The Year 2023 in Music

Continuing with our year in review, Matt Lynn Digital invites you to look back at the last year in reviews of books, movies, music and television. We look at these with individual categories, one per day through Sunday. Today we share music reviews offered by Matt Lynn Digital in 2023.

(Cover art for the Weathervanes album by Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit).

Beginning with our most recent review with a guest review of the Weathervanes album by Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, as reviewed by friend of the blog Cobra. The 2023 album presented alternative country-rock that mixed in with roots rock and southern rock to entertain their fans. Our review of the Rick Rubin book The Creative Act: A Way of Being also represented 2023 with a top notch look into how creativity works in music production and other fields as well.

(Cover art for the 2011 Tedeschi Trucks Band album Revelator).

The 2011 release of the album Revelator by the Tedeschi Trucks Band offers the first of two albums from the 2010s in our annual review. Offering a taste of American traditional rock, blues rock and roots rock from a guitar virtuoso opens an album that I can and do listen to over and over again. The 2010 A Christmas Cornucopia album by Annie Lennox also presented a more contemporary music mix.

(The biopic Walk the Line depicted aspects of the lives of Johnny Cash and June Carter).

The movie Walk the Line (2005) provided a mostly autobiographical portrayal of the musical life of country musician Johnny Cash and his second wife, June Carter. Music from both performers were featured throughout the movie, which offered a compelling movie experience of the respective lives of the couple up to the point of their marriage.

(Cover art for the R.L. Burnside album Mr. Wizard).

A modern sound for the delta blues comes to us with the 1997 album Mr. Wizard by R.L. Burnside. The music tends to more of a jam format than some of Burnside‘s earlier work with influences on musicians making music into the current day.

(Cover art for the Van Halen album OU812).

The 1988 album OU812 (Oh, you ate one too!) by Van Halen incorporates the most hard rock or pop metal sound for the three albums we reviewed for the 1980s. Both the 1986 album The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby and the Range and the 1985 No Jacket Required album by Phil Collins delve more into the so-called adult contemporary genre with a focus on message and sound this still hit for a somewhat different audience.

(Cover art for the Christopher Cross album Christopher Cross).

We’ve taken the 1970s decade seriously with a review of nine separate albums. The self-titled 1979 album Christopher Cross by Christopher Cross continues the adult contemporary appeal before the 1974 soft rock appeal of the Jackson Browne album Late for the Sky. Second Helping by Lynyrd Skynyrd gave 1974 a more southern rock or boogie rock sound with their second album.

(Cover art for the Dr. John album In the Right Place).

The 1973 Dr. John funk and piano blues album In the Right Place gives way to the more progressive rock sounds of Pink Floyd‘s 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon and Yes‘ 1972 album Fragile.

(Cover art for the Chuck Mangione Quartet album Alive!).

The contemporary jazz and easy listening album Alive! by Chuck Mangione Quartet from 1972 introduces the final three albums with a largely instrumental sound. The soft rock album Teaser and the Firecat by Cat Stevens stands next to the blues rock, hard rock and heavy metal sound of Led Zeppelin IV by Led Zeppelin for the music of 1971.

(Cover art for the Miles Davis album Sketches of Spain).

Jazz and rock and roll provide our 2023 soundtrack for the 1960s. Holiday music for 1968 leads us to Christmas Album by Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass. The seventh album for The Beatles gave us the rock and roll in the form of 1966’s Revolver. The John Coltrane album Giant Steps and the album Sketches of Spain by Miles Davis round out 1960 with jazz performances that warm our heart.

Matt Lynn Digital appreciates your continued interest in the content we offer. Should you have albums that you’d like us to review, please be sure to let us know.

Matt – Friday, December 29, 2023

Annie Lennox and the album ‘A Christmas Cornucopia’

In her fifth studio album, Annie Lennox of Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom set her musical gaze on the Christmas season with the holiday album 2010 album A Christmas Cornucopia. Set to music genres including holiday, pop/rock, carols, Christmas and holidays, musicians assisting Lennox on the presentation of this album included Dave Robbins, Mark Stevens, Mike Stevens, Barry Van Zyl and the African Children’s Choir.

