59 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!
Buy Caleb's album Christmas here (Amazon UK)
And so the third year of counting down the 60 days until Christmas begins - another 2 months of brilliant new (and sometimes revisited) Christmas music to tide you through those darkening nights and chilly weather fronts. So embrace your inner Elf and let that magical spirit that pervades and dominates this time of year into your heart. You'll feel all sorts of sparkle jolly twinkle jingly for it. And we're kicking off the festivities here with a glorious album from singer songwriter Caleb Collins. Simply entitled Christmas, it doesn't need a more complex moniker as he's crafted a set of 13 tunes that encapsulate the sentiment of the season with beautiful verve and elegant cadence. Caleb himself is a wonderfully expressive singer who brings new nuance to songs you know and love, wrapped like the most wonderful gift in grandiose instrumentals that are as timeless and enduring as the songs he sings.
It all starts with a version of Let It Snow that takes you on a sleigh ride through time, as if Caleb's singing and the orchestral influenced score were part of those vintage 50s Hollywood movies. Vibrant horn, playful piano and Andrews Sisters-esque backing vocals all add to the eager anticipation that Caleb ably provides via his effusive vocal style. It's all beautifully presented and a wonderful way to start your journey to discover the meaning of Christmas with Mr Collins as your willing guide. This is followed by the first of several hymns that feature on the album - Joy To The World. One of my favourite Christmas songs to play on the piano, Caleb offers up for approval a jazz inflected remake that has an organic live sound to it that's hard to resist. He manages to keep the feeling of celestial wonderment that the song deserves through his earnest and sincere singing that amazingly fits into that languid percussion and ebullient piano. It's almost as if the angels got together for a jam session during choir practice and I love it. O Come O Come Emmanuel is a much more reverent rendition that swathes itself in an elegiac piano-violin instrumental and draws out of Caleb a sound that is both aching and yearning, representative of someone longing for kindness and love in their world. The string arrangement deserves special mention - it's complex, reserved and dramatic at exactly the right points of the narrative, making it a duet partner for Caleb to sing alongside.
All the songs on the album paint an evocative visual image - and this is perfectly evidenced on the hopeful I'll Be Home For Christmas. It conjures up a scene of Caleb playing the last song of his set in a stunning symphony hall, snow gently starting to fall outside the ornate trappings of the ceiling height windows. Folks are sat enraptured at the magic he finds in those age old lyrics. There's a sadness within the lyrics of the song yet Caleb refuses to let it control him and instead focuses on what he wants to achieve. "If only in my dreams" has never sounded so attainable :) He then launches into God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen which almost sounds like the Bond theme that never was. Punctuated horns and sharp strings create this illusion while Caleb is an able 007 on a mission to spread the message of the true meaning of Christmas in new, intoxicating ways that will surely preach to the masses. It's a phenomenal accomplishment to make an actual church hymn sound like the best pop smash that your local radio station should be playing ad infinitum. It's stirring conclusion leaves you a little breathless and hungry for more. Luckily there's a change of pace with Bethlehem Morning that features Morris Chapman - a gentleman who brings the appropriate gravitas to the song with his resonant tenor tones that exquisitely complement Mr Collins own radiant timbre. The song swells with crescendo as if it wants to mirror the rising of the sun on that special morning that they both sing about. (While we're talking duets, Rachel Williams Baggett gives a sweet sensitivity on a Parisian street busking version of I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day; it would fit perfectly in a Disney festive short story set in the world of The Hunchback of Notre Dame [surely the House of Mouse's most religious film?] and is the type of song that helps the distractions of every day life fade away with it's inherent charm and gentle majesty. Meanwhile Michael Passons joins The First Noel and is the most lovely addition to the stately story. Caleb knows how to pick duet partners that enhance and accentuate the music and is a generous singer in that he isn't afraid to let their talents shine like that bright Christmas Eve star).
I'm not familiar with The Story Of Us but it's a song that I'll be returning to year after year. It's as good a place as any to note that Caleb is a diverse and eclectic musician who is able to knit together influences from different genres across his Christmas collection without it feeling disjointed or disparate. This has country music shimmering to it as Caleb details how love can make us better people and how our life experiences are better when we have someone who strengthens and supports us along for the ride. It's a mesmerising song and the type of song that will be a go-to whatever the time of year to soothe troubled spirits and edify the soul. A genuine thank you to Caleb for bringing such an inspiring tune to my attention. He tackles What Child Is This? as a bewildered soul seeking answers and this produces a gratifying result that enhances the impact of the resolution to his quest. Again, as throughout the album, the piano work here is intricate, delicate and as stunning as anything you'll hear this season. This continues on the next number which also brings in gospel backing vocalists that make you want to raise your hands and testify in joyous, triumphant, emphatic agreement when Caleb and his crew tell us it's a Sweet Time Of The Year (with a hammond organ that will take you to church when you need it most).
When you are tackling one of my favourite Christmas standards you had better do it the justice it deserves - fortunately I've put my trust into Caleb by this point of the album and he doesn't let me down with a rousing version of O Holy Night. I fully appreciate the use of another festive song I can't quite put my finger on but the piano brings it in as a gentle couplet alongside swirling strings. For me it's all about the impact of the "fall on your knees" part that should send shivers down your spine - I can confirm that it absolutely does so here (and it's second verse equivalent "Christ is the Lord" is particularly awe-inspiring). The album draws to a close with Silent Night - and it's not your mum and dad's Silent Night ;) It's a shuffling up-tempo version that brings back the jazz and leaves you with an exhilarating endorphin rush of Christmas ecstasy, ready to begin Caleb's Christmas journey all over again. It's an album that brings ingenuity alongside the humility and really does provide something for everyone. Tell all your friends because this album is STUNNING.
Ghosts of Christmas past:
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