SPIRITS OF CHRISTMAS PAST

This Christmas EP holds a couple of good songs of which the opener is absolutely fantastic. The whole magic of Mostly Autumn is here. Wonderful vocal harmonies, superb guitar of course and a devastating finale with a sublime and very powerful backing band. A great song, for sure.

"Winter Is King" is a pure folkish song. Less catchy but still very pleasant. Strange instruments featured in here. Although MA has a bit forgotten about true prog folk these days, it still belongs to their roots and when it is played at this level, I can only applaude.

Well, next comes something completely different. We all know of this extremely catchy "Slade" song, right ? But what about MA covering "Slade" ? Amazing should I say. The funny thing is that Liam Davison almost sounds as Noddy Holder on the vocals (and I mean it). A great Christmas song of course and definitely the type of song that you would NEVER expect from Mostly Autumn of course. I have been a "Slade" fan in the early seventies, so I am rather satisfied with this version (but I wonder how many MA fans will share my opinion...).

We'll revert to a full folk mood with "Fairytale of New York". It is the weakest so far and you definitely need to be in a Christmas mood to enjoy it at full speed (which is not my case because first I review it in August and second, I am not concerned with any Christian celebration).

The classic "Silent Night" (Stille Nacht) also needs a bit of a Christmas atmosphere. Crystal clear vocals by the female duo. Needless to say that this is not AT ALL my type of song. The only blunder IMO in terms of music here. But bearing in mind the objective of this EP (a Christmas present to their fans), it fits in the philosophy I guess. After a short blank, we'll get some sorts of "Pig On A wing" type of song.

All in all it is a nice collector item.

Hello my name is Dr Ball. I usually love Mostly Autumn as I love folk/prog and anything that sounds like Pink Floyd. However, I found this album to lack luster and was, in short...mundane. In particular, the cover of the song 'Fairy Tale of New York' to be a cheap cash in and was not even preformed with any genuine enthusiasm. Compared to their earlier albums, where you could sense genuine love and invention in their recording, I find this to be both derivative and frankly, rather dull - not what a hard working Surgeon needs at this festive period. No indeed!

If you are a lover of this album, Dr Ball prescribes one session of ear syringing and a good old fashioned face-palm.

Over and Out. Dr D Ball, M.D