19 DAYS TIL CHRISTMAS!!
Buy It's A Wonderful Christmas Carol here (Amazon UK)
Over the years I've found that great art that depicts Christmas will always transcend both genre and season. It's perfectly OK to find hope and solace in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol in February. There is nothing wrong with finding yourself cheered up in July by a secret spin of Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You. Absolutely right that you curl up watching It's A Wonderful Life in September when you've got flu and need something uplifting to reaffirm your faith in humanity. Likewise the latest album from the talented, innovative chaps known as The Retrospective Soundtrack Players (It's A Wonderful Christmas Carol) feels exactly like the type of creative endeavour you can play well into January and beyond. For those of you not in the know RSP are a band that seek inspiration in classic literature and movies to fuel their musical compositions - and it's earned them critical plaudits and a dedicated fanbase. Following their tuneful homages to Cool Hand Luke and Catcher In The Rye, they've turned their attention to a brilliant fusion of the aforementioned timeless tales of A Christmas Carol and It's A Wonderful Life. The band effortlessly take their effusive brand of pop-rock melodies and create a score that is both thrilling in it's genius and rewarding in it's reverence to the source material. It's the perfect soundtrack that never was that should be a regular part of your seasonal playlist...
It starts off with the theme to It's A Wonderful Christmas Carol, a mesmerising piece of piano that is a spellbinding masterclass in how to infuse the instrument with enough emotions to make the most histrionic of singers jealous. It delivers elegiac melancholy with a shimmering beauty that makes you wish it was longer than the 58 seconds you get, painting you pictures of a stark winter wonderland ready to be filled with personality and character. First full song, I'm Sleeping This Christmas, sees the lads yearning for the merriment of winter to be over with a vibrant love letter to Spring setting the tone for both the musicality of the album (a vibrant jangling piano-guitar-percussion riff that sounds better than most the gubbins in the charts) and the story they are telling. There's some great textured vocal effects in this that add an extra dimension to the song. It's A Wonderful Life is an acoustic guitar-vocal jam that takes a more autobiographical approach - detailing the ups and downs of life in a band. There's an element of pathos to the lyrics yet a balance of tongue in cheek humour too meaning you're not too gloomy by the end of their ditty. Like George Bailey, things may not always go to plan for the fellas but I'm learning that life was a lot poorer without them in it. It's the perfect set up for Bah Humbug the most festive sounding of songs so far despite being entirely downbeat. It's a coalescing of their wall of sound with the inspiration of the stories and their own history that makes their miserable irresistable - "god damn I'm getting too old" they may be but despite a weariness in their vocals you are left with the impression that there is redemption and hope just around the corner. It comes in the form of The Guardian Angel - a satisfying rendering of Clarence in mellifluous majesty. There's a Celtic aura to the track that proves RSP are the most able of raconteurs with the characters being exquisitely fleshed out whether they be reveling in their misery or trying to warn of what such griping could render upon them. It feels as vivid as if you were watching an actual theatrical musical right in front of your very eyes.
The trilogy of the three ghosts (Past, Present and Future) visiting sees guest vocalists Chris T-T, Frank Turner and Ben Marwood join the fray as each of the seasonal spectres. I'm A Coward is a searing insight into how our past mistakes contribute to the people we are today, how we sometimes have this inability to move on from them and blame them for our current situation. The inertia of the situation is mirrored in the languid feel to the instrumental (though not to the detriment of the music, it's compelling from start to finish) - a gift that RSP seem to have in making the score as essential as the lyrics and vocals. No Ego is an expertly crafted pop song with a chorus that remains in your head long after the song finishes - a lyrical life lesson in how to let go of the past and become a better person (that is far less irritating than any Disney Let It Go "anthem" you're sick of hearing). Phrases like "stop trying to make it someone else's fault" and "you really haven't got it all that bad" are words to live by set to some of the best melodies you'll hear this year. I Can't Be Anybody Else is an eight minute opus that provides the thrust in moving the storyline from self pity and loathing to the optimism in the last few songs that is joyful AND triumphant. It's almost hymn-like in it's approach with a gravitas that accentuates the solemn nature of this last-chance ballad. In a story that's been told a thousand times then a thousand times more kudos must go to the group for finding a new way to present this tale.
The good times start to roll on Christmas Day (view here - YouTube) where there's a refreshing lack of cynicism about all the things that make it the most wonderful time of the year. The harmonica in the middle 8 makes this utterly euphoric in it's execution and you can't help but feel rather darn jolly about everything (even now on January 2nd!) The campaign to make this song the 2015 Christmas Number One starts here - a celebration of all things Christmas as well as music that is organic in it's origin would make a lovely change. Every Time A Bell Rings An Angel Gets It Wings is a rousing knees up that recalls the best of Dexy's Midnight Runners and The Pogues (but is indelibly Retrospective Players). People love a good redemption story and it's so much the better when set to party-atmosphere music such as this is. In a staged production of this album this would be the finale song that gets everyone a-clapping along before the final curtain call and singalong to No Man Is Poor Who Has Friends. It's a modern day parable for our times - appreciate what you've got because you may have possessions or fame or success or 2.3 million twitter followers but it's the people close to you who help you make the memories that count. A sterling message to finish what is actually one of the best albums of 2014 period. Retrospective Soundtrack Players I shake you by the hand and salute you.
**Ghosts of Christmas past**
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