"Christmas Time of the Year" CD
by Bruce Bergh: 1/3
Most new Christmas albums I listen to are a re-hash of traditional songs done in a new style or genre. "Christmas Time of the Year" is refreshingly new Christmas music that has never been heard before, because it is all original. The title song, at this writing, has already been placed in two movies. Bergh takes an approach to the romantic side of what Christmas is in the first verse, and contrasts those images with the reality of the weather in the northern hemisphere at the time of Christmas. Cold, cloudy, snowy and miserable. It completely takes you off guard, as you expect the first verse images of love and family to continue into the second. There are two versions of the song. One live, and a studio version. The live version is a recording done in concert in Hawaii. References are made to what the Hawaiian audience is missing in both cases, ending in Bergh's happiness that he is there because the weather is a balmy 82 degrees.
The second song on the album is the only familiar sounding Christmas song from the past, based on the song "Up On The Housetop". However, it is a whole new song that borrows the melody for the second half of the recording. The first half is an introduction with a piano and voice in a jazz vocal style building up to how late at night the singer stumbles upon happening to catch Santa land on his neighbor's rooftop. The second half breaks into a bluegrass rendition of Santa's actions and the neighbor's personalities. Lots of humor and fun. This could be the next Christmas novelty song of 2014! Check out the album, it's lots of fun. I will touch on the remaining songs in my next blog. See you then!
