Advent Calendar Day 17

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The day 17 window of my Advent Calendar opens on two songs that I’ve never featured before. Fingers crossed you like them!

Ten years ago – how time flies! – BBC4 showed a programme in their ‘Sessions’ series imaginatively entitled Christmas Sessions. This featured many of the best folk music acts from this country: the show was led by Bellowhead, who you may have seen on Day 4 of my series and, in keeping with their usual style, much fun and frolics ensued. Victorian attire was the dress code for the evening, and the whole hour flew by. My first song for today is taken from that:

Thea Gilmore has been releasing records, both on recognised labels and independently, since 1998. To date she has a total of eighteen albums to her name, eight of which have reached the UK top 100 chart (her highest placing is #39, twice), plus eight singles, three of which have hit the top 100 (best placing #35). I think it is a real shame that she hasn’t had more commercial success, as her albums are generally excellent and have been well received critically: I guess that’s what comes of being a folk musician here! A notable release was her 2011 album Don’t Stop Singing, which came about as Wikipedia describes:

In late 2010, Gilmore was commissioned by Sandy Denny’s estate, in conjunction with Island Records, to write melodies for unfinished manuscripts, lyrics without music, and works in progress and so to finally bring some of Denny’s last works to the world.

It’s a lovely record, and I commend it to you. And if this has piqued your interest in the Christmas Sessions programme, you can find it here.

As a certain tv show used to say: and now for something completely different. I found this one from a YouTube recommendation and, as I hadn’t heard of the band before, I followed up on their background. This is the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO), who, as their name so obviously suggests, are a prog-rock outfit from the US! I’ll tell you more after you’ve seen this, the Christmas Canon:

I think that is absolutely beautiful. As its name suggests, it is to the tune of the well-known Canon In D Major by Johann Pachelbel, which I’ve always found to be a lovely piece of music – my Mum used to play it on the piano when we were kids, and it holds a lot of memories for me. TSO’s recording was originally on their 1998 album The Christmas Attic, and this song has been released as a single: it currently stands at over 900,000 digital sales. Quoting again from Wikipedia, rather than just presenting it as all my own work:

Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) is an American rock band founded in 1996 by producer, composer, and lyricist Paul O’Neill, who brought together … the core of the creative team. O’Neill died on April 5, 2017. The band gained in popularity when they began touring in 1999 after completing their second album, The Christmas Attic, the year previous. TSO has sold more than 10 million concert tickets and over 10 million albums. The band has released a series of rock operas …TSO is also known for their extensive charity work and elaborate concerts, which include a string section, a light show, lasers, moving trusses, video screens, and effects synchronised to music.

So now you know! TSO have also recorded a rock version of the tune called, of course, Christmas Canon Rock. The gentle treatment they gave it is nice, with understated guitars, but I prefer this version. If you’re interested, the rock version is easily found on YouTube: this is the link.

So, a couple of different ones for today: do let me know what you think, please. I’m guessing you might be more familiar with at least one of tomorrow’s songs, as I’ll be getting closer to the mainstream again – well, as much as I ever do.

As ever, I leave you with my image for today:

Back for Day 18 tomorrow 😊

23 thoughts on “Advent Calendar Day 17”

  2. One of the mysteries of music is why some acts get traction while others that are excellent never quite take off. Don’t you think it’s harder as a folk singer because there will generally be a smaller audience?

    I’m going to rank the TSO song at the top of the list so far. Absolutely magnificent performance!

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    • I think it’s always been that way, hasn’t it? I guess marketing and promotion have a lot to do with it, not to mention luck. Folk audiences probably are smaller, the upside of that being the interaction you can have with the performers, most of whom are happy to meet and chat after the show, especially if you buy their CDs!

      The TSO piece is beautiful – much quieter than their usual stuff, and without the pyrotechnics!

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      • They began with a beautiful piece of music as their base, so were already onto a winner. That’s why I prefer this version to the one they did with electric guitars: they kept its simple beauty.

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  4. Thea has a great voice; it’s a shame that less talented people sometimes have more commercial success.

    and finally – I’ve heard of a band that you have not – TSO. And Canon in D is one of my all-time favorite songs. A great combo.

    It does seem, though, that their version of Carol of the Bells gets more radio play over here during the holiday compared to Canon in D. Their music is very popular for homeowners to sync their christmas lights with.

    I also noticed they are having a livestream concert on Dec. 18…

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    • She does, but folk music generally isn’t a big seller here, chart-wise. That’s what attracts me to it as a genre: folk singers have to be able to perform without electronic aids like Autotune, and are usually much better singers than the kiddies in the top 100.

      I’m sure there are plenty of others I don’t know: bands that haven’t ventured outside the States very much tend to stay off the radar here. They should be better known, from what I’ve seen and heard. They have concentrated on Christmas so it doesn’t surprise me that they get radio play for other songs too. Not sure that lights synchronisation is much of an accolade though!

      I saw that about the livestream, but as it is at 2am here I don’t think I’ll be watching – another chance the band have missed to widen their market?

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    • I didn’t, but I’m glad to have found a fan! As I said in the piece, I hadn’t heard of them before YouTube recommended them for me. From what I’ve read about them, their live shows are spectacular, which explains why they have sold more than 10m concert tickets. I gather they are planning to be back again next year, when things will hopefully have calmed down.

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