Songs for a Winter Night

I was going to post this last night, but alas, another side effect of dial-up is that I simply cannot use youtube properly. I posted awhile back about the release of Wintersong, a new holiday album from Sarah McLachlan. Now that it's officially post-Thanksgiving and December 1 to boot, I thought I'd share a little review.

On Wintersong, McLachlan's voice sounds as rich as ever, hitting shivering high notes and resonate low ones. The original content is worth picking up the disc for, and her covers of the standard Christmas fare are interesting and different like the plucky, jaunty version of "O Little Town of Bethlehem." Standouts are "I'll Be Home for Christmas" whose husky pleading tone is a little heartbreaking. For me, the album has an overall melancholy, ending with "Christmastime is Here Again", which makes me feel just as forlorn as Charlie Brown in the Christmas tree lot. Check out the performance of "River" - McLachlan at her best when she hits that last "fly" - perfection.