(The Annie Lennox album A Christmas Cornucopia was released in November of 2010).

Angels from the Realms of Glory opens A Christmas Cornucopia as a carol reminiscent of many worship services I’ve attended over the years. Upliftingly presented with backing orchestration and chorus, the music for the song was published as written by hymnwriter and poet James Montgomery of Scotland in 1816.

(Scottish born hymnwriter, poet and editor James Montgomery wrote the hymn Angels from the Realms of Glory. The song is the first on the Annie Lennox album A Christmas Cornucopia).

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen follows the album opener with tidings of comfort and joy upon the birth of the historical Jesus. The charm for me is the focus on the singing featuring Lennox throughout, the subtle vocal accompaniment for the first stanza, and the orchestration through the full performance. The accentuating drums add a full-bodied beauty for me that combines with subtlety for what I take as flute through the last quarter of the song, ending as flute in isolation.

See Amid the Winter’s Snow manifests more beautiful orchestration as led by Dave Robbins throughout this album. First published in 1858 for English hymn writer Edward Caswall, English organist and composer John Goss composed a hymn for the original piece in 1871. The presentations then and now express joy in the birth of Jesus Christ at the commemoration of his original arrival.

Il est né le divin Enfant is French for He is born, the divine Child. Lennox sings the French Christmas carol in the original language in narrating the story of the 4,000 year wait for the humble birth of Jesus in a manger.

(A Christmas Cornucopia album by Annie Lennox was released in November of 2010).

The First Noel as a piece of music is “a traditional English carol most likely from the 16th or 17th century, but possibly dating from as early as the 13th century”, as quoted here. The chorus vocals in a brief dreamy spell between verses at a pair of points elevates the piano and strings that accompany the Annie Lennox singing for this song. The trumpeting of the joyous event of Jesus‘ birth to close the song presented an unexpectedly uplifting conclusion to this piece.

Lullay Lullay (The Coventry Carol) draws from the Gospel according to Matthew to tell of the Slaughter of the Innocents in Bethlehem as ordered by Herod. The song results in a lullaby that mothers would have sung, and Lennox did sing, to their children as a means of comfort.

The Holly and the Ivy is a traditional folk Christmas carol of British origin. The song harkens back to the association between Christmas and holly, which has origins in the Middle Ages (or Medieval times). The cadence performs a bit quicker than my senses and heart wanted to experience this song.

(This portrait of Christina Rossetti was made by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, her brother. Christina Rossetti‘s poem In the Bleak Midwinter was published under the title A Christmas Carol).

Written as a poem by Christina Rossetti, In the Bleak Midwinter is frequently performed as a Christmas carol as done by Annie Lennox on A Christmas Cornucopia. The song postulates a series of cJoseph (Earthly Father of Jesus Christ)omparisons of religious importance foe how Jesus came to exist, the prophesied two comings of Jesus, Jesus‘ birth and surroundings, and the affection types offered Jesus by angels and Mary, his birth mother.

As Joseph was a Walking (The Cherry Tree Carol) surprised me as both a Christmas carol and a children’s ballad. The lyrical version presented by Lennox includes an angel previewing the birth of Jesus for Joseph, Jesus‘ father on Earth.

O Little Town of Bethlehem plays to different music than I’ve heard it presented previously. The song is presented solemnly and traditionally with an almost understated piano accompaniment. The chorus that joins Lennox at periodic points makes for a beautiful rendition of this song.

Silent Night with lyrics by Joseph Mohr and composition by Franz Xaver Gruber presents the second to last song on A Christmas Cornucopia. Presented with a traditional piano approach that grows to include a children’s choir and strings, the musical arrangement does as much for the song as does the Annie Lennox singing.

(Universal Child is a single released in 2010 to support the Annie Lennox album A Christmas Cornucopia).

Universal Child is the original Annie Lennox composition on A Christmas Cornucopia. As quoted here, the song is an advocacy for all kids to experience “Safety, security, access to medical care, to love, protection, education, a future, a decent place to live – a child must have all these things.”

Matt – Wednesday, December 13, 2023