CD Duration: 58.00 / Year: 2013
Sixteen tracks to get you in the festive spirit. Contains Christmas classics as well as more recent pop tracks. Playing Yamaha Tyros 2, with some Wersi Helios W2S and Spectra Golden Gate (with rhythm guitar, bass and drums from a Yamaha MOX6).
Carol of the Bells / The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
A Winters Tale
Driving Home for Christmas
A Lonely Pup in a Christmas Shop
I’m Not Dreaming of a White Christmas
Blue Christmas / So Here it is Merry Christmas
Mistletoe and Wine / So This is Christmas / Saviours Day
Stop the Cavalry
The Snow Waltz / Silent Night
Mary’s Boy Child / Little Donkey
Little Drummer Boy / Peace on Earth
Santa Claus is Coming To Town / Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree / Jingle Bells
When a Child is Born
Merry Christmas Everyone
Winter Wonderland / Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow
Little Town.
Latest from John Kyffin
Organ and Keyboard Cavalcade Review by Ian King
Well it’s nice to get a new Christmas CD in time to review it and for you lovely people to be able to read about it BEFORE Christmas. I’ve had occasions when I’ve received a Christmas CD three weeks before the big day, meaning I can’t do much about it until the following year (back in the days when we did out quarterly magazine/newsletter/catalogue).
There used to be quite a few festive releases, we’ve stocked no less than FIFTY over time. The last big splurge seems to have been back in 2006 when there were five released (with a few per year in 2004-05). However, in the seven years since then, they have been rather thin on the ground (a vague reference to snow). In fact there have only been three in those seven years; two of those were sequence and one was a re-release from the early 1960s.
Now (drum roll please), I have one to review and it’s really good. If you’ve read my reviews in this magazine before, you will know the name of John Kyffin as I’ve probably mentioned his name more than any other player. This is mainly due to two reasons; He is (A) very good and (B) prolific! Now, there are some organists who are (A) but not (B) and unfortunately (for everyone concerned), there are those who are (B) while not being very (A). But as luck (and talent) would have it, John is both. Thank little Baby Jesus.
There is a great selection of tunes here, we have the usual suspects, but also more recent ones from the likes of Chris Rea and Amy Grant. The main keyboard on the CD is a Yamaha Tyros 2, with some Wersi Helios W2S and Spectra Golden Gate (with rhythm guitar, bass and drums from a Yamaha MOX6). This has been his usual setup for the last few releases.
Highlights include the great opener with “Carol of the Bells” morphing into a Wersi sound of “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”, The Only Way Is (David) Essex’s “A Winters Tale”, the Elvis meets Slade medley of “Blue Christmas” and “So Here it is Merry Christmas”, Jona Lewie’s “Stop the Cavalry”, “Mary’s Boy Child / Little Donkey”, Bing Crosby & David Bowie’s “Little Drummer Boy / Peace on Earth”, “When a Child is Born” and “Winter Wonderland / Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow”.
If you haven’t bought a Christmas CD for a while then you’ve had seven years to save up and, at just over a Pound a year, I consider this CD a bargain. Think of it like a sort of Christmas Club.
Review by Ian King from Organ and Keyboard Cavalcade Magazine.