting on some Ella Fitzgerald vocals to What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?  This really must stop, and fast; there's no reason for it, and it's basically grave-robbing.  He obviously thinks he's in the same class as a singer, and that isn't the case.  Oops, guess I'm showing which Rod I like better.  The only present here is a download code for a track from his next album coming in the spring.  It says it's going to be a ROCK album (the italics are theirs).  I guess I'm not the only one demanding an end to this syrup.  I couldn't bear to listen though, I'd rather live with the hope and hear the whole album, than be disappointed early.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: DAVID GOGO - CHRISTMAS WITH THE BLUES

Some people make Christmas albums just for fun, because they like the songs and season.  Others do it, sadly, because there's always a market.  Some want to rise to the heights of the best, say Bing Crosby or Phil Spector's Christmas album.  For veteran axeman Gogo, he saw it as a challenge.  At first, he admits he didn't think much of the idea, but then warmed to the idea of finding a bunch of great blues songs in the spirit.  Also, as he'd never made a pure blues album, it seemed a good opportunity to stretch that way.

Putting together a dream team of his favourite West Coast players, Gogo went deep into the vaults for blues numbers both well-known and obscure.  Plus he added a couple of his originals to truly make it a challenge.  What you get is a classic blues album, Christmas or not.  There are stinging leads, as he bends into the cuts.  Also featuring are veteran piano man David Vest, providing the Charles Brown licks, and the up-and-coming harp player Shawn Hall, who's been dazzling the blues community with his new band The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer.

Gogo draws on his own life for Let's Get A Real Tree.  He actually does live on a Christmas tree farm, as he says in the spoken word intro.  From there, it's an admission that despite his left-coast P.C. leanings, from recycling to keeping the toilet seat down, he has to have the real deal instead of the more environmentally-friendly reusable decoration:  "Don't be a hippie, let's get a real tree."  The other original takes him down south for some gumbo instead of turkey, on the funky Christmas On The Bayou.  As for the covers, there's a nice take on Brown's annual favourite Please Come Home For Christmas, far more bluesy than the bland Eagles version.  Things really rock on the Leiber/Stoller number for Elvis, Santa Claus Is Back In Town.  This one's for Gogo to show off his string style, playing killer solos between every line, and then scorching his way through twelve bars in the middle.  Hall gets to show off his tricks on the version of Little Drummer Boy, certainly the first time it's become a blues harp instrumental.

Of all the various genres, I think I like blues Christmas albums the best.  Every year a couple come out that join my collection of favourite holiday albums, and this one joins that elite club for 2012.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: SPOONS - ARIAS & SYMPHONIES = 30th ANNIVERSARY

The Burlington, Ontario band's first album, 1981's Stick Figure Neighbourhood, was a breakthrough, but the followup made them rare Canadian stars from the New Wave world.  Arias & Symphonies is a rare gem from that time, a synth album that rocked, danced, and had good to great tunes.  Now 30, it's nice to see classic Canadiana getting the deluxe anniversary treatment usually reserved for international star CD's.

In fact, the album did get some international respect, and certainly strong reviews in the U.S. and Europe.  Here was a troupe that could hold its own in the synth boom, and a degree catchier than albums of the day from OMD and Simple Minds, groups that had yet figured out how to bring in enough beats and hooks to fully integrate the keyboards and drum machines.  The Spoons were a more complete band, with Gord Deppe handling guitar and vocals, Sandy Horne bass and some singing, Derrick Ross providing both real and programmed beats, and Rob Preuss playing all those swoops.  So you'd have a track like South American Vacation which opens with a drum machine, a synth keyboard joining in, and then things get going with guitar and bass turning it into a rock song.  Deppe had just the right kind of slightly-worldly voice that made it all modern.

A good reason the album sounds so sparkling today is the production of John Punter, a vet of Roxy Music and Japan, no stranger to taking cutting-edge sounds and finding that bit of Top 40 in them.  That's what happened with Nova Heart, still arguably the group's best-loved number.  It was groundbreaking in its time, getting what would soon to be called alternative music on radio across Canada, enough to land them a gold album.  Remember, this was at a time when The Police couldn't get played on some squarer stations. 

I won't lie, like most early 80's synth music, Arias is dated in lots of places.  But when Deppe's guitar solo rips apart A Girl In Two Pieces, and then he starts off Walk The Plank with some angular, metallic riffs, it proves this is a lot more interesting than most of the peer music from then.  The bonus cuts included here make that even more obvious, with a six-song live set proving they were far more than a studio group, and a new mix of Nova Heart showing it's still perfect for club nights.  Happy B-day Spoons.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: TRENT SEVERN

Trent Severn is above all else, Canadian.  The trio takes its name from a waterway in Southern Ontario, the area common to them all, and was formed by three friends determined to "write songs that touch the hearts and tell the stories of our Canadian friends, neighbours and legends."  That's quite the manifesto, but certainly one that should raise a little national pride, not a bad thing in the music community.

The group is made up of some surprising folks, best known for quality pop than the roots-folk presented here.  Emm Gryner has Juno nominations, her own record label to put out her thinking-person's albums, and a year in David Bowie's band on her resume.  Dayna Manning has three of her own albums of strong singer-songwriter stuff, and Laura Bates is an in-demand modern fiddler.  But when they got together, they chucked that aside for a new-found interest in harmonizing together, and playing basic instruments such as banjo, fiddle and bass.  And lots and lots of harmony.  It really is a vocal group first, and they do indeed have a blend.

Lead track Snowy Soul spells it out pretty well.  Their voices ring out, with a CSN-inspired blend.  The Tragically Hip are playing on a stereo, and the song is about the far north, about someone who wants to get back there, "When Churchill feels like Memphis, you know you're a cold rolling stone."  It's a potent mix, their vocals soaring high and clear, like chimes.  Elsewhere, there's more of a folksy sound, with Appalachian and mountain music as an influence.  This is a bit odd at times, given the Canadian background of the members, and the purpose of the group, and feels for a time like they've joined all those other post-O Brother bands.  For a precarious moment, comparisons to Alison Krauss come to mind.

Thankfully though, the group return to folk more suited to this side of the border, and we can bask in all the Northern reflections.  It's impressive and clever how much they cram in, from references to Hinterland's Who's Who, to Brian Mulroney and Free Trade, to Crown Royal and the Black Donnellys.  Best of all is Bluenose On A Dime, about moving from L.A. to Montreal, and discovering Kate McGarrigle is your new neighbour:  "Everything just got better/Living in an NHL sweater all the time/Bluenose on a dime and you were mine." 

The members of Trent Severn didn't have to do this, and didn't have to be so blatantly Canadian.  It's usually against our nature to be so obvious, unless you're Stompin' Tom.  It feels a little weird at first, but pretty quickly it feels just right.