Customer Reviews

Mistletoe and Wine: A Seasonal Collection

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Potential purchasers should bear that in mind. As with the Medieval Baebes debut album it contains a small proportion of `holiday season' material, but most of it can be listened to without embarrassment at any time of the year. (In my experience, all of it can - even on a warm spring afternoon I can't bring myself to program out `In Dulci Jubilo', `The Holly...' etc).

Another thing potential purchasers should bear in mind - this compilation winds up being a better "best of" than the album of that name.

It's more representative - career-spanning and able to demonstrate the increasing ambition and complexity of the arrangements, and of Katharine Blake's compositions. (Of course, some of their experiments with modern instrumentation on the `Undrentide' album didn't work, but they don't appear here).

It's also more enjoyable on a basic musical level - there are no over-repetitive pieces, no odd song-fragments...nothing that drags. Or maybe there are a couple of weak spots - "I Am Eve" which goes on a little too long, and Audrey Evans's rendition of "L'amour de moi" which is suprisingly weak, and no substitute for the original featuring the much-missed Dorothy Carter - but these are easily forgiven.

Even if you can't understand what's being said, even if you understand it well enough to spot the mispronunciations here and there, it will be hard to resist the ethereal beauty the Baebes' voices, and of songs like `Quan Vey La Lauzeta', `There Is No Rose of Swych Vertu' or `Blow Northern Wind'.

I like the tracks on this CD but found that many of the selections are from other Baebes albums like Slava Nos. The selections do tend to sound good, lots of harmony & some selections do have interesting music, I don't get any sense of it being Christmas music though.
It's a good album that I don't regret owning but I wish it had more new material and some decent liner notes. The other Mediaeval Baebes albums did a much better job of telling you about the source material and even printed out the lyrics, I wanted that here too.

Having first heard the Baebes a few years ago, I was eager to purchase this "Chrismas" album. Unfortunetly, I was disappointed to find that a majority of the songs were found on other albums. I bought it for the sole purpose of listening to the unheard songs, yet I wonder what happened to originality. Do I really need to hear "L'amour de moi" and "Blow Northern Wind," again, along with "The Coventry Carol?" I do reccommend this album, regardless of it's repetition, for sheer ear candy. Although some have discouraged the Baebes's harmonies as "primative," and Katharine Blake can overpower the other ladies with a slight whine, I believe it is, for the most part, a lovely example of the female voice.

I'm not really a big fan of Christmas albums. With the exception of the Xmas album John Denver made witht The Muppets, "Mistletoe & Wine" is the only (other) Xmas album I own. I don't buy Xmas albums because I normally am not in the mood to listen to them for the rest of the year. I made an exception with The Mediaeval Baebes' Christmas album. I am a big fan of the women since I first heard "Undrentide" a few years ago. Last weekend, I found a copy of "Mistletoe & Wine" in the used cd bins. I grabbed it before anyone could get a chance too. The majority of the cd I already have heard (namely from the group's first album "Salvo Nos", a Christmas themed album)but it was worth getting to hear their versions of "The Holly & Ivy" and "The Coventry Carol". Listening to "Mistletoe & Wine" brings out the festive mood in me. I look forward to listening to it during Christmas day especially.

The Baebes are eight women who sing mediaeval songs in English and a variety of old languages. Some of the music is acapella. Musical accompaniment is usually quite simple, when there is accompaniment. This really is a lovely collection of songs. It is a good introduction to the recorded work of the Baebes: all but two of the songs appear on other recordings by the Baebes, although several have been re-recorded with different arrangements for this disc. Mistletoe and Wine is likely to please fans of traditional folk music, and people who like to collect holiday music. Very highly recommended.

If you like earlier Baebes recordings, you'll like this one. There is a reason: 11 of the 15 cuts are taken from previous CDs, including Salva Nos, The Rose, Worldes Blysse, and Undrentide. Two more cuts are alternate versions of material that appears on previous CDs. Only two are new. I'm glad to have it, but was disappointed to find that I had most of it already.