1. A NOT Orindary Christmas (Pop)
2. Impossible To Resist (Rock/Pop)
3. I Want This Thing Called Love (Folk/Adult Contemporary)
4. Christmas Lullabye (Adult Contemporary/New Age)
5. Dolly Lama’s Christmas Ramba (Pop/Latin Jazz/Novelty/Childrens)
6. Gimme Toys (Rock/New Wave/Punk)
7. Christmas Baby Blues (Soul/Jazz/Blues)
8. I'm A Snowman (50s/Blues/Rock)
9. Christmas Angel (Pop)
10. Write You A Love Song (Pop)
11. List For Christmas (Adult Contemporary/Traditional)
12. It Only Takes A Second (Pop)
PURCHASE THE ALBUM HERE ARTISTS' SITE
For the last sixty days, 40 of some of the most talented indie artists (musicians, singers, lyricists, song-writers and mixers) from around the world have quietly and secretly gathered together to produce “A NOT Ordinary Christmas” album. I promised I wouldn’t give away their hiding spot quite yet or the artists involved but if you see a bunch of musicians lurking around singing Christmas songs you’ve never heard before…you’ve probably found them. Every year thousands of Christmas song lovers are on the search for the best of the best in Christmas songs, always looking for something new to satisfy their urge to get into the spirit. With this in mind, this group of artists put their thinking caps on and let the creative juices flow, coming up with a smorgasbord of original music and lyrics to satisfy even the pickiest of audiences. You are sure to find something on this album to make you smile, tap along and even make you feel good about reaching into your pockets a bit to support children in need around the world.--Casia
“A Not Ordinary Christmas” is the brainchild of Casia, a Canadian lyricist who collaborates with Indie composers and artists around the globe, resulting in some very fine music.
The album, which is slated to be a digital only release (with cover art and artist/track info available on line), is expected to include at least 12 tracks—all originals—covering styles across the entire musical spectrum (rock, jazz, blues, easy listening, etc.). Casia has written the lyrics for all of these. The music was then written by a variety of composers and the tracks laid down by Indie artists from around the world (from Milan to Miami). A portion of the proceeds will be going to benefit needy children (the specific charity or charities are in the process of being confirmed).
I’ve heard several of the uncompleted demos and I very much liked what I heard. One song in particular, “Christmas Baby Blues”, blew me away; it simultaneously manages to sound completely contemporary, yet completely classic. “Christmas Baby Blues” is a lament, written as a very soulful jazz/blues standard. You want lyrics?
I’m alone on this starless night
Watching snowflakes whisper my mistakes
Don’t make me sit here all alone
I’ll cry the blues until you come home
Great stuff. It’s smooth, it’s sad, it’s wonderful. Fear not, though; happy songs, peaceful songs, silly songs—there’s something for every mood on this collection.
This release should be available at selected on-line outlets before Halloween.
And now a minor rant.
One of my favorite things about the new music industry paradigm is the return to prominence of lyricists and composers. Not that they ever truly went away. But who is today’s “Goffin-King” or “Lieber-Stoller” or “Bacharach-David”. It’s just my personal theory, of course, but I think the reason recent decades have been dominated by the singer-songwriter has a lot to do with the grip the major record labels have held on the music industry. From Tin Pan Alley to the Brill Building, the record labels essentially “owned” the top lyricist-composer combos. Lieber and Stoller, for example, couldn’t take a song directly to a singer or group; they owed their soul to the company store, to borrow a phrase.
Almost organically, pop artists in the modern era came to realize that about the only leverage they had over their corporate overlords was control of the publishing and the only way to control the publishing was to write the music themselves.
But the so-called “new media” has changed the nature of the game, greatly lessening the control the major labels can exert on the marketplace, loosening their grip. And that means that the music marketplace today is about as free and open to possibilities as it has been in a very, very long time.
It’s not that there’s anything wrong with singer/songwriters, nothing at all. But there are very talented songwriters out there who really aren’t performers, and a whole lot of performers who just want to make good music regardless of who wrote the songs. And, for decades now, the corporate structure of the music industry has all but frozen such talented individuals out. Not anymore. It’s a new day, baby. And there is perhaps no project that better exemplifies the new industry paradigm than “A Not Ordinary Christmas”.
