Customer Reviews

Have Yourself A Meddie Little Christmas

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Full disclosure first: I used to sing with the Meddiebempsters, so I can't say I'm completely neutral, but I didn't sing on this CD, and didn't overlap with anyone who did, so maybe that makes my opinion count.

Anyway, I think this is a genuinely enjoyable christmas album, especially as done by a student-led college group. Typically, male college groups do a bit of a spoof of a christmas album, if one ever gets done at all (Christmas time in college is full of break and exams), and this is a fairly classic set of original arrangements of a wide range of christmas carols you'll generally recognize.

The blend and harmonies sound great across the album. The solos are perhaps the weakest spot, but soloists definitely do an acceptable job with their numbers. The only other note is that, as is common with undergraduate composers and arrangers, some of the cadences at the ends of songs are a bit overdone, but that's a reasonably minor quip.

If you're looking for something new this holiday season, Have Yourself a Meddie Little Christmas will give your Christmas music library a different sound you'll likely appreciate, and it's well worth the purchase.

I first heard this album in the parking lot of LL Bean's outlet in Freeport, Maine. It was a bitter December night, the ink-black sky punctured by brittle stars, and the Bean concourse pumped bright by hundreds of beaded pine trees. The only thing missing was the soundtrack. Fortunately, the store was selling this album by the Bowdoin College Meddiebempsters, one of the finest (and oldest) a capella groups in the country.

It has ten tracks, standards like Winter Wonderland, White Christmas, and Rudolf, plus classical items like The Boar's Head Carol and Lo' How a Rose... . All are arranged by the group. Meddiebempster bass Mike Krohn booms out the Dr. Seuss Grinch song in a register 3 octaves below middle C, and sounds as churlish and "low-down" mean as the song's originator, Thurl Ravenscroft. The voices are remarkable for their fresh collegiate sound, but also manage to convey elegance, and intense, aching harmonies. I played the album for my three nieces (ages 3, 5 and 7) who danced to most of it, and sang with all of it. No higher recommendation is possible.