Celine Dion
These Are Special Times

THE REVIEW

The cynicism of the massified Man has malignantly infected even Christmas. Alas! And the mass of memories and reminiscences of all of us "piccirilli" behind the Tree with packages yet to be unwrapped in our hands? What about the feeling of total optimism typical of Christmas holidays? No answers now.

Modern times have completely machine-gunned Christmas with its meaning (which I do not illustrate to avoid the poorest rhetoric). When you are under five feet, the Holidays of ribbons and garlands are awaited with trepidation and sprightliness well before the harvest, once you reach adolescence and frivolous young twenties/mid-twenties the New Year's Eve festivities surpass in expectation and dynamism those of the nativity of Christ. Finally, reaching the "venerable" post-30 age a Pandoro, a little candle, a bottle of supermarket Spumante, and a scant pinch of pret à porter good cheer are enough to fill you spiritually and morally during the two weeks from Christmas Eve to Epiphany. The daily stress, the total prevailing massification have surely shattered the true Christmas ethics: goodness and general positivity are certainly celebrated, but they are relegated to that half a month late December - early January. Then the blackout of good-naturedness and a return to mundane everyday life (and to the gyms to shed the extra lobster and Grand-Marnier panettone).

Even the tunes specially packaged for Holy Christmas become, with the crass passing of the Kantian category of Time, annoying melodies even forced upon us in the busiest shopping streets. And we don't recall that the notes of Jingle Bells, White Christmas, and O Tannenbaum (now echoed by the amplifier strategically placed above the trendiest store on the Boulevard), were our favorite lullaby during these holidays. Here again is an increasing avalanche of past moments and memories. Nonetheless, Time does not always succeed in eradicating from our exacerbated Spirit all the concrete and abstract melodies of our distant past. There is still something that makes us feel fully Christmas-y and not just because of general hypocrisy. Just press the "Classic/Evergreen" button in our brains and there is something striving to transmit a faint light to the outside.

I am fully aware of the marketing strategies that exploit the Christmas holidays to publish loads of records "recorded" for the occasion, I am convinced that certain traditional melodies of ancient making should not be put into the mouth of any singer short of ideas, however...

However, there is (musically speaking) something Christmas-inspired that is worth sampling at least, without destructive prejudices. Moreover, there are artists who, leaving aside commercial intents of background, manage to instill with their voice and the faint accompanying sound a minimal Christmas feeling. Which goes beyond the dinner.

You can say anything about Celine Dion, be it pop, commercial, etc., but let me praise, at least a little, her immense vocal talents. That these are then wasted on dance-pop tunes, we're in other realms of discourse. These Are Special Times is perhaps the only record by a mainstream artist to provide me, at least in parts, with a hint of Christmas spirit. Dated 1998, it continued the positive trend of the enormous fame that Dion had built years earlier.

This time, I won't worry about meticulously and individually describing the sixteen tracks contained in the album. Also because the mandatory predominance of orchestras, strings, tambourines, violins, organs, flutes, bells....Musical instruments all aimed at circumscribing worthily the warm soprano of Dion is essential. Notable mentions among the tracks are Celine's versions of the traditional O Holy Night, Ave Maria, Brahms' Lullaby, Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful), in addition to the famous unreleased tracks The Prayer (famous featuring with our Andrea Bocelli) and I'm Your Angel, an R&B/Soul track performed with R. Kelly, a bit less Christmas-y than the rest. It may raise eyebrows among the purists, but Celine’s interpretation of Happy Xmas (War Is Over), the great classic by J. Lennon and Y. Ono, is more than acceptable.

I take advantage of the analysis of this work to wish all of DeBaserians, good and bad, a Merry Christmas. And a happy 2011. But don't overdo it with the vodka, anyway.

Darius