Loreena McKennitt - To Drive the Cold Winter Away

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Title: To Drive the Cold Winter Away [Original recording remastered]
Artist: Loreena McKennitt
Audio CD (November 14, 2006)
Original Release Date: 1987
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Christmas
Format: Free Lossless Audio Codec


Track Listing:

01. In Praise of Christmas
02. The Seasons
03. The King
04. Banquet Hall
05. Snow
06. Balulalow
07. Let Us the Infant Greet
08. The Wexford Carol
09. The Stockford Carol
10. Let All That Are to Mirth Inclined


Amazon Review:
This is not your father's Christmas album. Loreena McKennitt's primary instrument is the harp, but her primary technique is to take a traditional folk song and supersize it with strings, modern rhythms, and lush orchestration. It's a style that works ideally with this material. Her takes on "The Wexford Carol" and "The Stockford Carol" will make you rethink holiday songs. Other highlights include "The Seasons" and "In Praise of Christmas," all songs that are weepy enough to please Grandma but never so sappy they sound fake. Add two cups of hot cider and a roaring fire, and this album will turn Scrooge into a fan of the season.

Allmusic Review:
Recorded in various halls and abbeys in Ireland, and completed in the Church of Our Lady in Guelph, Ontario, harpist/arranger/vocalist Loreena McKennitt's first foray into the crowded field of holiday music -- she would go on to release an EP called Winter Garden in 1995 -- is steeped in old-world atmosphere. To Drive the Cold Winter Away celebrates the winter solstice through eight traditional English, Scottish, and Irish carols and ballads and two Mckennitt originals. The artist's reverence for her source material is moving, and her meticulous yet simple arrangements help tracks such as "The Wexford Carol," "The Kings," and "Let Us the Infant Greet" resonate with all of the grace and piousness that the lyrics and poems strive for. McKennitt has succeeded in making a beautiful, haunting, and ambitious yuletide song cycle that despite taking itself a little too seriously, ranks among her finest.