Customer Reviews
Perfect. - By: Pippin, 06 Jan 2008 
It's 6th January & I'm going to play this one last time before I put the Christmas decorations away. Have played this again & again all through the holidays since it arrived.
It is perfect Christmas music, I think, even/especially if your have mixed feelings about the "festive season". The traditional carols are donein his kind of weird, jangly, sincere-but-cool, home-made kind of way (esp on the earlier cds), just beautiful. But nothing at all like carols sung by soaring-voices-of choristers, far from it!
The light hearted stuff is catchy & fun, but notin a tacky commercial way so you can surrender to the silliness of the season without feeling you're selling out, if you know what I mean.
I have two favourite tracks, a poignant song called Sister Winter (on the last cd) & the one that had my kids dancing round the Christmas tree every time, Get Thee Behind me Santa. No, seriously, that's what it's called, but it's great! My children would have put it on repeat all day long for a fortnight if I'd let them. That's also on the last cd & it is the soud of Christmas 2007 for us.
I heard the pop on Christmas day - By: E. A Solinas, 10 Feb 2007 For some years now, Sufjan Stevens has been recording little EPs of Christmas songs for people he knew, to "make himself appreciate Christmas more."
Now thankfully he's sharing these songs with his eager listeners,in a five-disc collection that includes his folky reinterpretations of classic carols -- & then the festive ones he made himself. This is not the treacly garbage they put on the radio orin malls -- this is enchanting, festive, fresh music for the holidays.
The first EP -- recordedin 2001 -- is very much old-school Sufjan. Much folkier & banjoey, especiallyin the lo-fi "O Come O Come Emmanuel," folksy little songs about going to the country, & "Amazing Grace." But there are exceptions -- a shimmering reinterpration of an old hymn, & some bouncy sleigh bell pop.
But the collection blossoms with the sparkling "Angels We Have Heard on High," which is the lead-in to his more polished style. In the four EPs that follow, Sufjan flourishes out into synthy pop, xylophone tunes, dancey holiday music, mellow folk, & exquisite piano balladry. There's the occasional banjo tune, but they grow rarer as time goes on.
And as the collection moves forward, Stevens' music becomes more accomplished with each passing year. His music becomes more complex & more enchanting, right up to the rather pensive & downbeat fifth disc -- which is album-length -- with the shimmering piano of "Winter Solstice" & the offbeat synthpop of "Jupiter Winter."
Sufjan does repeat himself occasionally -- there are multiple versions of "O Come O Come Emmanual," "Lo! A Rose E'er Blooming," & "Oncein Royal David's City." Fortunately each time he records the same song, it's radically reimagined. And even songs that most people are heartily sick of -- like "Jingle Bells" -- lose that appalling shopping-mall feeling when Sufjan plays them.
As well as the traditionals & classics, Sufjan injects a lot of his own songs. He makes a festive mishmash of instrumentals -- Hammond, guitar, a little flute, banjo, & lots & lots of bells! Lyrically this is right up his street. He can switch effortlessly from "K-Mart is closed/So is the bakery" to singing about the little Lord Jesus laying down his headin a manger.
And Stevens isn't afraid to look at the side of Christmas that isn't filled with love, joy & goodwill ("Our father yells/Throwing giftsin the wood stove... Silent night/Nothing feels right"). But then, he also has whimsical pop tunes like "Come On! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance!" which is suitably jolly for the holidays. Not to mention the sweetly romantic side as well ("I might kiss you on the back of your neck/Because it's Christmas time."
Sufjan Stevens isin excellent form with his collection of Christmas tunes. Old songs get a new spin, & new songs are absolutely enchantingin his psychfolky way. Now that it's Christmas time...
