DIGITAL ACTIVITY: Xmas Volume 1 (CD on Disturbing Music)
This release from 2003 offers 50 minutes of holiday favorites presented in a modern venues.
Arranger/programmer Geoff Western and his troop of Digital Activists apply a quirky sense of modern technology to a selection of Yuletide songs that have been a steadfast fixture through the ages. The result is a holiday record that brings these seasonal standards into the 21st Century with renditions that stretch the parameters of kitsch.
Such tunes as "Jingle Bells", "Have Yourself a Merry Little Xmas", "It's Beginning to Look like Xmas", "Home for the Holidays", "I'll Be Home for Xmas", "Silent Night", "Let It Snow", "Have a Jolly Jolly Xmas", and "Winter Wonderland" are mutated from the versions you remember and converted into techno and electronic renditions that not only capture their holiday frivolity but also force-feed a dose of rock ambience to the tunes, periodically flavoring the treatments with jazz and even country embellishments.
The songs are presented in instrumental mode, without lyrics, but this does little to detract from their familiarity. Earnest efforts are employed to retain recognizibility--despite the considerable alterations to which these songs are subjected.
Synthesizers and e-perc dominate the new modes, presenting the classics in a futurist manner that does little to violate their sentimental appeal. The delivery is carefully handled, and the execution will bring smiles to even the grumpiest scrooges.
This holiday novelty is thoroughly entertaining, following in a tradition pioneered by Mannheim Steamroller.
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