To Drive the Cold Winter Away

Loreena McKennitt | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 20, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Quinlan Road
• ASIN: B000000LXD
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #165,963 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. In Praise of Christmas

2. The Seasons

3. The King

4. Banquet Hall

5. Snow

6. Balulalow

7. Let Us the Infant Greet

8. The Wexford Carol

9. The Stockford Carol

10. Let All That Are to Mirth Inclined

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This is not your father's Christmas album. Loreena McKennitt's primary instrument is the harp, but her primary technique is to take a traditional folk song and supersize it with strings, modern rhythms, and lush orchestration. It's a style that works ideally with this material. Her takes on "The Wexford Carol" and "The Stockford Carol" will make you rethink holiday songs. Other highlights include "The Seasons" and "In Praise of Christmas," all songs that are weepy enough to please Grandma but never so sappy they sound fake. Add two cups of hot cider and a roaring fire, and this album will turn Scrooge into a fan of the season. --Charles R. Cross

Product Description

Soon to be back in stock to make sure all of yourChristmas wishes come true. 10 track Christmas album.These are traditional English andScottish songs mixed with orginals by this elegant modernfolk artist.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Magesterial Solstice Treat!, August 18, 2000

By 

Barron Laycock "Labradorman" (Temple, New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To Drive the Cold Winter Away (Audio CD)

For lovers of traditional Celtic music like me, there never seems to be quite enough of Loreena McKennitt to go around. This particular album is devoted to what might best be described as solstice music, that is, as music best suited to the moods, atmospheres, and settings we most usually associate with winter solstice time, including the high holidays of Christmas and New Years. So, while this is not an album exclusively oriented to Christmas music, it is quite intentionally a celebration of both the winter season in general and the joy of the birth of the Christ child in particular. This album always finds its way onto my CD come the holidays, where it is played again and again. I never get any complaints or requests for anything else. It is music that wears very well.

Of course, Our lady Loreena has a special vocal magic to enchant even the coldest of winter's travelers toward the warmth of her solstice fire, and this album showcases her remarkable voice. No one sets a mood or creates an atmosphere quite like the ethereal McKennitt, who after years flirting on the margins of visibility has finally gained some greatly deserved public attention. For those of you familiar with her, no explanation as to the special vocal magic she so lavishly displays or the clarity of her accompaniment or arrangements is required. For everyone else, this album is a singularly splendid introduction to this rarest of talents, who will certainly continue to rise in public esteem, and who will hopefully continue to add to her stable of albums of eclectic, esoteric, and enduring Celtic music

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just wonderful, November 21, 2003

By 

M. Pericles "shopmonkey" (Roswell, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To Drive the Cold Winter Away (Audio CD)

Most of the songs on this album are traditional 18th and 19th century Christmas songs, sparingly produced and backed by harp, viols, and accordion, and feature Ms. McKennitt's soaring, breathtaking vocals. I couldn't imagine a better voice to perform these songs. If you'd like a break from the hustle and commercialism of a 21st century Chrismas, this disc is perfect.

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most beautiful albums I own, July 7, 2002

By 

John Rossi (Somers Point, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: To Drive the Cold Winter Away (Audio CD)

All right let's get started. I was first introduced to Loreena's angelic voice with her 1997 album THE BOOK OF SECRETS which I quickly followed up with THE VISIT. When I heard she was doing a "Christmas" album, I thought, "Okay, back to the store we go."
Let me make this clear. If you are expecting your typical and normal Christmas carols thay you hear on every radio station and in every major shopping mall starting at November's end and going on through the New Year's holiday, forget it. What you get here is a lovely assortment of older carols and songs that seem to divide their time evenly between celebrating the winter solstice or winter seaon in general AND the coming to Earth of Jesus.
This record is absolutely captivating for me and I could listen to it year-round even thought it is classified as holiday music. Loreena's primary instruments here seem to be her harp and her BEATIFUL voice with light percussion on a song or two. One song is totally a-cappella and even has church bells rining through it. It's a very simple and down to earth instrumentation, but it doesn't NEED a grand orchestra or a full opera choir. In this case less truly is more. The marriage of Lorenna McKennitt's exquisite singing and her gentle but lovely harp is easily enough to make this work. Pennywhistles and other instruments make a nice supporting appearance here.
I cannot stress Loreena's voice enough. This assortment of songs really makes you feel as if you are stepping back in time and someone is waiting for you "on the other side" It is as if that someone is inviting you to share a holiday in a time when life was simpler, and it was the little things that mattered more. There was a real sense of wonder and awe and joy in the Prescence of God and in the beauty of Nature and God's handiwork. We didn't need the biggest house or fastest car on the block. All we needed was the warmth and love of hearth and home, the joy of family and friends.
This album gives me a sense of all that and more. It is full of ethereal beauty, tender passion, and fills me with a sense of longing and fulfillment at the same time. I have yet to hear a lovelier album of holiday music. Thiss will make any and all stress disappear so quickly you might even forget the MEANING of the word stress for as long as you have this album playing. Sounds good, doesn't it? Well, then give it a try. I loved it and I have a feeling that you will love it too. Go ahead... take the journey. Experience a holiday in a simpler time of life. You may wish you never had to leave. BUT the melodies will stay with you even when the record is off. Want to go back to that simpler time? Turn the player on again and Loreena will be there to guide you back, and set your heart on gentle fire all over again.