On November 29th, my parents and I will be going to see Straight No
Chaser in concert, which I expect to be an explosively fun experience.
We bought the tickets over the summer - though I’m kicking myself a bit
that I didn’t get them the day they were announced, as we probably
could’ve scored seats in the first couple of rows. Still, no matter
where we wind up in that cozy theater, I know the hall will be alive
with the sound of music, and it will wash over us just fine.
Given
the fact that this is a post-Thanksgiving concert and that two of
Straight No Chaser’s albums thus far have been Christmas releases, I’m
going to take a leap and presume that a majority of the songs will be
Christmassy in nature. If that’s not the case, I won’t mind; whatever
these guys sing is gonna sound fantastic. But I confess I’m hoping for
an extra dose of Holiday Spirits, along with this second album, Christmas Cheers,
which was released in 2009 and features Ryan Ahlwardt, Walter Chase,
Jerome Collins, Seggie Isho, Michael Luginbill, Charlie Mechling, Dan
Ponce, David Roberts, Randy Stine and Tyler Trepp.
Straight No
Chaser burst into the public consciousness in 2007 with their nearly
decade-old performance of a seriously skewered version of The 12 Days of Christmas.
This album closes with a studio version of it, and that’s great, but it
makes you realize how much the delight of the audience fed the energy
of that first performance. The recording feels a bit limp by comparison.
It’s also nearly a minute shorter, partly due to a lack of audience
response, partly because they seem to have sped it up just a bit, which
kinda gives the appearance that they’re rushing through it. Still
fantastic, just not quite as good as the live version.
While the harmonies on 12 Days
are exceptional, it’s the marriage of harmony and humor that really got
everyone’s attention, so I guess they figured they needed something
comparable for their second album. Christmas Cheers opens with something brand-new and just as wacky: The Christmas Can-Can. This mixed-up medley created by Chase incorporates Can-Can, along with several Christmas songs, including Deck the Halls, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Angels We Have Heard on High, I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In, Jingle Bells, Ode to Joy and, once again, The Dreidel Song.
Can-Can
and several of the other songs get new, amusing lyrics having to do
with the craziness of the holiday season that now seems to start midway
through October. At times, we have two or three songs going at once, and
you really get the feeling that you’re walking through a shopping mall
where every store is blaring its own collection of Christmas carols and
harried shoppers are brushing past you every time you turn around. And
if you don’t happen to celebrate Christmas, you’re feeling
disenfranchised as well as stressed. Pretty hard to try singing along
with, but a hilarious opening track.
Hilarity seems to have been on their minds when they came up with this album, as several other tracks have comical elements. We Three Kings is straightforward lyrically, but it’s arranged in such a way that the traditional carol merges with the Mission: Impossible
theme song. Which I suppose is rather fitting for an epic trek that
must have come with a challenge or two... A really cool and unexpected
mash-up. Donde Esta Santa Claus is a goofy little number, with
the tone oscillating between lethargic and trippy. To bring out the
mariachi flavor, there are occasional bursts of brass instruments, or at
least that’s what it sounds like, though as far as I know, there are no
instruments used on this album, so somebody in the group does a pretty
mean imitation of a trumpet. Evidently this is not an original song, but
it’s one I’d never heard before, and with its hearty mix of English and
Spanish, it’s a bit odd. Fun, though.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
pretends that the guys are on an old-timey radio program, and theirs is
a wonderfully doo-woppy version of the classic. Their first time
through, they don’t add much in the way of embellishment, but on their
second run, the lyrics suddenly take a turn for the bizarre. Rudolph
becomes a “renegade Arctic deer” with a “nuclear” nose, and the whole
thing gets a lot jazzier. Santa Claus Is Back in Town is mostly
an Elvis tribute, with Ahlwardt reveling in his mimicry of the King of
Rock as he becomes an Elvis-ish Santa seductively addressing the object
of his affections. Well, he seems to think he’s being seductive, but he
can’t go more than a sentence or two without mentioning food. Mostly,
really gross food like mayonnaise candy canes and pigs’ feet-flavored
eggnog. Blech! Speaking of eggnog, Who Spiked the Eggnog? is a
finger-snappin’ silly fest in which everyone in the group stands accused
of spiking the eggnog at the Straight No Chaser Christmas party. These
guys are zany enough as it is; I don’t really think they need alcohol to
help ‘em out!
While humor isn’t the main focus on most of the other tracks, it still seeps into most of them here and there. Hey, Santa! is a jazzy number reminding me of the Doobie Brothers’ Black Water. It’s a very peppy song that makes me smile. So does the R&B-flavored Let It Snow. Of course, You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch
has some pretty ludicrous lyrics to start out with. I absolutely love
what they’ve done with this one. It has a really mysterious sound to it,
sounding like it would have a place in an old spy movie or something.
At times, the melody line isn’t too far off from what we’re used to, but
usually it deviates from it wildly, presenting an intriguing
alternative to the familiar Thurl Ravenscroft version.
Jingle Bells
is quick to the point of being a bit frenzied - as if the horses
slipped on a patch of ice and sent the sleigh skittering out of control.
In keeping with their habit of incorporating surprising songs into
Christmas classics, they occasionally sing the words “jingle bells” to
the tune of America from West Side Story, which adds to the fun, as does the spoken objection to the non-word “upsot”. Christmastime Is Here,
by contrast, is downright drowsy, one of the few tracks that I imagine
it would be possible to fall asleep to. A very soothing rendition with a
dash of O Christmas Tree tossed in. I’ll Be Home for Christmas
is another of the more sedate tracks, and it may be a challenger to
Josh Groban for my favorite version of that song. Another pretty track,
which starts out with the spooky whistling of wind, is God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. The R&B flavor is a nice touch.
I always say that my favorite Christmas song is O Holy Night,
but I’ve never been able to find a recording of it that I consider
definitive. Straight No Chaser’s is a little too peppy for me to give
them the award. Nonetheless, while this is more upbeat than I’m used to
hearing this song, the harmonies are just gorgeous, and the doo-wop
style actually suits it wonderfully. It sounds all the more sincere for
being so different. I was really hoping for an a cappella or near-a
cappella version of this song on Celtic Thunder’s recent Christmas album; this almost makes up for its absence.
All things considered, I think I prefer Holiday Spirits to Christmas Cheers, mainly because I’m in love with the poignant Christmas Wish and Indiana Christmas,
while all of the original songs on this album are madcap. Not that
that’s a bad thing. If you want a laugh while you’re putting up those
decorations, Christmas Cheers is sure to bring you cheer.
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