| 1. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus 2. I'll Be Home for Christmas 3. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas 4. Mele Kalikimaka 5. Silver Bells 6. I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm 7. Jingle Bell Rock 8. Blue Christmas 9. Pretty Paper 10. Jingle Bells 11. Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree 12. White Christmas 13. Winter Wonderland 14. Christmas Time Is Here |  |
Put some ice in the Naugahyde ice bucket, put a fire in the fireplace and stand under the mistletoe. A classy, swinging disc for all your classy, swinging holiday gatherings. "Hi-Fi Christmas Guitar" is a brand-new 14-song instrumental Christmas CD by Chicago guitarist Joel Paterson, a multi-track guitar extravaganza in the tradition of Les Paul, Chet Atkins, and many more of Joel's biggest heroes and influences.
Astute Christmas music obsessives will know that Joel Paterson's "Hi-Fi Christmas Guitar" was released last year. And, let me tell you, had I been healthy and here, last year, and had I done the feature as in previous years, "Hi-Fi Christmas Guitar" would certainly have been among my Ten Favorites for the year. So why is the album now included among the Previews?
"Hi-Fi Christmas Guitar" was a sneaky hit, last year. Apparently, few saw it coming and most outlets sold through quickly. Joel replenished their stock as quickly as he could, and they just sold through again. So everybody gets a second chance this year, including me. And, even more significantly, this year...there will be VINYL!
I confess, I'm as played on the whole vinyl thing as anyone. When we started here at Stubby's, people were still saying vinyl was dead and we were trying to keep it alive. Now there's as much blue on our List as red, and vinyl may be the only segment of the record sales equation that's growing instead of shrinking. But, if ever there was a Christmas record from the digital age that needed to be heard on vinyl, it's "Hi-Fi Christmas Guitar".
"Hi-Fi Christmas Guitar" is, as much as anything, a tribute to the late great Les Paul. And the techniques that Les Paul developed and pioneered--the multi-tracking and over-dubbing--were designed to maximize the sound on reel-to-reel and vinyl (analog). Had digital recording existed back then, who knows what Les Paul might have come up with? But it didn't. And, for all our technical advancements, Les Paul still sounds best on plain old vinyl. At least I think so.
A Chicago musician, Joel Paterson also excels at the Blues, as the frequent lead guitarist for Alligator recording artists The Cash Box Kings. Yeah, I felt it important to mention that. A long-time fan of Christmas music, Joel would find himself with the same problem every year. By the time he got excited about playing Christmas music, it was too late to record and deliver an album in time for the season. So, finally, he set aside an entire year. And, when I say set aside, I mean he worked on the Christmas record while continuing to play out pretty much continuously as he always does. Just about every night, Joel is playing somewhere with someone. He's part of Devil In The Woodpile (Country Blues), The Modern Sounds (Tin Pan Alley), The Western Elstons (Honky Tonk), and the Joel Paterson Trio (Jazz and Blues), all of whom have regular gigs in the Windy City. So with all that free time he didn't have, he studied the styles and techniques of the masters like Les Paul, Chet Atkins, and Hank Garland, then settling in to lay down the recordings. And, you know, it's not like he could just record the songs once...not if he wanted to get that dense Les Paul sound. He had to play the track several times over...different accents and flourishes each time...so that, in the end, the sound is a virtual guitar orchestra (imagine a single person singing different parts and over-dubbing to create the effect of a choir. Yeah, like that).
"Hi-Fi Christmas Guitar" by Joel Paterson is a fun record of Christmas cheer you'll find yourself returning to again and again. You're gonna feel like you're sitting right next to Marty McFly at Lou's Cafe, trying to order a "Pepsi Free". I don't like to call anything "essential" within the first five years of its release but let's just say this one is pending.
Though the sound on the record brings it all together with perfect levels for the layers, here's Joel Paterson giving a basic demonstration of how over-dubbing is done...by accompanying a recording of himself playing "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus".
"Hi-Fi Christmas Guitar" was a sneaky hit, last year. Apparently, few saw it coming and most outlets sold through quickly. Joel replenished their stock as quickly as he could, and they just sold through again. So everybody gets a second chance this year, including me. And, even more significantly, this year...there will be VINYL!
I confess, I'm as played on the whole vinyl thing as anyone. When we started here at Stubby's, people were still saying vinyl was dead and we were trying to keep it alive. Now there's as much blue on our List as red, and vinyl may be the only segment of the record sales equation that's growing instead of shrinking. But, if ever there was a Christmas record from the digital age that needed to be heard on vinyl, it's "Hi-Fi Christmas Guitar".
"Hi-Fi Christmas Guitar" is, as much as anything, a tribute to the late great Les Paul. And the techniques that Les Paul developed and pioneered--the multi-tracking and over-dubbing--were designed to maximize the sound on reel-to-reel and vinyl (analog). Had digital recording existed back then, who knows what Les Paul might have come up with? But it didn't. And, for all our technical advancements, Les Paul still sounds best on plain old vinyl. At least I think so.
A Chicago musician, Joel Paterson also excels at the Blues, as the frequent lead guitarist for Alligator recording artists The Cash Box Kings. Yeah, I felt it important to mention that. A long-time fan of Christmas music, Joel would find himself with the same problem every year. By the time he got excited about playing Christmas music, it was too late to record and deliver an album in time for the season. So, finally, he set aside an entire year. And, when I say set aside, I mean he worked on the Christmas record while continuing to play out pretty much continuously as he always does. Just about every night, Joel is playing somewhere with someone. He's part of Devil In The Woodpile (Country Blues), The Modern Sounds (Tin Pan Alley), The Western Elstons (Honky Tonk), and the Joel Paterson Trio (Jazz and Blues), all of whom have regular gigs in the Windy City. So with all that free time he didn't have, he studied the styles and techniques of the masters like Les Paul, Chet Atkins, and Hank Garland, then settling in to lay down the recordings. And, you know, it's not like he could just record the songs once...not if he wanted to get that dense Les Paul sound. He had to play the track several times over...different accents and flourishes each time...so that, in the end, the sound is a virtual guitar orchestra (imagine a single person singing different parts and over-dubbing to create the effect of a choir. Yeah, like that).
"Hi-Fi Christmas Guitar" by Joel Paterson is a fun record of Christmas cheer you'll find yourself returning to again and again. You're gonna feel like you're sitting right next to Marty McFly at Lou's Cafe, trying to order a "Pepsi Free". I don't like to call anything "essential" within the first five years of its release but let's just say this one is pending.
Though the sound on the record brings it all together with perfect levels for the layers, here's Joel Paterson giving a basic demonstration of how over-dubbing is done...by accompanying a recording of himself playing "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus".
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