Ep. LXIII: 'Music of the Medieval Court and Countryside' - New York Pro Musica

Jesus Christ.  I have a weird one today, folks.

Album Title:  Music of the Medieval Court and Countryside (for the Christmas Season)

Album Artist:  New York Pro Musica

So I was in Radio Wasteland a couple days ago, selling back some vinyl and perusing their Holiday selection (half- looking for some awesome new additions to my Christmas vinyl collection, half- looking for records so God-awful that they'd be fun to review in this Odyssey of mine), and I stumbled across this Decca selection for $5.  For being so old (1952), it was in NM/NM condition, looking as if it had never been played (sounds like it, too), and it's one of those albums that includes a frickin' 20-page book - so commonly found in classical music or opera LPs - that give you a history of each and every track on the record.

I'm a big fan of that.

To summarize said included literature, this selection of musicians and singers present traditional folk and religious music from the 12th to 17th centuries, commonly played in the courts of the ruling classes and in cathedrals across Western Europe.  Check it out:

It's too bad more albums don't have big, 30-page mini-book inserts like this - I feel like that's a missed opportunity.  Like, not just liner notes, but full backstories of how albums came together.  Wouldn't that be awesome?

This album sounds exactly like I thought it would, honestly - the kind of music you'd expect to hear while waltzing into a Renaissance Faire.  Or, perhaps, while waiting for a Loading screen in a Sid Meier's Civilization game.  To call it 'Christmas'-y is definitely a stretch, but these guys are definitely representing themselves accurately when they refer to this offering as 'Medieval Court' music.  If you've ever seen a movie set in the Middle Ages, and there's been a scene where there's a feast of some kind, in like the Great Hall of a castle, then you've heard arrangements like the instrumentals found on this album.

People couldn't draw for shit in the Middle Ages.

Picture it, folks.  A portly king, nobly drunk, red-faced and laughing his ass off, sloshing around a golden goblet of wine at the end of a long table.  Probably sloshing it accidentally over his visibly-annoyed and pious-as-f*** queen (who obviously sports a resting bitch face.)  Bearded nobles flank them on either side, some look drunk and merry, others dark and probably up to no good.  Courtiers, hangers-on, and ladies-in-waiting move about the feast, jockeying for position among the tables, all the while servants bustle to and fro, spilling shit.  Hunting dogs wrestle for bones on the stone floor, roaring fires illuminate the banner-covered walls, while bored guards standing about the perimeter, leaning on spears. 

You see where I'm going with this.

I'd say that aforementioned scene adds up to half the music on this album sounds like what you'd expect to hear.  These festive, instrumental numbers from a bygone era are solid tracks, and I can't find fault in them.  Do they truly sound Christmas-y in nature?  Eh, I guess if 'Good King Wenceslas' was the hit song from an obscure One Hit Wonder, this music could be the rest of said One Hit Wonder's catalog.  It sorta sounds the same, but it's definitely not of the same calibre as their hit single.

(And just so we're clear, here:  'Good King Wenceslas' does not appear on this album.)

Some stylish folk threw down on this album. . .

Now, the other half of these tracks are vocal arrangements - sometimes with just the vocals alone, and sometimes with an instrument or two adding accents here or there.  Instead of at a feast, these are tracks more commonly found whilst strolling through a gothic cathedral.  Now, maybe these guys are singing about Christmas - it's totally possible - but since I don't speak frickin' Latin, we're never gonna know.  This doesn't bother me too much, though; I mean, if these vocalists were singing in anything but Latin (say, English, if you will), that'd be ridiculously jarring, don't you think?

I mean, if you're traveling back in time to the Middle Ages, and happen to find yourself listening to an assortment of monks singing solemnly about what we can all assume is religious stuff, and they were NOT singing in Latin. . . well, if I were you I'd get the hell out of their real fast.  Latin is kinda their jam - to sing anything else would probably get them burned at the stake for heresy or something.

There ya go.

Anyway, in summary, this is pretty interesting record, and it's a unique addition to my collection - totally glad I stumbled upon it this year.  That being said, it's not something I imagine I'll listen to as frequently as some of the other ones in my Holiday collection.  Alas, had they only upped the Yule a bit on this one. . .

. . . and also alas, I kinda wish I would've written this entire blog entry in Ye Olde English, now that I think about it.  Son of a bitch. . .

VERDICT:  6/10 - Decent (This would have definitely been a strong '7,' but this is, after all, a Holiday music series, and I have to rate it accordingly.  I'm shelving it for this year, but it very well may end up in circulation in coming years.) 

- SHELVED -

- Brian

Ep. XXXIV: 'Noel' - Joan Baez

How for art thou, lovers of jams?

Album Title:  Noel

Album Artist:  Joan Baez

This one's another Radio Wasteland score, guys, and for a mere $3, I figured 'why the hell not?'  Joan Baez is a legend, a folk singer who has as much musical street cred as Bob f***ing Dylan, and as such I assumed a Christmas album by a talented folk artist would make a nice addition to my ever-expanding Holiday record collection.  And again:  $3.

This one basically sounded just as I thought it might.  Baez's voice sounds exactly as it does on her mainstream songs - that high-pitched tremolo of hers - and the album (for being as old as it is) has some really nice depth to it.  The recording on this album is well done:  very sparse, to the point where you can almost hear how far back they placed the microphones in the room.  I looove that with quieter arrangements on vinyl.

Anyway, the song selection is also pretty much as-could-be-expected.  Don't expect Joan Baez to break into folksy versions of 'Frosty the Snowman' or 'Up on the Housetop' on this LP; hell, I'd wager Baez is the sort of person who maintains a level of deep pensiveness on an out-of-control rollercoaster.  On fire. 

No, the songs on this collection definitely plays to her demeanor:

What did raise an eyebrow, for me, was the style of arrangement for these standards:  this music sounds straight out of a Renaissance festival.  It almost passes off as the soundtrack to a movie where an ultra-hip folk singer from the '60s Greenwich Village scene stepped into a payphone booth and suddenly - and unexpectedly - traveled back in time to Ye Olde Medieval Europe.  And, because it's Joan Baez, she didn't so much as utter a sigh of agitation after the whole ordeal.  No, instead, she just continues to sing all folks-ily to the people gathered around her as if nothing at all out of the ordinary had transpired (although she probably adjusts her subject matter slightly as to not give the local peasantry cause to think her a witch, lest she be burned at the stake.) 

This album caused a "What the hell are you listening to?" from Kris as she passed through the Study this evening.  I mean, Baez's singing is an acquired taste for most, but in addition to that we've got harpsichords, lutes, bells, fiddles, pan flutes, actual harps, and all other instruments straight out of the Middle Ages on this LP.  And when coupled with ol' Joan's given song choices ("Cantique de Noel," which is sung in frickin' French, "Ave Maria," sung in German, "Down in Yon Forest," "Good King Wenceslas," etc. etc.), one's led to believe that this whole time-travel-to-the-Medieval-Era yarn of mine might have actually happened.  The subject matter and execution of the delivery is too perfectly matched to be a coincidence.

Rest assured, if time travel is ever invented, I'd be tempted to travel back to the 1300s with copies of this LP on hand, 'cause I guarantee they'd sell like frickin' hot cakes.

VERDICT:  6/10 - Decent  (Baez is Baez, but the Medieval-ness of this music can take some getting used to.  Still, it's interesting enough to keep around throughout the rest of the Season, so I'm going to make an exception of my 7-and-up rule.)

- REMAINS IN CIRCULATION -