ALBUM REVIEW: C.W. Franz – A C.W. Franz Christmas

Ahh, the Christmas album. Amidst the overwhelming hustle-and-bustle leading up to December 25th, I always make time to seek out new and old albums dedicated to Christmas. Usually, I’m not picky when it comes to genres. I’d listen to a horrorcore album about Krampus scaring the bejesus out of kids who were naughty for a large majority of the year, provided that the beats slap and the lyrics are dope! But all jokes aside, Christmas albums are designed to help set the mood for… well… Christmas, and if done right, remind us of why this time of the year is so wonderful, as Andy Williams eloquently stated back in 1963. As we get older, we can find ourselves feeling jaded, depressed and cynical every time December hits. And sometimes the realities of life hit us so hard, it’s almost difficult to find some sort of joy during the Yuletide season. But that’s why we need the Christmas song – old, new, covered a billion times, untouched or even parody – to remind us that there is, to borrow an old phrase, a ‘reason for the season’.

C.W. Franz, a regular on this blog, decided to throw his Santa hat into the ring and produce a Christmas album of his own. Simply titled “A C.W. Franz Christmas”, this record plays out like a Christmas TV special headlined by a musical artiste. Like “Solo” and “The Cubensis Session”, C.W. adopts a one-man show approach to this album, so if you were expecting a “Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special”-type experience, you’ll be severely disappointed!

Similar to “The Cubensis Session”, you can tell C.W. is drawing inspiration from John Fahey, Robbie Basho and Sandy Bull’s TV performances, in terms of the album’s informal tone, hushed pre-song introductions and light vocal deliveries. But what surprised me the most about “A C.W. Franz Christmas” was the lack of instruments used in this production. Recorded over a two-day period in his basement dubbed the Orange Diamond Studios (where his “8/14/2021” and “06/04/2022” jam session records were recorded in), C.W. uses three instruments: a Casio SA-76 keyboard, a moose hide drum and sleigh bells. Funny enough, the sleigh bells are used briefly in the opening and closing tracks, the drum is used briefly in one track and the Casio is used entirely in another. But the only prominent instrument on this album is C.W’s own voice.

Yes folks, what we have here is a mostly acapella album. And while I don’t generally seek out acapellas – unless I randomly feel the need to do a mashup track – it is quite refreshing to hear a Christmas album in the acapella sub-genre. Again, this is a one-man show, so Pentatonix this is not. But C.W. uses his singular presence to his advantage by creating this quaint, homely, ‘unplugged’ session where he shares his favorite Christmas songs with the listener. His vocal performances consistently match the informal tone of the album, all delivered in an unpolished yet casual and ordinary tone of voice. It’s as if you, the listener who may or may not be a professional singer, were singing a song to yourself or to someone else. 

“A C.W. Franz Christmas” opens and closes with some words from its host and includes brief introductions for each of its eight songs. It’s these non-sung moments that help create a sentimental and, in the case of the longest song on the album, empathic vibe. Perhaps it’s because I never had the reason to learn these carols by heart, but I’m marginally familiar with all the lyrics in this selection of carols hand-picked by C.W.  However, “Silent Night”, “O Come All Ye Faithful”, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, “The First Noel”, “The Little Drummer Boy”, “O Christmas Tree” and “Feliz Navidad” are so universally recognized, they’re already ingrained into our psyche and interwoven into the music we hear during the Christmas holidays.

On a large chunk of the album, C.W. makes a rather bold choice of performing bite-sized renditions of these songs, sticking to the first and most recognizable verse of each one. It’s as if we’re hearing a medley but one that’s focused on a verse for each song and punctuated by brief verbal intermissions. On “Silent Night”, he sings the first verse twice, which is interesting because I do remember hearing versions of this song performed by well-known singers in the same way, oftentimes excluding the second and third (YES, there’s a third) verse.

There are two exceptions to this ‘one-verse rule’ where C.W. performs full versions of “The Little Drummer Boy” and “O Christmas Tree”. The former is actually his ‘favorite Christmas song’ and even without instrumentation, save for the abovementioned moose hide drum, you can hear the passion he feels for this hymn from start to finish. C.W.’s rendition of “O Christmas Tree” is sure to be a takeaway for many listeners as, in reference to his upbringing in Greek Orthodox Christianity, it’s performed entirely in Greek. And yet the vocal melody itself is timeless to the point that even if the song is performed in a different language, it still sounds delightful.

