THE CHRISTMAS ALBUM – John Owen-Jones (JOJ Music – Downloadable)
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Let’s start off by saying that, in my mind, John Owen-Jones can do no wrong. I have seen him in countless stage productions and that voice never fails to impress. So, I would probably be buying this CD simply to have it in my collection.
Christmas albums? It is my belief that you buy them for one reason and one reason only – the artist. After all, you have heard the majority of these tracks countless times on a myriad albums over the years. Although there are three new tracks on this recording, one co-written by Owen-Jones.
The album starts out quite traditionally with ‘It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year’, ‘Happy Holiday/The Holiday Season’ and ‘That Holiday Feeling’ (which is a duet with Kerry Ellis). It starts to veer with the next track ‘Holly Jolly Christmas’ which has some effects added to sound as if it is being sung in his living room with some friends around.
On ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’ we get a taste of what Owen-Jones’ voice is capable of, with a really fabulous ending. We are back to safe ground with ‘Let It Snow/Winter Wonderland’ and then we have one of the lesser-known songs ‘Lullaby for Christmas Eve’, given a most beautiful rendition – really gorgeous in its simplicity.
‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales’, written by Welsh singer Al Lewis, is another lesser-known song inspired by the prose ‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales’ written by Dylan Thomas. A beautiful song interspersed with excerpts of Thomas reading his prose – it all fits like a glove.
‘On Christmas Eve’ comes from the seemingly bottomless vault of Les Reed, who wrote songs such as ‘Delilah’ and ‘It’s Not Unusual’. Owen-Jones has re-orchestrated it and changed some of the lyrics to make it more contemporary, yet it still retains that oldie feel.
Steve Balsamo and Ben Robbins are responsible for the next track, ‘Please Come Home for Christmas Day’. John also had a hand in the writing of this plea to someone you love to make it home in time for Christmas Day. Two more tracks: ‘Now More Than Ever’ and ‘River’, the latter song by Joni Mitchell and is always a touching ending to a Christmas festivity – it is sad but makes you thankful for what you have.
Simply by the fact I have taken time to go through each track lets you know that I really do like this Christmas album, but what makes it all the more special for me is Owen-Jones’ superb voice and rendition of these tracks. I’ll be playing up to Christmas!
Nick Wakeham
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.