O Holy Night Off! Round 1 Match IC3 Celtic Woman vs. IC6 Studio 60
This round one match (the last one) matches up Celtic Woman vs. the OHN cover featured on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Celtic Woman is on PBS every time they need to raise money. Thier version is nice, but I wish they would stick to one singer per verse. The ensemble sound when they sing together is really beautiful, and I love the low brass on the chorus. Overall a very nice verson.
Now let me tell you the story behind our last contestant. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was a show on NBC for only one year (2006-2007) created by Aaron Sorkin of West Wing fame. The show may have been the best show ever that lasted for only one year. If you have Netflix, you need to watch it. Anyway, on the Christmas show, part of the storyline was that some New Orleans musicians displaced by Hurricane Katrina was in Califonia subbing for union musicians to get paydays to send back home for Christmas. The producers put them on the show and had them do a rendition of OHN with a slideshow of pictures from Katrina in the background. If you want to see the performance in context you can go here. The music begins around the 2:30 mark. After the show aired, people clammored to get the version to download, but NBC only put it up on thier website for a few days. You can do a search and find it to download, but it not easy to find. Anyway, it is a great version. Enjoy.
Nathan, is it fair to compare a vocal and a instrumental? This is a tough one. After listing to both 4 times(I think) and a lot of thought, I will have to vote for the Celtic Woman version. I is a bit more traditional in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThe bluesie, New Orleans version didn't do it for me. If I were a musician (like the Judge and EVERYONE on the jury), I probably would have a greater appreciation of this rendition. But I really like PBS and will even sit through the fund raising for Celtic Woman.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I could not get the link to work. Would you check it to make sure something is not amiss? I would like to see it in context.