Dark Noel (CD)

• Category:  Music  »  Holiday  »  Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
• Format: CD   Learn more about the CD format using Tower WIKI.
• Release Date: September 11, 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• UPC: 617026019826
• WAPI (Tower ID): 111304438
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• Tower.com Sales Rank: #15807 in Music (See Top 100 Music Bestsellers)
• #552 in Holiday (See Top 100 Holiday Bestsellers)
• #149 in Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree (See Top 100 Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree Bestsellers)

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Personnel: Michael Laird (vocals, guitar, drums, percussion); William Faith (vocals, acoustic 12-string guitar, keyboards, percussion); Monica Richards (vocals, soprano recorder, tenor recorder); Juan Carlos Rodriguez (vocals, keyboards, programming); Natalia Lincoln (vocals, keyboards, background vocals); Rogue (vocals, keyboard programming); Sam Rosenthal (vocals, electronics); Lucian Casselman, Bret Alan Helm, Sue Hutton, Oscar Herrera, Athan Maroulis, Suzanne Perry (vocals); Jeremy Bastard, Kevin Page (guitar); Voltaire (acoustic guitar); Rachel McDonnell (violin, keyboards); Gregor Kitzis (violin); Chris Brantley (keyboards); Jason Everett (programming, sampler); Martin Bowes (electronics); Ericah Hagle (background vocals).

Recording information: Los Angeles, CA (1999); Toronto, Ontario, Canada (1999); Wishfire Studios (1999).

To say there's a slight bit of discographical confusion over this release is to understate. The Projekt label had released three separate end-of-year holiday compilations through the late '90s and into the next decade plus some singles in 2004, all featuring both acts on the label itself as well as various associated performers distributed by the label. The original A Dark Noel compilation, released in 2003 as a cross-promotion with Hot Topic, cherry-picked from those three discs, included otherwise unavailable cuts and in all provided a handy summary both of Projekt's sound and how Christmas songs and themes could be reworked in a myriad of ways. Four years later, the new A Dark Noel -- featuring a similar cover photo but a reworked overall design -- is itself a new release, almost but not quite the same as the original. While both have 12 tracks, the track listing is completely different to begin with, with the new disc starting with Arcanta's magisterial vocal-only take on "Carol of the Bells" -- itself not included on the original compilation. Notable tracks that appeared first on the 2003 version and nowhere else beforehand included In Gowan Ring's "Winter Flowers" and Unto Ashes's "The Lord Is Born to the Lady on the Winter Solstice" -- these and others are gone, though Unto Ashes do reappear instead with "For I Am Winter Born," from one of the 2004 singles. Another effort from those singles is Autumn's Gray Solace's "Through the Snowy Trees," while other standouts from earlier in the series now take a bow here, including Love Spirals Downwards' winning interpretation of "Welcome Christmas" from the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas, though Lycia and the Unquiet Void's marvelous "We Three Kings" are now absent. ~ Ned Raggett

Here's one for the books: a holiday Goth collection. Thrill to the drone of Arcanta's chanted "Carol of the Bells," or Thanotos's ultra low-key "The First Noel." While some of the stuff here doesn't beg repeated listening, there are a few truly interesting works, like Fuch Kachis Ethu's unusual "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" and Loveliescrushing's moody "Jingle Bells (Snowblower)." ~ Tim Sheridan

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