Wall Street Journal Midwinter Graces Review

New Music Preview: Tori Amos’s “Midwinter Graces,” Bon Jovi’s “The Circle”

November 9, 2009, 8:30 PM ET
By Christopher John Farley

Tomorrow is new music day, and two of the most intriguing releases are Tori Amos’s “Midwinter Graces” and Bon Jovi’s “The Circle.”

Amos’s last record was called “Abnormally Attracted to Sin.” Her new release is a seasonal album filled with holiday carols (or fragments of them, anyway). It’s like going from summer to winter without a stop at fall.

The singer-songwriter-pianist joins a host of high-profile musicians who have released holiday-themed albums recently, including Bob Dylan (”Christmas in the Heart”) and Sting (”If On A Winter’s Night…”). These albums, in part because of the strong personalities of the artists behind them, aren’t traditional Christmas albums. Sting’s CD is a “winter-themed” album, and focuses more on winter suffering than on holiday celebrations.

Dylan’s is a non-traditional Christmas album because, well, it’s Bob Dylan doing a Christmas album.

Amos puts her own spin on the season with “Midwinter Graces.” It’s a kind of mash-up album–Amos combines some traditional carols to create new songs (for example, “What Child is This” + “The First Noel” = “What Child, Nowell.”) She also alters the melodies and the lyrics to other familiar songs (such as “We Three Kings” in the song “Star of Wonder”) and offers up her own holiday originals, such as “Pink and Glitter” and “Our New Year.”

Amos is the daughter of a Methodist minister and grew up singing carols in her father’s church. Her music, on past albums, has explored issues of sexuality and spirituality. “Drive another nail in/ Just what God needs/One more victim,” go the lyrics to one of her earlier songs, “Crucify.” And on another previously released song she sings “God sometimes you just don’t come through/Do you need a woman to look after you.”

Her new holiday album might annoy some traditionalists, but the songs are performed with a sense of warmth and respect, even as the singer-songwriter freely adapts the material to her own musical sensibilities. This is Christmas without irony or a wink. On “Pink and Glitter,” she’s backed by a big band, giving the tune a retro feel; on other tracks she’s supported by a rock band and an orchestra, granting the arrangements some solidity and bite.

Also out tomorrow is “The Circle,” the new album from Bon Jovi (it can be purchased with a documentary about the band, “When We Were Beautiful”). The album delivers the New Jersey band’s typical brand of muscular, populist rock with hard-working songs like “Superman Tonight” and ”Bullet.” In case you have any doubts about the superstar rockers’ blue-collar street cred, there’s a song called “Work for the Working Man” with the refrain “Who’s going to work for the working man?”

Presumably, Bon Jovi will. Lighters up!

The music video for one of the tracks from the album, “We Weren’t Born to Follow,” features images of various leaders and global heroes, like the protester who stood in front of the line of tanks in China during the Tiananmen Square uprising of 1989, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, astronauts–and Lance Armstrong, that beloved global leader (and sometime cyclist) who likely just edged out Hideki Matsui to make Bon Jovi’s list.

Bon Jovi performed the song “We Weren’t Born to Follow” in Berlin as part of the celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Popmatters Midwinter Graces Review

On Midwinter Graces, Amos Transcends Her Own Ghosts

Tori Amos
Midwinter Graces
(Universal Republic)

US release date: 10 November 2009
UK release date: 9 November 2009

By Erin Lyndal Martin

Whenever an artist releases a Christmas album, it is understandably received with more than a bit of trepidation. Will it be a diluted version of that artist’s talent buried under tinsel and sentimentality? Will a rock star suddenly sound like a Jesus freak in the spirit of the holiday season?

Those fears—and more—were certainly in effect upon first listen to Tori Amos’ Midwinter Graces. Imagine, then, the surprise to find that a holiday album is Amos’ best work in years. For some reason, it took a holiday album for her to transcend the pitfalls that have marked her last few albums—releasing over-long albums with uneven song quality and splotchy production has been a familiar refrain with critics and fans of her work alike. But Midwinter Graces is 12 tracks long, a perfect length, and most of the production is spot-on. Gone is the dreaded AutoTune that botched some of the songs on Amos’ last original album, Abnormally Attracted to Sin. Gone, for the most part, are the overly-layered backing vocals that cluttered the sonic landscapes of many a song on Amos’ past four releases.

