Various Artists - 2024 - Spirit of December EiGht

(70:36; Melodic Revolution Records)






















Nick Katona at Melodic Revolution Records also has a tradition of releasing a Christmas compilation, and here he is back with the eighth in the series. Unlike most compilations like this, there are no reworkings of classics (I hate to think how many versions of “Baby, It's Cold Outside” I have in my collection), but instead each of the ten tracks is an original recording, and only Juan R Leõn gets more than one as he has been allowed two in this 57-minute-long set. This is not an album aimed at the mass public, but for those who wish to sit a little outside the mainstream. While most people will enjoy the poppy style of giGO (Nick – I owe you an apology, I may not have enjoyed the album but “Christmas Bells” is delightful and caused me to have a rethink), Orchestre Celesti is much more for those who enjoy following the twisting paths of music which is beautiful and moving in multiple directions, truly progressing.

We also get songs like the wonderful jangly and definitely very Christmassy Don Schiff, who I will always think of being the solid rock of Rocket Scientists although he has been in multiple outfits and sessions, while apparently Refestramus ruined Christmas for everyone. I don’t know all the bands on here, with The Round Robins and A Multitude of One both being new to me for example, while Stanislav and the Lion again show just how different they are with their music and story approach (which does always make me think of Hibernal, but here we have more instrumentation and a narrator as opposed to voice actors). This album has not been made available to purchase, it is just sat there on Bandcamp waiting to be discovered, so why not give it a shot? As Nick so rightly says, MRR release “music you didn’t know you would love”. 

Kev Rowland, December 2024

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