2. Impossible To Resist (Rock/Pop)
3. I Want This Thing Called Love (Folk/Adult Contemporary)
4. Christmas Lullabye (Adult Contemporary/New Age)
5. Dolly Lama’s Christmas Ramba (Pop/Latin Jazz/Novelty/Childrens)
6. Gimme Toys (Rock/New Wave/Punk)
7. Christmas Baby Blues (Soul/Jazz/Blues)
8. I'm A Snowman (50s/Blues/Rock)
9. Christmas Angel (Pop)
10. Write You A Love Song (Pop)
11. List For Christmas (Adult Contemporary/Traditional)
12. It Only Takes A Second (Pop)
PURCHASE THE ALBUM HERE ARTISTS' SITE
For the last sixty days, 40 of some of the most talented indie artists (musicians, singers, lyricists, song-writers and mixers) from around the world have quietly and secretly gathered together to produce “A NOT Ordinary Christmas” album. I promised I wouldn’t give away their hiding spot quite yet or the artists involved but if you see a bunch of musicians lurking around singing Christmas songs you’ve never heard before…you’ve probably found them. Every year thousands of Christmas song lovers are on the search for the best of the best in Christmas songs, always looking for something new to satisfy their urge to get into the spirit. With this in mind, this group of artists put their thinking caps on and let the creative juices flow, coming up with a smorgasbord of original music and lyrics to satisfy even the pickiest of audiences. You are sure to find something on this album to make you smile, tap along and even make you feel good about reaching into your pockets a bit to support children in need around the world.--Casia
“A Not Ordinary Christmas” is the brainchild of Casia, a Canadian lyricist who collaborates with Indie composers and artists around the globe, resulting in some very fine music.
The album, which is slated to be a digital only release (with cover art and artist/track info available on line), is expected to include at least 12 tracks—all originals—covering styles across the entire musical spectrum (rock, jazz, blues, easy listening, etc.). Casia has written the lyrics for all of these. The music was then written by a variety of composers and the tracks laid down by Indie artists from around the world (from Milan to Miami). A portion of the proceeds will be going to benefit needy children (the specific charity or charities are in the process of being confirmed).
I’ve heard several of the uncompleted demos and I very much liked what I heard. One song in particular, “Christmas Baby Blues”, blew me away; it simultaneously manages to sound completely contemporary, yet completely classic. “Christmas Baby Blues” is a lament, written as a very soulful jazz/blues standard. You want lyrics?
I’m alone on this starless night
Watching snowflakes whisper my mistakes
Don’t make me sit here all alone
I’ll cry the blues until you come home
Great stuff. It’s smooth, it’s sad, it’s wonderful. Fear not, though; happy songs, peaceful songs, silly songs—there’s something for every mood on this collection.
This release should be available at selected on-line outlets before Halloween.
And now a minor rant.
One of my favorite things about the new music industry paradigm is the return to prominence of lyricists and composers. Not that they ever truly went away. But who is today’s “Goffin-King” or “Lieber-Stoller” or “Bacharach-David”. It’s just my personal theory, of course, but I think the reason recent decades have been dominated by the singer-songwriter has a lot to do with the grip the major record labels have held on the music industry. From Tin Pan Alley to the Brill Building, the record labels essentially “owned” the top lyricist-composer combos. Lieber and Stoller, for example, couldn’t take a song directly to a singer or group; they owed their soul to the company store, to borrow a phrase.
Almost organically, pop artists in the modern era came to realize that about the only leverage they had over their corporate overlords was control of the publishing and the only way to control the publishing was to write the music themselves.
But the so-called “new media” has changed the nature of the game, greatly lessening the control the major labels can exert on the marketplace, loosening their grip. And that means that the music marketplace today is about as free and open to possibilities as it has been in a very, very long time.
It’s not that there’s anything wrong with singer/songwriters, nothing at all. But there are very talented songwriters out there who really aren’t performers, and a whole lot of performers who just want to make good music regardless of who wrote the songs. And, for decades now, the corporate structure of the music industry has all but frozen such talented individuals out. Not anymore. It’s a new day, baby. And there is perhaps no project that better exemplifies the new industry paradigm than “A Not Ordinary Christmas”.
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