As for the Jesus Freak bit, that’s an especially intriguing question given Amos’ career-long unraveling of Christianity. Refreshingly, she opted to remove most of the Jesus references even from the traditional carols on the album, and the five originals are served well by staying secular (aside from the decidedly pagan “Winter’s Carol”). While this is a holiday album that’s hard not to love, it is also very much a Tori Amos album. Take, for instance, the album opener “What Child, Nowell”. In typical Amos fashion, carols’ histories were researched and a song combining “What Child Is This?” and “The First Noel” (as it was spelled originally) was born. This song also features Amos’ first use of the harpsichord in quite some time, and fans should rejoice over that, whatever their opinion of the chorus’s sleigh bells.

The other traditional carols face similar reimagining at Amos’s hands. “Star of Wonder” is a Middle Eastern-inflected “We Three Kings” with a soaring chorus. In fact, the only clunker is “Harps of Gold”, namely based on “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing”. It is definitely a cringe-able offense that Amos chose to have her nine-year-old daughter sing on “Holly, Ivy, and Rose”, but that moment is fortunately brief and actually cute.

Midwinter Graces also contains five originals. While “A Silent Night With You” is far from Amos’ best work, the others more than make up for it. Take, for example, the all-out big band “Pink and Glitter”. It’s a spot-on retro hit that will charm both young listeners and those old enough to remember big band’s first pass through pop culture. Other songs, like “Snow Angel”, are more typical of Amos’s standards: “Snow angel, snow angel, snow angel / She’ll make her way / And she’ll stay for a time, for a time.”

Enough praise, however, cannot be heaped on the Amos original “Winter’s Carol”. Featuring her trademark piano, poetic lyrics, and expressive vocals, this song is a masterpiece among her oeuvre, especially when considering only her post-2002 work. Though Amos invites another relative—her niece—onto guest vocals, her niece can sing, and her voice sounds fantastic harmonizing with Amos’s. “Winter’s Carol” is the penultimate song on the album, and it bleeds into the lovely original closer “Our New Year”. In this song, Amos seemingly picks up where “Toast”, a 2005 song dedicated to her departed brother, left off. The gently building symphonic arrangements (skillfully done by John Philip Shenale, who deserves special recognition for the whole album) complement Amos’s lament “You’re not here / You’re not there”, turning Christmas into a typically Tori Amos bittersweet affair.

Ultimately, only the biggest Scrooge or Amos cynic could fail to be moved by such an album, which is hopefully a harbinger of all things musical to come from Amos.

Indianapolis Star/Metromix MWG Review

Tori Amos, ‘Midwinter Graces’

The priestess of piano puts her own spin on holiday music

By Adam McKibbin
Metromix
November 9, 2009

Release date: November 10, 2009
Record label: Universal Republic
Official Web site: http://www.toriamos.com/

The buzz: Bob Dylan may be called the unlikeliest person to release a holiday album in 2009, but Dylan never speculated that a flaky God needed a woman to look after him, and Dylan (mercifully) never wrote a song about masturbating in bed while his family prayed and sang hymns downstairs. Who wrote those songs? That would be Tori Amos, a troublemaking minister’s daughter who has “said much to mock both her Creator, Jesus Christ, as well as Christianity,” according to one online ministry. Well, guess who’s singing about silent nights and stars of wonder?

The verdict: While portions of “Midwinter Graces” will sound very familiar to Christians, Amos took a typically odd and ambitious approach, blending traditional (albeit edited) carols with original songs, and deriving inspiration not just from the Christmas narrative but various mythologies and solstice celebrations—from which Christianity heavily borrowed, in some cases. She’s backed by her usual band and a full array of ‘tis-the-season orchestral arrangements featuring strings, timpani and even sleigh bells, while “Pink and Glitter” swings with a full New Year’s Eve-style brass band. The spirit and smarts are in place, but “Midwinter Graces” is mostly a mild pleasure—which still may make it a welcome addition to your family’s holiday playlist.

Did you know? Emphasizing that holidays are a family affair, Amos’ daughter and niece each make an appearance on vocals.

Mother Jones Midwinter Graces Review

Venerable magazine Mother Jones is the final flake in the flurry of Midwinter Graces reviews for tonight. Nikki Gloudeman’s positive review, despite initial misgivings, appeared on November 9th in their music blog, The Riff.

Thanks to Jerry for the link!

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Huffington Post Midwinter Graces Review

Midwinter Graces is one of several new releases that Mike Ragogna reviewed for the Huffington Post today (scroll down a bit to find the review, right after Ragogna’s review of Sting’s seasonal album). The record gets good marks in this short but sweet piece.

Thanks to Mark-Alexis Gabriel for the link!

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Consequence of Sound Midwinter Graces Review

Consequence of Sound’s Anthony Balderrama turns his eyes towards Midwinter Graces and doesn’t find it wanting. Giving it 4 of 5 stars, he describes it as, “an impressive holiday-inspired album,” despite, “a few production missteps.” Check out the full review on their website or below.

