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| By Rob Hochschild
When power pop front man Bleu decided to produce a Christmas disc, he figured the seasonal slant of the project gave him license to live out his every musical fantasy. "I knew this was my only opportunity to do a techno song, a jazz standard, a blues tune, a loungey tune," says the 1997 graduate of the Berklee Songwriting program. "You can be as eclectic as you want to be, because it's Christmas that binds the whole thing together."
But while Bleu's Bing Bang Holidang (Maid Records, 1999) offers a thoroughly modern mix of genres, it does so while conjuring up the great crooners of Christmas past, artists like Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, and the Andrews Sisters. It's a juxtaposition of old and new that is appropriate for Christmas, a holiday whose age-old traditions meet head-to-head with the latest trends every December.
The recording features five Bleu originals, all of which show influences of older styles, and five traditional tunes, each playfully tweaked with contemporary twists and beats. Bleu even manages to spice up "The 12 Days of Christmas," which he calls "one of the most boring songs ever written," by featuring singers from 13 Boston-based acts, including Dicky Barrett from the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Kay Hanley from Letters to Cleo, Ryan Miller and Adam Gardner of Guster, and Bill Janovitz of Buffalo Tom.
"It was one of the wackiest, craziest, most surreal days of my entire life," says Bleu, recalling the "12 Days" recording session in early October. "It was definitely the first Christmas party of the year. I made eggnog, hot toddies, and Christmas cookies. It was super fun, and we had this who's who of great Boston talent. There was plenty of time for everyone to mingle and reconnect since it only took about 15 minutes to record each person's part."
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| Bleu's Top Five Christmas Discs |
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Bing Crosby, Merry Christmas. "It's Bing, it's Christmas, it doesn't get any better than this." |
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Rhino Records compilation, A New Wave Christmas. "A must, with Squeeze, XTC, the Pretenders, etc." |
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Vince Guaraldi, A Charlie Brown Christmas. "So smooth it's slippery." |
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RCA compilation, A Soap Opera Christmas. "Nuff said, really." |
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New Edition, Christmas All Over the World. "I say these tykes can sing." |
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The toughest challenge, Bleu says, came before the session, when he wrote an arrangement that dealt with the tune's many time signature switches and that incorporated rapidly changing instrumental settings, each reflecting the sound of the vocalists' regular bands. "It was unbelievably difficult to put together," he says.
Two other tracks on the disc that feature groups of guest singers came together more smoothly, says Bleu. "Snow Day" is an original featuring 31 children singing a "rock 'n' roll subversive shout chorus" and the title track is a pub-friendly sing-along completed with the help of 26 pals who were gathered at a friend's birthday party.
"I lived out two more of my oldest music fantasies on those tunes," Bleu says.
Other highlights of the disc include "Mele Kalikimaka" and "Jingle Bells," two Bing Crosby classics that Bleu retools by creating vocal and instrumental parts that mesh seamlessly with driving dance beats and samples from the originals. If a genre called techno-croon existed, this is what it would sound like.
The CD also features two Bleu originals — "Everybody Knows It's Christmas" and "I Want My Christmas Back" — that capture the romantic angst that can occasionally inflict the holidays, and a haunting, "trance" instrumental version of "Carol of the Bells."
Bleu's supporting cast of musicians includes members of his regular band, which will release its debut CD in 2000, and a host of players on the Boston scene. Many of the performers met during their years together at Berklee.
"The thing about Berklee is you are thrown into this situation where there's this unbelievable talent everywhere," says Bleu. "The Songwriting department was incredible to me. They totally took in all of my quirks, let me be me."
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| The recording fulfilled a holiday wish or two for the Boston Institute for Arts Therapy, the recipient of all proceeds from sales of Bing, Bang, Holidang. Bleu and his manager, Pete Galli, decided to help the community-based expressive arts therapy organization after speaking with Newbury Comics CEO and Berklee trustee Mike Dreese, a member of BIAT's board of directors.
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| Bleu(left) and Guster's Ryan Miller listen to play backs. |
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"One of the the things that really intrigued me was that they do music therapy with autistic kids," Bleu says. "Music is one of the only ways that autistic individuals can communicate with the world in a meaningful way."
The support of several sponsors, including Berklee, made it possible for CD sales to be donated to BIAT.
Other members of the Berklee community who recently released holiday discs include guitarist Al DiMeola '74, Christmas: Winter Nights (Telarc, 1999); faculty member and saxophonist Dan Moretti, December Solstice (1201 Music, 1999); and a capella group Five O'Clock Shadow, Misfit Toys, (Hot Lips Records, 1999). Berklee alumni Paul Pampinella and Oren Malka are both members of Five O'Clock Shadow.
Bing Bang Holidang can be purchased at Newbury Comics and through Bleu's Web site.
Photos by Erin Caruso |
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