Candle candle, are the children safe now?
December 14, 2018 5:20 PM   Subscribe

Christmas carols with a twist, but not the twist you might expect. Tori Amos' 2009 release Midwinter Graces is both familiar and new, and is every single bit old-school Tori, symphonic and surprising. Recommended for those who love holiday music but who are sick of holiday music. CD: What Child, Nowell; Star Of Wonder; A Silent Night With You [video]; Candle: Coventry Carol; Holly, Ivy, And Rose; Harps Of Gold; Snow Angel; Jeanette, Isabella; Pink And Glitter; Emmanuel; Winter's Carol; Our New Year
posted by hippybear (9 comments total) 20 users marked this as a favorite
 
'Flying Dutchman' remains the pinnacle of her ouvre.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 5:37 PM on December 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


The title is reminding me of Candlejack from Freakazoid, which was briefly a meme. Not sure why it died ou
posted by Merus at 6:23 PM on December 14, 2018 [4 favorites]


Oh, I love this album.

I moved to Wales in 2008, and would fly home for Christmas every December until I returned to the states in 2014. Because I flew out of Heathrow, I would go there a few days early and treat myself to late December in London, when it is gloomy and dark and beautiful. I went to a service at St. Bride's several times, once for Britten's Nine Lessons and Carols in that dark, welcoming space. I stayed near St. Paul's Cathedral where the streets are still thin and medieval, and spent hours at the Tate Modern. I had a religious experience the first time I saw Rothko's Seagram murals. (I had also just had what was probably a mental breakdown.)

And I would listen, obsessively, to this album. Anytime I wasn't indoors, pretty nearly, I would be listening to these songs, and programming them into my brain with the feel of quiet, cold streets and a sense of mystery and magic and deep loneliness, because I hadn't been aware that that area, around the cathedral, just goes absolutely dead after close of business. It's twined with seeing a light dusting of snow and walking along Fleet Street. I have a lot of problems with London, but especially those first few years, when I had this music taking me back in time, taking me outside of time, it was a magical few days. I still listen to it every year, but it's only to call back to that strange, disjointed, beautiful time.
posted by kalimac at 6:46 PM on December 14, 2018 [5 favorites]


Really dig that setting of The Coventry Carol.

For the last week or so I've been working on a program of carols with my a capella women's trio. On the day we were choosing pieces we all sort of looked up at the same time and said, "Coventry Carol?" Somebody said, "You get three women together at Christmas, I think you're contractually obligated to sing the Coventry Carol."

Tonight we were deciding the program order, and it was my turn to say, in a voice way too loud for passersby to ignore, "We can't go straight from 'Goodnight to all the sweet dead murdered babies' right into 'Joy, joy, joy, nonny nonny and a fa la la.'"
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:52 PM on December 14, 2018 [4 favorites]


hippybear, you make the best music posts just exactly when I need them. Many thanks, friend!
posted by blessedlyndie at 9:31 PM on December 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


it was my turn to say, in a voice way too loud for passersby to ignore, "We can't go straight from 'Goodnight to all the sweet dead murdered babies' right into 'Joy, joy, joy, nonny nonny and a fa la la.'"

I realized just yesterday that "Bring a torch to the cradle, run!" is a phrase that could also be used in response to Rosemary's Baby.
posted by hippybear at 9:47 PM on December 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


Ok, I love Tori to bits, but this is one album that didn’t work for me. (Night of Hunters was another.) But based on this post, I’m gonna give it another listen. Not the same person I was when it came out. Maybe this me likes it more.

(Her Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, though, is a holiday staple.)
posted by greermahoney at 11:00 PM on December 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


Ok, I love Tori to bits, but this is one album that didn’t work for me. (Night of Hunters was another.)

Same here. I should give Midwinter Graces another chance. But it's something about the vocal production that caused me to not enjoy it when it came out, like the vocals sound harsh and overprocessed to my ears. I think I need to try to listen past that.

I discovered recently that an instrumental version of Night of Hunters was released digitally (called Night of Hunters - Sin Palabras), which I was happy to find because I felt similar about that album with how the vocals were produced. The music is beautiful though.
posted by wondermouse at 1:12 PM on December 15, 2018


I went off Tori for several years, and only in the past couple years have come back to her music. I added this album back to my holiday music rotation last year, and discovered that "Holly, Ivy, and Rose" exacerbates my homesickness for some reason and makes me cry every time without fail.

(I really dislike the cover art of this album, though. Like an irrational amount of dislike.)
posted by rhiannonstone at 6:49 PM on December 15, 2018


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