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In Defense of Dylan at Christmas

Not that it's needed and hasn't already been discussed, perhaps ad nauseam, but I'd like to take a moment in consideration of Bob Dylan's new holiday album Christmas In The Heart. Complete with a Currier and Ives style cover of a horse drawn sleigh in the snow, this is the type of Christmas album that many of us grew up on...only…er, with Bob Dylan singing instead of maybe, Nat King Cole. And while it may never hold a place in the upper echelons of yuletide musical treasuries along side the aforementioned, golden-throated pianoman, Christmas In The Heart is a well thought out and well executed offering from one of contemporary music's most prolific writers.

Dylan's voice is now as gravely as a dusty back road in New Hampshire but the album's timeless (almost Spector-esque, at times) production, complete with flawless white-bread backing vocals and echoing reverb makes for a quaint and pleasant listen. Most importantly, it actually feels like Christmas, a surprisingly rare achievement for holiday records in recent years.

While many have been taken off guard by this relatively quick follow-up to the critically acclaimed Together Though Life, it seems to me this has been a long time coming. For those familiar with Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour, it's not hard to image his customary, often anecdotal and subtly nuanced segues between the songs on Christmas In The Heart. Dylan's penchant for classic Americana of all mediums is no secret and has influenced his music back to the early days, perhaps most notably on his highly affected country album Nashville Skyline, which for all it's criticisms gave us the frequently interpreted gem "Lay Lady Lay." In fact, Dylan's career has been peppered with "genre experiments," if you will, from rock to country, pop, new wave, gospel, blues, instrumental and now holiday music. Each collection has offered us something new and interesting to take away, whether it became a turntable (or iPod) staple or not.

For all his reverence for tradition and history, Dylan has had an equally rebellious and innovatory side when approaching both his material and his business. One of Dylan's gifts, whether with his own songs or (in this case) revisiting standards, is interpretation and phrasing (like Nat King Cole, only completely different). He brings that same sense of lyrical reading to these songs, which makes them feel fresh and fun in a way they may not if sung by a more mellifluous voice. The addition of recent collaborator David Hidalgo on accordion adds a unique and distinctly Dylan tone to the material and separates it from the arrangements of the Andy Williams Christmas records of which it was reportedly inspired.

So while we still have over a month and a half 'til Christmas rolls around, I am happy to hear an artist such as Dylan taking a chance on something new at this stage in his career. Complacent, he is not. After all he's done, I think if I were Bob Dylan, I'd give a good ole fashioned Christmas album a whirl as well. I mean, why the hell not? Come December, Christmas In The Heart may actually get a few spins in my house. Mmm...I can almost smell the roasting chestnuts and mulled cider now. You'll never be surprised by where an artist like Bob Dylan may goes next if you remember to...

Live Well & Listen Closely,
J. Hayes

Note: according to bobdylan.com: All of the artist’s U.S. royalties from sales of these recordings will be donated to Feeding America, guaranteeing that more than four million meals will be provided to more than 1.4 million people in need in this country during this year’s holiday season. Bob Dylan is also donating all of his future U.S. royalties from this album to Feeding America in perpetuity.

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Comment by Kyla Fairchild on November 3, 2009 at 4:04pm: I enjoyed reading your take on this record and it's a good reminder to keep an open mind and allow artists room to try new things and expand in different ways. I've always tried to be an advocate of that. I'd much rather endure an occasional artistic misstep as an artist pushes out and tries something different rather than have them make the same record over and over. That said I found this Dylan holiday record to be virtually unlistenable. Granted I'm not a fan of holiday music in general and I only listened to 30 second clips of each song on Amazon, but to my ears that was plenty!

Thanks for the great post!

Comment by J. Hayes - music writer on November 3, 2009 at 4:16pm: I hear you on everything you are saying but time often proves us wrong in terms of what is considered a "classic" or a "misstep". Neil Young's Harvest was originally panned although now it's considered one of his most enduring records. Prince's Around The World In A Day and Parade were both considered "missteps", many thought he was getting "too out there" or "abandoning his audience" but now both records are considered the artistic high point of his career.
Will Christmas In The Heart be up there with Blood On The Tracks? Probably not, but the last thing a music writer should try and do is predict what will last and what will not. Our track records have never been good.

Comment by J. Hayes - music writer on November 3, 2009 at 4:18pm: p.s. I love Christmas music if it's good... so maybe I am biased in some way. There will probably be one more christmas music article before the season is gone. :)

Comment by Kim Ruehl on November 4, 2009 at 9:21am: Kyla stole my words. I honestly have an impossible time taking this record seriously. I played it for my brother recently and, in the middle of "I'll Be Home for Christmas," he noted the way Dylan delivered the title line made it sound like a threat. I think the originals are great - "Must Be Santa" is notable on a number of levels - but his interpretations of the traditional carols are just too much for me to stomach. I think that's what disappointed me the most here - he's always done such an excellent job of re-interpreting traditional forms, making them new and relevant again, stretching them in directions they've never gone. Here, however, I found myself assuming the whole thing had to be a big silly joke.

I don't think it's unlistenable - the arrangements are good, the backing vocals are nearly pristine - but, like I said, I have a hard time taking any of it seriously. Then again, maybe that's the whole point.

Comment by Easy Ed on November 4, 2009 at 11:57am: Thanks for a positive take on what I found to be a dreadful endeavor. I tried to write a review over a month ago but fell short finding anything of value to add to the discussion. I love both Christmas music and Dylan, just not this particular recording. It shouldn't be a surprise that there will be many folks such as yourself who will find this release to be special to them. Millions of people seem to like Bono too.

Comment by DublinBlues on November 18, 2009 at 10:16am: The new Dylan video, "Must Be Santa," is an absolute scream IMO.

http://www.bobdylan.com/#/media/videos/must-be-santa?utm_medium=col...

Comment by J. Hayes - music writer on November 18, 2009 at 12:10pm: thanks for posting! haven't seen this yet. on my way over to check it out.

Comment by J. Hayes - music writer on November 18, 2009 at 12:25pm: Wow... that's great and I totally get it. Although I suspect it will all be lost on some.
Another interesting point of note is that several weeks ago, I broke out the record at home and my wife (who was raised around gospel and jazz and very particular about her vocalists) said, "this may be my favorite Dylan record. it just works." My 3 year old son was dancing around the room quite enthusiastically as well. As a father of 2, I have found that children can be pretty good and unjaded barometer's for music. As a frame of reference his favorite artists are James Brown, Miles Davis, Paul Simon and John Dever. He was a big Harry Belafonte fan for a while and loves to sing the Louis Jordan song "Caldonia", although he prefer's the Suga Chile Robinson version. So there is no faulting his tastes.
The following weekend I played it for a room full of people who loved Dylan during the 60's (when it was the cool thing to do) and they couldn't deal with it at all. They didn't get it and didn't really give it the chance. They were a little confused about why he was doing a Christmas record as a Jewish man... obviously unfamiliar with his forays into christian music and faith in the 70s and 80s.
Either way it has been interesting to see people's responses to this record and see who likes it and who doesn't, they definitely fall into categories.
It's nice, though to see anyone care enough about any new music to express their feelings about it, good or bad. I think the worst thing Dylan could do would be to create a record everyone thought was "okay".
Then I'd be disappointed.

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