"This Warm December" starts with Jack Johnson playing
"Someday At Christmas", it’s a politically charged song highlighting the era of war around Christmas time; it’s short, sweet and worth a listen. Mason Jennings plays a soft cover of "
Santa Claus is coming to town", it makes a nice change from hearing the repetitive hypnotic monotonous tone around everywhere at Christmas and shines a new light on this classic Christmas song.
"
All I Want For Christmas" follows and is performed by Matt Costa. This version in my opinion is a great alternative to the original; it’s got a diminutive influence of country and folk, and is a bit more fun than the original version. Whatever you do, don’t have Mariah Carey’s attempt in mind before you listen! Zee Avi’s
"No Christmas For Me" has that warm, British, Christmas by the fire, country cottage feel; the tonality of the song is excellent and would make great “background” music for those Christmas parties. The halfway mark is made by Money Mark and his "
Stuck At The Airport". It’s got an hellacious beat to it. You know, that brilliant rhythm where tapping your foot along is no effort, in fact it is mandatory. "
Stuck At The Airport" is funky and content feeling, despite it’s down and out lyrics.
Next up is G.Love performing
"Christmas Baby". This is probably my personal favourite on the entire CD. Personally the Harmonica makes the song for me; "
Christmas Baby"’sgot a really southern American edge to it and reminds me of the run down blues clubs you would expect to experience in Tennessee. ALO arrive with the aptly titled "
Christmas Time". This track is quite laid back compared to the previous track. It sounds slightly like John Mayer -their voices are very similar.
"Christmas Time" also features a guitar solo which is the most technically advanced Christmas song I have ever heard [in musician’s eyes]. Track 8 and Neil Halstead takes to the digital stage. "
The Man In The Santa Suit" is a slightly jazz and blues influenced track. I must say it's a very smooth sound. "
The Man In The Santa Suit" sounds like a mid-set list, chilled out - restaurant meal type of song. That may sound like it has lost some dignity, however it turns out to be a quite an enjoyable song. Rogue Wave’s "
Christmas" has the stereotype and normality of a standard Christmas song and it appears that the artist hasn’t really used much originality in their approach or musicianship to shape it as their own. Jack Johnson returns with the penultimate song,
"Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer" and I can't believe my ears at how great this version is. Jack Johnson has made wonders with this song and taken the irritating nursery rhyme feeling right away from it. Zach Gill is the final contributing artist with a soulful cover of
"Silent Night". It has a vintage recording technique on the guitar which keeps the age of
"Silent Night" in mind, but at the same time adds a new light on the classic.
At first look at the album, the only name you may of heard of is Jack Johnson (probably why he’s on there twice) or maybe Mat Costa. Despite this, it’s definitely one of the better Christmas albums around for a while. "This Warm December" takes away that generic and slightly timid side to the music of Christmas; this album would be great to celebrate Christmas anywhere but it would be perfect for Christmas on the beach!
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This Warm December: a Brushfire Holiday Vol.1
Lostprophets low key festival warm up shows