The penultimate track “The Hope of Peace Suite” is undoubtedly the most ‘C.W. Franz’ moment on the album. Played entirely with his Casio SA-76, C.W. performs an improvisational, six-section, roughly 12 ½ minute ambient piece inspired by the currently-ongoing Israel-Hamas War. In the opening section “Introduction”, C.W. introduces the piece and wisely omits any mention of what it’s about, leaving the job to the listener to interpret its message. Afterwards, we hear this surrealistic simulation of helicopter blades which, given this instrumental’s theme, I interpreted as both a helicopter surveying the Gaza Strip and its occupants preparing to launch an attack (Think of the iconic intro to Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam War masterpiece “Apocalypse Now”).

The second to sixth sections are entirely music-based with a brief bit of silence acting as an act break between each one. On “Encircling Gaza”, which utilizes a droning sound effect throughout its duration, C.W.’s chord progressions sound haunting and disheartening with every passing second. Though we get a substantially calmer melody on the opening of the next section “Desert Humors”, the sonic respite doesn’t last long as the notes sound more dramatic and intense (in its climax, the melody sounds like it’s spiraling out of control) near the end.

The second half of “The Hope of Peace Suite” begins with “Forsaken Ones”, which opens with these light, airy notes that sound thematically like the calm after the storm of the previous two sections. The preset applied to the instrumental itself creates this strange, melancholy aura. And when you pair that with the title, it becomes clear that this section is dedicated to the innocent Israelis and Palestinians who died during the war and their families who’re forced to move forward from their losses. The unfortunate reality of the war’s ongoing nature is reflected in “In Remainder”, where C.W. performs this short, eerie composition that sounds like the theme to some old-time thriller or horror film (thanks largely to the piano-like preset he uses in this section).

The suite concludes with “How One Reacts” which takes the haunting and intense moments of “Encircling Gaza” and “Desert Humors” respectively and combines them into a grand, climactic and slightly hopeful denouement. The title is quite ambiguous as the listener is left to ask the obvious questions: “Who is reacting?” and “Is this reaction justifiable?” Does the title relate to the back-and-forth attacks between Israel and Palestine after the terrifying events of October 7^th ? Or does it relate to the United States’ current response to the war? No answers are given.

Now I can imagine some listeners feeling confused or put off by the inclusion of this track in what’s supposed to be a joyous, heartwarming Christmas album. Honestly, if you’re familiar with C.W.’s work over the years, this album would’ve felt incomplete without some sort of ambient piece anyway! And to be fair, the song itself is far from disturbing or nightmarish. But to me, “The Hope of Peace Suite” gives this album a much-needed sense of timeliness. It’s so easy to immerse yourself into the traditionality of Christmas that we forget there are people the world over whose Christmas Day will be spent in anguish, fear and sadness. And in the case of the innocent citizens caught between this senseless war in the Gaza Strip, they’d be fortunate to celebrate the holidays in some way or form, even if it’s by singing a Christmas carol.

The sequencing of the last three songs is quite splendid, as we start with the Greek version of “O Christmas Tree”, continue with the “The Hope of Peace Suite” and end with the album’s final song, Jose Feliciano’s well-beloved “Feliz Navidad”. Even if you don’t know a lick of Spanish, you do know what “Feliz Navidad. Próspero año y Felicidad” means, or at least can sing it in a rhythmic way with or without the Latin pop instrumental playing in the background. And as C.W. reminds us in his brief rendition, it’s basically one verse – and a remarkably memorable one at that!

As a whole, “A C.W. Franz Christmas” is a sweet, simple and straightforward Yuletide album that celebrates the lasting power of the Christmas carol and the general power of music in lifting our spirits through the good and truly discouraging times. The simplicity and homegrown nature of the record clicked with me personally, as I couldn’t help but think of my occasional podcast recordings at home, usually punctuated by occasional, unavoidable external noises like dog barks or heavy footsteps. C.W. Franz fans will definitely appreciate and enjoy this project and connoisseurs of Christmas albums should seek this one out, especially those looking for something a little less ordinary.  Will the release of a Christmas album become an annual tradition for C.W. going forward? I highly doubt it. But like the memorable TV specials and albums dedicated to that ‘wonderful time of year’, “A C.W. Franz Christmas” is certainly worth revisiting.

OVERALL RATING: 7 out of 10

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