I guess I’m naive, but I’ve been flabbergasted at the negative reaction to the Christmas In The Heart samples from some commenters at one of the Dylan messageboards, to which I went after following a link from DylanTweets. There are actually some alleged fans of Bob Dylan who seem to lack any kind of sense of humor or goodhearted spirit of fun. Shocking, huh? (Talk about keeping Christmas in your heart!)

What did some of these hecklers expect Bob Dylan to sound like singing Christmas standards? One thing he sure ain’t is Perry Como. Instead of trying to conjure up some kind false smoothness and technical range in his voice, he’s just going for the full croak. It’s the juxtaposition of the roughness of his voice with the sweetness of the songs that will make his versions stand out, and — I have no doubt — bring added poignancy to certain numbers. I’m not going to mount some kind of huge critique or defense of the album based on these brief lo-fi clips from Amazon, but at a minimum it sounds like fun. I mean, c’mon! Of-course no one has to like it, or has to listen to it. But to rip into an innocent little album of Christmas tunes, with the money going to charity, does not speak well of those doing the ripping. Of-course it’s far from the first time that Dylan has done something that for some reason has brought out the worst in people who claim to be aficionados of his work.

Anyone who gets Bob surely would know that he’s always had his schmaltzy side. This is a grand and great opportunity for him to let his hair down and fully indulge it. There’s nothing wrong with the fact that it sounds funny — Bob is laughing with us.

I love the fact that he’s going all traditional, from the choice of songs to the backing singers. Don’t some of these detractors understand the reference he’s making back to the classic Christmas music from the 1940s and such, from Der Bingle and the rest of ‘em? As I said in the previous post, it’s the Andrews Sisters, for Pete’s sake. (And, at that, maybe it really is the Andrews Sisters! If anybody could get them back together in 2009, it’s Bob Dylan!)

But in addition to what some may consider the kitschy sounds of the backing singers, there’s also obviously some real artful playing going on by Dylan’s own band. I heard some great fiddle and some smokin’ hot accordion in there.

I’m not going to go track by track commenting on these meager clips, but count me as someone who can’t wait to hear the whole thing.

As someone very smart said recently, Richard Dawkins will never win an argument with Bob Dylan. And, as far as I’m concerned, neither will Scrooge.

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• Official tracklist and preview clips for Bob Dylan’s Christmas In The Heart
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