Nov
4th
Wed
4th
Dylan’s thing has never been palatability, and he’s clearly enamored with contrast— in this case, between his worn, gravel-gargle voice and everything else. And it’s his unhinged vocals that make Christmas in the Heart interesting, and, in some ways, appropriate to its subject: In practice if not in theory, Christmas songs aren’t about perfect pitch and studied harmonies, they’re about slouching around an out-of-tune piano with your relatives, sloshing back store-bought eggnog, and hollering songs you learned in kindergarten and have been singing— with abandon, without training, without self-consciousness— nearly all of your life. It’s Christmas: Even Bob Dylan’s allowed that.
— I really like Amanda Petrusich’s review of Bob Dylan’s perplexing and hilarious Christmas in the Heart on Pitchfork, but I wish they had let her give the album a 12.25!
