Moody Mistress's Journal

Monday, November 03, 2003

"DECEMBER" REVIEW
I really shouldn't be doing this...but oh well. I owe it to the album.

There are two Moody Blues songs that have the ability to lift your spirits the instant you hear them. One is "Lovely to See You," and the other is "Don't Need a Reindeer." The latter, the opening track, is surprisingly contemporary...it wouldn't even seem too out of place playing on the airwaves this holiday season. As mentioned before, it's catchy and infectious--the perfect opening track. Justin Hayward has quite a talent for writing those, and this one won't disappoint (it's running around in my head and I don't mind a bit).

His other area of expertise is writing poignant love songs. The wistful "December Snow" is one such song, but unlike "Reindeer" it's not about the joy of love. The warm autumn months have passed and something has happened with his love; she took all he had and left only the cold. "Time, take this sadness from me; time, bring my heart back safely; hold on to warm September; 'cos life can be like December snow...."

The Bach piece "In the Quiet of Christmas Morning" features the flute playing of the Moodies' newest addition, Norda Mullen. After the classical-sounding intro the wrods begin, which aren't out of place even though the Jays (Justin and John..) composed them within the past year.

See my little John review about "On this Christmas Day."

"Happy Xmas" (I didn't know it was spelled with an X in the title...but hey, neither did Justin) is the Moody-friendly version of John Lennon's famous holiday song. Hearing this made me realise why some people really don't like Lennon's version (although that's one of his few songs where Yoko doesn't sound too bad). I do miss the "war is over, if you want it," but this version is very lovely, albeit so different from the original.

"A Winter's Tale" was written by Mike Batt (see Justin's album "Classic Blue") and Tim Rice. For some completely unexplainable reason, I find this song growing on me...a great deal. There are unfortunately some classic Batt lines--with fillers like "and anyway" and "a lot" (why couldn't he have just said "it meant so much to you and me"? Why " a lot"?). He also uses the rather clunky phrase "worldwide scale". Otherwise, I actually do like this song a lot. And anyway, that's probably due to the faster pace, Justin's singing, and the lines that are actually pretty.

"The Spirit of Christmas"--once again, check the John review.

"Yes I Believe" seems almost like Justin's answer to the previous song. John asks where the spirit of Christmas has gone; Justin agrees "the spirit of Christmas is the spirit of love..." but says that "it's still there when innocence has gone." The spirit itself, contrary to John's song, hasn't disappeared. Justin, "like the rest of us," believes in a better world despite all the turmoil that takes place in this one. People have complained, however, that just saying you believe is useless if you do nothing about it. But--the very act of saying he prays for a better world is doing something. Writing the song is, in fact, doing something about it. He tells the world that he is one of the few who will still "hold on to hope for a better life," and in this he is already spreading such hope. "And if we dare to dream of paradise unseen, it might come true...." There is even a rare (rare for the Moody Blues, anyway) direct mention of "God above."

(I've gotten carried away. Must focus on brevity...) "When a Child is Born" is basically...lovely. And pretty. I'd really like to know where this song came from, as it seems to have had a translator. I must have missed some information about it...anyway, it's a sweet, Christmasy song that you should hear. (Justin and John trade off vocals--VERY nice.)

"White Christmas"--the blend of the Jays' voices are absolute perfection here. The effect is similar to that on "We Can Fly" (a Justin and John song from a year or so back). Their voices are both well-suited to this one. I don't mind the upbeat part--Justin's guitar playing is just so...Justin.

"In the Bleak Midwinter"--beautiful--but the intro has a "scratchy" sound of air, or white noise. It's not that distracting...I just think this should have been engineered a bit differently. Otherwise, this is a magical song.

I really miss Ray Thomas's flute playing. Norda has a more breathy style of playing, and no offense to her--she plays wonderfully. I'm just one of the many who miss Ray's contributions since he retired last year.

Justin and John produced this album...and did a very professional job. But why not? After almost 40 years, I don't really think they need an outside producer.
Again...consider adding "December" to your collection this winter. It's not even strictly Christmas music; it can last you the entire season. (Me, I'll probably still be listening to "Don't Need a Reindeer" in July.)