NASHVILLE |FROM: KRISTINE ASHTON/MITCH SCHNEIDER
CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS WITH ANN AND NANCY WILSON AND THE LOVEMONGERS ON `HERE IS CHRISTMAS’
Dark, starry nights, snowy landscapes, crackling fires and a time for love, reflection and inner peace. It’s a LOVEMONGERS Christmas, and ANN and NANCY WILSON, SUE ENNIS, FRANK COX and BEN SMITH are ready to help everyone get into the spirit with their just-released HERE IS CHRISTMAS. It will spruce up everyone’s holidays with a fresh spin on a few traditional carols and some brand new originals of their own to add to the Yuletide canon.
“It’s a Christmas pop album,” states NANCY, while ANN calls it “elegant, romantic and seasonal.”
Newly released on 2b Music, a new label formed by retailer Fred Meyer, HERE IS CHRISTMAS contains “O Holy Night,” two classical pieces–“Ave Maria,” and “Balulalow”–and the instrumental for guitar and flute, “Bring A Torch.” “Ave Maria” has been updated lyrically to the `90s, says ANN, “to make it a woman’s prayer to a mother.” The recording also features four compositions by LOVEMONGERS members and an additional one by ANN and NANCY. Explains ANN:
“We wanted to do a couple of known Christmas songs because when we listen to Christmas albums we always appreciate a really beautiful rendering of a known song. We thought people would want that and we picked ones that fit the image of the rest of the album. We chose `Ave Maria’ because of its musicality and `O Holy Night’ because it’s so evangelistic. We went more `Sweet Honey in the Rock’ on that one.” “We also wanted to get some new Christmas tunes out there,” addsNANCY. “We wanted to inject our album with some fresh ideas and it was fun. Most Christmas albums are just kind of a rehash, everybody just does some kind of lazy arrangement of their favorite song. People don’t usually take the time when they’re doing a Christmas album but we thought it through.”
ANN and NANCY have wanted to record an entire Christmas album ever since they did two holiday songs a few years ago. “Here Is Christmas,” co-written with Richie Zito while he was producing HEART‘s Brigade, was originally recorded for A Very Special Christmas, the series of holiday albums organized by producer Jimmy Iovine and his wife to benefit the Special Olympics. In addition, the track “How Beautiful” appeared on a regional compilation called Christmas In The Northwest a few years ago.
For this album, ANN and NANCY brought in a few friends to help: Mary Frank on concert harp, Dewey Marler on clarinet and flute and Brad Allison on flugelhorn and piccolo trumpet. While in the studio, HEART/LOVEMONGERS‘ soundman Yogi (Armando Garcia) helped with the off-season holiday spirit by choosing an array of lights and antique holiday ornaments to mix with an assortment of toys to give the studio a Christmas feel on a summer day.
“We’d forget [it wasn’t Christmastime],” laughs ANN, “we’d work all day and all night, then step back out into the 80 degree weather and go, `oh that’s right, it’s July!'”
On one of THE LOVEMONGERS‘ new compositions, “William And Rose,” ANN paints a musical Norman Rockwell. “I wanted a glimpse inside an American family on Christmas Eve,” she explains. “I was thinking of an old couple, my parents or even their parents, sitting on the settee just observing their children and grandchildren and thinking how lucky they are just to have each other. I wanted an instrument to play a role in the song, to speak to this old couple so I thought `Benny Goodman, of course, it’s the clarinet.’ Dewey Marler played some great little phrases that just hit it right without a chart. We just gave him the song and told him to listen to the words and riff on the vibe. It’s brazenly romantic,” ANN adds.
NANCY wanted to sing lead vocals on one of her traditional holiday favorites. In addition to singing a new song, “Christmas Waits,” she also performs “Balulalow.” The track features Mary Frank on concert harp and is a song the Wilson sisters grew up with. “It’s in a classical piece called `Ceremony of Carols’ by Benjamin Britten,” says NANCY. “It’s just a wonderful little lullaby usually performed by a boys choir.”
Two more new compositions–“It’s Christmas Time” and “The Last Noel,” a reflection on life which ends with voices raised in beautiful, spiritual harmonies– complete HERE IS CHRISTMAS.
HERE IS CHRISTMAS caps off a busy year for the LOVEMONGERS. The group released their first full-length studio album WHIRLYGIG in February and toured North America. In addition, ANN did a summer solo tour and recently made her theatrical debut in Seattle’s `Teatro Zinzanni’ as a chanteuse. NANCY, meanwhile, has been busy readying a live album which will be released in early 1999.
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