Bob Dylan
Christmas in the Heart
(Columbia; 2009)
7.5/10
Living musical deity Bob Dylan has taken the Christmas complication and turned it into a charitable collection of yuletide standards (all royalties will be donated to Feeding America).
Dylan rarely strays from the usual interpretation. Christmas in the Heart may be unimaginative, but Dylan is paying homage to a long-standing tradition of carols, hymns, and holiday songs.
Dylan’s worn voice plays both against him and with him though out the album.
“I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” benefit from the lonesome vocals of Dylan.
But it’s on tradition carols like “Hark The Herald Angels Sing” and “O’ Come All Ye Faithful” that the coarseness is most apparent.
A compilation that isn’t aimed as a cash grab, Christmas in the Heart has it’s heart in the right place.
Trial Track: “Must Be Santa”
