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OK, so Tori Amos is putting out a holiday album.  I really don’t like holiday albums.  I can count on one finger-based peace sign how many contemporary artists’ holiday album that I like (Over the Rhine‘s Darkest Night of the Year & Monk‘s How Like a Winter).  I say “contemporary artists’ holiday album” because I think Vince Guaraldi‘s falls into a different category whatsoever.  With other artists I like, they tend to end up crap (Aimee Mann’s was dreadful) or bordering on boredom (Sufjan Stevens’ was passable and original but not something I’m pulling out a lot, Nellie McKay’s was in a similar bucket… the list could go on…).  But it’s usually not the artist’s fault, it’s usually the material.  Christmas music is just so laaaaaame most of the time.  I don’t know…

With Tori Amos, I think it has the potential to go either way.  I think she could maybe write some great original pieces, a la Over the Rhine, but she could also pile on the schlock a la Aimee Mann.  My guess is that it’ll be middle of the road a la Sufjan & Nellie.  The cover art looks cheesy as hell (see press release below).

Release date is November 10th.  It’s available for pre-order over on the Amazons.  So, we shall see soon enough…

Here’s the Official Press Release…

After nearly two decades writing and recording some of her generation’s most emotionally powerful music, Tori Amos will release her first seasonal album, Midwinter Graces, on November 10 via Universal Republic. A follow up to Tori’s critically acclaimed studio album, Abnormally Attracted to Sin, Midwinter Graces will find Tori reworking and expanding on classic carols as well as developing some of her very own seasonal tracks.

Midwinter Graces is an album that has been in the making for the past 40 years. Raised in the Baltimore area under the watchful eye of her Methodist minister father, Tori grew up playing holiday carols at Sunday services and Christmas Day celebrations in her father’s church. These were the songs that gave a young Tori her first taste of music, and now almost 40 years later Tori gets her own chance to reimagine the classics.

Tracklist:
What Child, Nowell
Star of Wonder
A Silent Night with You
Candle: Coventry Carol
Holly, Ivy, and Rose
Harps of Gold
Snow Angel
Jeanette, Isabella
Pink and Glitter
Emmanuel
Winter’s Carol
Our New Year

(click for larger)

So, yeah… we’ll see, eh?

~Dan – np: Soulsavers with Mike Patton – Broken