Thanks to Matt for catching this one!

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Metro Midwinter Graces Review

Claire Allfree’s Midwinter Graces review for Metro.co.uk was posted on the web yesteday, November 9th. As with many opinions on the album so far, some songs she likes, some songs she doesn’t like, resulting in a 3 star (out of 5) grade.

Thanks to Mark-Alexis Gabriel for the tip!

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Allmusic Midwinter Grace Review

Allmusic.com has added Stephen Thomas Erlewine’s review of Midwinter Graces to their Tori Amos discography. Erlewine gives it 3 of 5 stars and describing it as, “an easy listening version of all her signatures in one tidy, not so-Christmasy, package.”

Huh.

Thanks to luke for the link!

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Künstlicher Midwinter Graces Review

Laura Snapes’ strongly-worded and less-than-favorable review of Midwinter Graces for NME (apparently that is; it hasn’t been posted on nme.com as of yet though it may have appeared in the print edition already) generated a bit of a flurry in the comments. Agree or not with her critique or not, such is the way of music criticism.

Thanks to toribr for catching this one!

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SLUG Magazine Midwinter Graces Review

Tori Amos – Midwinter Graces review

by Dean O. Hillis
Online Exclusive / Posted October 27, 2009

I can think of no greater feat than a Christmas/Holiday album helping to get you in the mood for the forthcoming holidays in October. If ever a modern artist was suited for recording a holiday/seasonal album, it must be Tori Amos. From “Winter” and her live “Little Drummer Boy” cover from the Little Earthquakes period, her pretty “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” and one of my personal favorites, her original holiday song “Purple People (Christmas In Space)” (both b-sides from the Spark single) not to mention her great live cover of Joni Mitchell’s “The River” (sadly never “officially” released) her love of this genre is more than evident. But “Midwinter Graces” isn’t your typical holiday album and its deep beauty reveals itself upon repeated listenings. Which is not to say that initially some songs don’t immediately grab you—they certainly do (this is a Tori Amos album after all)—it is just that this isn’t a “Christmas” specific album and there is nary a Santa or “White Christmas” in sight. Instead a very angelic-looking Tori (floating in heavenly clouds) is featured on the album’s cover, and in a few booklet shots I’ve been lucky enough to view online let me know immediately this album was going to be different than the standard holiday fare.

When I first learned of this release (announced on my favorite Tori site, www.undented.com) I thought it was going to be a compilation of these previously released tracks, and I was more than fine with that. I thought it would be great to have remastered versions of “Little Drummer Boy” or even “Purple People” (as 2006’s great A Piano boxed set included the live soundcheck version from To Venus & Back and not the original studio one) and maybe/hopefully a few new songs. When the actual title was officially announced alongside the track list (comprised of her interpretations of select holiday carols as well as original compositions) I was even happier. And now after several listens, I am not disappointed by any means.

One wonders how she has achieved this amazing accomplishment, especially after already releasing one of 2009’s finest albums, Abnormally Attracted To Sin, not to mention taking that out on the road. The press release explains that most of “Graces” was written/recorded during the promotion of Sin, then recording continued during the “Sinful Attraction Tour” mostly on days off and it is to Amos’ credit that she has created an equally listenable and intriguing album. Working with her loyal collaborators Matt Chamberlain (drums), Jon Evans (bass), Mac Aladdin (guitar), and John Philip Shenale (string arrangements), the recording is lush and crystalline courtesy of husband Mark Hawley and Marcel van Limbeek. What is always amazing about a Tori Amos album is the amount of research and attention to detail that she brings in as the producer. One doesn’t have to question her musicianship or artistry—she seems more attuned to her muses than ever—but it is her reworking here of classic songs (“What Child, Nowell,” “Candle: Conventry Carol,” “Star Of Wonder”) that is simply breathtaking—Even their titles are rechristened.

The original compositions get off to a fine start with the beautiful “A Silent Night With You,” and its irresistible opening line “the radio plays/my holiday faves/it takes me back to/when our love was new” and suddenly one is transported to their own Christmastime (and whatever configuration this feeling holds for you, of course). When the stunning and sure-to-be classic “Snow Angel” starts you will be pulled right into its landscape. It manages to be incredibly delicate, reverent and gorgeous at the same time. “Pink And Glitter” with its full big band orchestration lovingly celebrates the birth of a daughter and vocally reminds me of the improv section of her “Welcome To Sunny Florida” DVD, and that is not a bad thing at all, as she suggests we “shower the world…in pink.” The bittersweet, lovely “Our New Year” has rather sad lyrics, as it deals with those that are no longer with us during the holidays, yet somehow manages to be hopeful.