Christmas can be a magical time, which is funny if you think too hard about it. Christmas has its roots in drunken pagan celebrations that were usurped by religious/governmental leaders into a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus (which by all historical accounts took place nowhere near December 25th). However, the holiday still didn’t garner a whole lot of widespread respect until the publishing of the Charles Dickens classic “A Christmas Carol” which you have almost certainly scene an adaptation/parody of, even if you have never read the actual book.
Finally, Christmas was once again altered in the 1950’s by capitalism and the introduction of widespread consumerism. Soon people were celebrating the holiday by buying presents, buying food, buying music (fun fact, “White Christmas” by Binge Crosby, is generally considered the best selling single of all time), and I guess spending time with people you love. Yet despite its storied history, Christmas still inspires general feelings of goodwill and charity (in no small part due to the aforementioned book by Charles Dickens). It’s still a special part of childhood for millions of people, and if I’m honest with myself, something I look forward to every year. All this brings us to the 1996 album “Christmas Eve And Other Stories” by Trans-Siberian Orchestra, a spinoff of sorts from the 80’s metal band Savatage. It’s an album that gives me all the warm fuzzies I associate with Christmas. But beyond that if you really dig into the album, it has a lot to offer on both a thematic and musical level. The album offers us a story of God’s youngest angel, sent out on Christmas Eve to “bring back…the one thing that best represents everything good that has been done in the name of this day”. So the angel takes flight and is first drawn by all the music that is created around the holiday of Christmas. This serves the first half of the album as we hear many classic tunes from “Silent Night” to “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”. Some songs are played fairly straightforwardly with classic instrumentation such as a classical guitar, while others are given an 80’s glam metal update. It’s the updated tracks like the timeless “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo (12/24)” that showcase what this band does best and is probably the reason most people even know this album exists. However a little background on the song (The song was originally released by TSO previous band Savatage as the story of a cellist during the Bosnian War) shows it to be a statement on the horrors of war and the peace that things like music and Christmas can bring us even in the midst of such atrocities. And lest you think this band is just a one trick pony covering classic Christmas songs I would bid you to discover the track “A Star to Follow”, a wonderful song contrasts with the epic sounding adult choir paired against the angelic sounding children’s choir that eventually combine into a truly beautiful song. For me however, it’s the second half of the album that really grabs at my heart strings. As the angel continues to fly he notices a prayer from a father for his missing daughter that he apparently had a falling out with at some point in the past. Over the next several tracks we are told the story of intervention on the part of the angel, an act of kindness from a grizzled old bar keeper, and forgiveness. All this finally draw the father and daughter back together culminating in my personal favorite track “This Christmas Day”. In true music theater fashion the album winds down with the track “An Angel Returned” and the lines “Kyrie among nations, Hear as they ring through the night” which roughly translates to “God have mercy among nations”. A truly great and warm ending to a wonderful and sweet album. The band, and this album in particular, is able to somehow cut through all the clutter and commercialism of Christmas and reminds me that often times the greatest gift we can give is forgiveness and love, a truly timeless Christmas message. Suggested Tracks: A Star to Follow Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24 This Christmas Day An Angel Returned
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
December 2023
Categories |