Dylan Thomas - A Child's Christmas in Wales

Over the last few year's this has become part of our Christmas Eve, although usually in a truncated fashion. We'd all gather together in the family room with the lights out, the room a muted kaleidoscope of muted colours from the Christmas tree in the corner. We start with the CBC recording of Al Maitland narrating Frederick Forsyth's The Shepherd and then we'd play A Child's Christmas in Wales, by Dylan Thomas. Now I didn't have the recording, and we'd find selections on YouTube, but seldom the entire version. This one was important to my wife, and was more a nod to my her childhood memories.

Last year I found this vinyl copy, and we forgot to go to the basement and listen to it as we got lost in the hustle of trying to ensure everything was in order for Christmas morning. This year I'm cheating, I am sitting here a couple of days in advance hoping to take this in and see what the fuss is all about. I have it ready for Christmas Eve.

This recording was made February 22, 1954 and Mr. Thomas recited the poems that were meant to be the first side of an album. "Do Not go Gentle into that Good Night," "In the White Giant's Thigh," "Ballad of the Long-legged Bait," and "Ceremony After a Fire Raid." They were recorded first, and then apparently there was a discussion as to what would he could do for the other side. He decided to retell a story rather than recite more poetry. There are various versions of the flurry of activity trying to find a source to read from, and some accounts state that Mr. Thomas was a little lubricated for the performance. Doesn't matter, however it came to be, it was this version of, "A Child's Christmas in Wales" that would end up taking up most of the first side of the album. Although it sold slowly at first, it would eventually become a Christmas staple. This record on Caedmon, who's slogan was "a third dimension for the printed page" was the Ninth printing from January of 1964 - meaning this pressing is coming up on 60 years old.

Yeah, I know ... math.

The collection of poems on the second side are classics, especially "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" However, I am focused on Christmas, at the moment, so no slight is intended to the fine works on the other side.

There's something riveting about the voice of Dylan Thomas, a resonance the belies his relative youth. He was only in his late '30s when this recording was made. Looking at the picture on the back of the jacket you'd think he was born a middle aged pudgy Englishman.

As to the story, it's rather hypnotic and I find that I often lose the thread of the story, but then pick it up again. The images evoked are a pastiche of anecdotes, and I would often find myself thinking of some of my own family memories.

Each time I hear this I catch a little more. It is magical, and at times a marvellously ridiculous collection of dissonant snippets that mines the depth of childhood memories.

It makes one wonder what could have been if Dylan Thomas' life hadn't been cut short. He died a month after his 39th birthday.

6 Cylinder

As a kid we had one radio station, not counting CBC, and generally there was very little that was worth listening to, although there were times something would come on that would make you pay attention. It was 1979 and on a couple of occasions I heard "There Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" and it cracked me up, and I always wanted to get a copy for myself. A few years ago when my niece was dancing, they did a performance to this song, and now I can't separate my niece from a bunch of dancing chicks in chicken suits. Such is life. When I found this in the dollar bin I actually let out a little chirp, my goodness could it be? It was, and it was in great shape - including the inner sleeve. Score. I had no idea what to expect, for all I knew there was only one song worth listening to, and if that was the case it was still a dollar well spent. If I could buy an album by Showdown and enjoy it, odds are I'll find something to enjoy here to. Before I put this on I...

Garfield - Strange Streets

I'd seen this before in the bin, but kept flipping through the stacks. I'd see it a few more times, each time stopping to look at it a little more. There was something kind of cool about the cover where the stylized Celtic knot had the dotted yellow line - it was a strange street for sure. I pulled the record out of the jacket and I was struck by the centre image. There was the familiar Mercury label, the same one I'd seen a thousand times on BTOs Head On album. Well, I'd bought things based on odd associations before - like when I had to buy anything that Solid Rock Records released (this was generally a good thing) who knows maybe this was a hidden gem. There weren't any real scratches or rash, just a lot of dirt and dust - it seemed to clean up okay, but we'll see how it goes. The album opens with the title track, and this wasn't straight ahead pop, or rock. It was leaning to the progressive, but with a pop bent. Oddly enough the vocals reminded me of Mi...

Hoodoo Gurus - Mars Needs Guitars!

The first time I got this album it was a gift from my old roommate Otto. For a goofy little nebbish he would occasionally surprise me with some left of field musical treasures. Although, I still think he was reaching a little when he brought home the new "Led Zeppelin" album by Kingdom Come and forced me to listen to "Get it On" over and over again. I'd not listened to Mars Needs Guitars in a long, long, long time. The first thing that I jumped out at me was how David Faulkner's vocals reminded me of his fellow countryman Peter Garrett from Midnight Oil. I think the reason this never occurred to me was at the time I didn't have any Midnight Oil until Diesel and Dust in 1987. I'm not saying it was all the time, but there were a couple of songs where it stood out. Not a bad thing, just a thing. Even at the time this felt slightly out of step with what was going on in 1985. It seemed like everyone was using drum machines and synthesizers and having t...

Old Enough to Forget

Search This Blog