All right then. We're only five days from the big day so I guess it's time I listened to another Christmas album. This time I'm returning to my first love, progressive rock. There aren't, to be fair, that many to choose from --- prog artistes don't seem to turn out Xmas albums the way some in other genres do --- but I did find this one, which, though it's not all Christmas songs, does seem to fit the bill.
3 ships --- Jon Anderson --- 1985 (Elektra)
Made up of a mix of carols and Christmas songs revisited and some of his own original material, this album was released by the Yes singer and frontman almost thirty years ago, but still sounds as fresh as when it was recorded. Well, Christmas albums by their nature don't really date, do they? It opens on a typical Anderson original, “Save all your love”, with chiming keys and soft percussion, possibly harp in there, Anderson's signature soprano complementing the song perfectly. A short song, just over a minute and a half, but a nice introduction to the album and it leads into “Easier said that done”, with a sweeping synth intro that then kicks up on sprightly guitar. Definitely a slight sense of gospel in there, some nice backing vocals and a very catchy tune, quite AOR in tone. Not as multi-layered or dramatic as his work with Yes, but with an engaging simplicity that allows him to cheekily slip the melody of “O come all ye faithful” into the guitar solo, playfully riffed off by Trevor Rabin.
The first proper Christmas song is up next, and gives the album its title as Anderson interprets “I saw three ships come sailing in” with an atmospheric opening, very Yes, before it takes off on a beat and arrangement quite similar I feel to his hit with Vangelis, “I'll find my way home”. Nice jaunty guitar mostly staying in the background, allowing Anderson to exercise his pipes as only he can, rimshots going off on cue to punctuate the song. A children's choir adds a sense both of wonderment and innocence to the piece, while Rabin racks off another tasteful solo. Some very peppy piano too. “Forest of fire” opens with jungle sounds, bongo beats and in fact reminds me a lot of fellow progger Peter Gabriel, very much in fact: this is really close to his “San Jancinto”. Good exuberant vocal from Jon – you can almost see him dancing around with some sort of African mask on, getting really into the native vibe.
Another choir, this time I believe it's a gospel one, which works very well with the idea of praising God as they sing
"Ho-san-na!” It finishes very abruptly though and we're into “Ding Dong! Merrily on high”, which is kind of hard to make a mess of, but Anderson handles it well. I couldn't honestly say it's any better than the original, or any other version I've heard, but it's not worse. It's a little light, but then it barely reaches the two-minute mark so not much room for improvisation there. “Save all your love (reprise)” then lasts longer than the original song, about twice as long, develops the theme a little but I'm not sure we needed another crack at it. It is nice, but just comes across as a little superfluous, unless Rabin is winding up with one hell of a solo or something? No, he's not.
Another Christmas favourite then, with “The holly and the ivy” getting the Anderson treatment, nice flowing piano and the return of the children's choir. It's nice, but a bit twee, and for some reason reminds me of another Anderson of prog fame... Some nice triumphal brass, but really it's a little wearing and I'm just waiting for it to end so I can get on to the next track. Ah, here it is, and it's an original song with that Caribbean beat again, congas or something, maybe marimba, something island-ish anyway. “Day of days” is pleasant, but again very lightweight, this not helped by the addition of flute to the song, though there is a nice Yes-inspired passage there on the synth. Sort of a Mariachi feel to it now, oddly, and I would definitely have to say I'm not impressed with this.
The next one is very short, less than a minute. “2000 years” runs on a nice jaunty little keyboard line, but really it sounds like something ripped out of a bad “Scrooge” musical. The choir grates pretty badly here, and to be fair Anderson doesn't help. Luckily as I say it's very brief, and leads into “Where were you?” on slow whistling synth and oddly-timed percussion, then picking up into a sort of marching rhythm which, were this any other artiste or album, I might think could be gearing up to be a rock anthem. It's certainly the punchiest of the songs I've heard on this album so far, though that's not saying much. “Wimpfest” is an unkind, but unfortunately appropriate description of this album, I feel. This song goes some of the way to rescuing it, especially with a slick little guitar solo from The Cars' Elliot Easton giving it some teeth, and the chorus is very passionate and upbeat, but that just leaves one original song to go, as the next one and the closer are versions of Christmas standards.
One of my alltime favourites, “O holy night” gets a good run through, with stately keyboards and slow, measured percussion, with Anderson's clear, angelic voice rising to the heavens, the choir coming back in to help him, though truth to tell he doesn't need any help. He is joined on the song though by gospel star Sandra Crouch, who has a nice bluesy style of delivery, and the two almost opposites work very well together. Definitely does the classic proud. Ends a little limply though I feel. One more Anderson-penned track in “How it hits you”, and it's quite rocky and boppy, a nice surprise. Very exuberant and joyful, but I would have liked to have seen Rabin cut loose on the guitar more. What we get in fact is a peppy keyboard solo, which is nice, but this song was crying out for a guitar solo. Anderson then throws in a reprise of “Ding! Dong! Merrily on high” for some reason...?
We close on another Christmas favourite, as his daughter Jade giggles her way through a whimsical interpretation of “Jingle bells”, cute but ultimately throwaway. But then I suppose this
is a Christmas album, and it
is Jon Anderson, so whimsy is to be expected. Not how I would have closed it out though.
TRACKLISTING
1. Save all your love
2. Easier said than done
3. 3 ships
4. Forest of fire
5. Ding dong! Merrily on high
6. Save all your love (reprise)
7. The holly and the ivy
8. Day of days
9. 2000 years
10. Where were you
11. O holy night
12. How it hits you
13. Jingle bells
Yeah. Not really impressed to be honest. The album neither kicks the ass out of Christmas (not that you would have expected it to) or falls totally over the precipice into cutesy-poo land, but wobbles dangerously on the edge, trying to decide what it wants to be. Given that Anderson wrote some original material to go with the Christmas songs, you have to assume he meant the album to be taken seriously, but there's very little on it that really stays in the mind. From the pen of such a master songsmith this is pretty third-rate fare. Even the Christmas interpretations, with the possible exception of “O holy night”, are nothing to write home about.
Quite disappointing in the end. Bland, uninteresting and flat. Sort of like my Christmas pudding I suppose. A really poor effort, and to be fair to him, not up to his usual standard. Perhaps I should listen to “Olias of Sunhillow” again to erase the memory of this musical equivalent of socks-and-aftershave...
