Tuesday, December 09, 2008

A Christmas Album for the Whole Family - Music & Lyrics by Frank di Silvestro


Hi! Sorry about the delay in getting something new on here. (Again.) I'm afraid I don't have enough Christmas albums to get me through the month, even starting now. So I'll sprinkle a few Christmasy things along with some other stuff.

This is sort of an unusual album. I bought it (still sealed) at Goodwill for a quarter. That cover is just all over the map, isn't it? The songs on this album are all composed by Frank Di Silvestro, and sung by two young ladies and a girl who solo on the different songs. The music itself sounds all synthesized. And the songs...well, the songs just don't sound quite right to me. It's not the performances; they're all fine. I think it's Frank's writing. Sometimes there's a wonky attempt at a rhyme. Often a line will have three or four extra syllables so it doesn't quite scan right. Give it a listen and see what you think.

All three singers list a number of generic credits (performing in commercials and/or soaps), but Meg Bussert actually has a pretty decent resume. She's performed on Broadway in "Camelot" with Richard Harris, among other things. And she's now a full-time Professor at NYU, teaching Acting and Theatre Studies. I would certainly call her the best one on this album, even managing to pull off different sounding vocals on "I'm Little Miss Christmas". Meanwhile, the most interesting thing I've found that Frank Di Silvestro has done is write a book called "Boy Jesus and His Dog".

Anywho, I've got a few more Christmas albums coming soon in the mix, so enjoy this!

Here's the track list:
  1. When Mrs. Claus Plays Piano - Denyse St. George
  2. Silver Bell, the Heavenly Reindeer - Meg Bussert
  3. Toy Heaven - Kristy Graves
  4. The Rockefeller Center Tree - Meg Bussert
  5. I'm Little Miss Christmas - Meg Bussert
  6. I Love Christmas in New York - Meg Bussert
  7. Ice Dancing - Meg Bussert
  8. Christmas Carousel - Meg Bussert
  9. Mrs. Claus Is Special Too - Meg Bussert
  10. On Christmas I'll See Lots of Snow - Meg Bussert
  11. Blitzen & the Caribou Fell in Love - Denyse St. George
  12. The Christmas Rose - Kristy Graves
  13. We Are Children Who Love to Sing - Kristy Graves
  14. Sam the Snowman & Flo the Snowwoman - Meg Bussert
  15. I Dreamed I was in Christmasland - Denyse St. George
Click here or here to download!

BONUS: Here's a clip of Meg Bussert as Queen Guinevere in a revival of Camelot:

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