Wednesday, December 22, 2010

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN Day 22: Greensleeves / What Child Is This (Kevin Max)

SONG: Greensleeves / What Child Is This
ARTIST: Kevin Max
ALBUM: Holy Night
RELEASED: 2005
AVAILABILITY: Amazon ( CD | MP3 )



Each of these two tracks would seem incomplete without its counterpart, so I included them both. Kevin Max's 2005 Christmas album adhered to traditional hymnal classics rather than songs about Santa Claus and stuff, but he even went so far as to include the medieval predecessor to "What Child Is This" in a brief, one-verse-one-chorus format. This gives him some leeway to double up on the "What Child" verses and choruses, lining them straight up instead of alternating between verse and chorus. It's thanks to this that we get my favorite moment on the album: the full-octave jump between verses 1 and 2. It demonstrates not only Kevin's amazing range, but that he sounds great at either end of it.

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