"Christmas Will Have To Wait" by Barney Cunningham

As I suggested with my earlier review of the new Euan Blackman release, Christmas songs can make me a little uneasy: especially when writing about them.

I fully understand that they are a species of music wholly unto themselves & should not necessarily be judged by the same criteria as other ones: and that a little goodwill on my part is appropriate in this season.

However it sure makes my job easier when the cliches of lyrics & music are circumvented by someone writing a fresh song, especially when it tries to slip past those tropes & find something new to say.

Thankfully  Barney Cunningham (you may remember him as a member of The Ramrods, Major 5 etc and he appears on & produced the Gdansk track "Long Time Ago" which we featured on ‘Hot Music Live Presents Volume Eleven') has done just that with a rare (alas) new solo track , recorded at The Moonbase, called "Christmas Will Have To Wait".

As with the recent Emma McGann EP (and indeed Euan's release), this is a purely solo effort & benefits emotionally from that: it carries more punch through not being weighed down by cloying arrangements & worn out overdubs.

A delicately fingered snippet of "Jingle Bells" on acoustic guitar and the odd subtle use of tambourine & chimes drop Christmas signifiers into the mix, but otherwise it's all a story of real emotion & one which actually chimes with what real people experience over the period (I always marvel at the ubiquity of sleigh bells in Christmas songs: I personally have never seen a sleigh around & suspect few in the UK have): the poignancy of separation and how the festivities can exacerbate those feelings.

Currently I'm posting Christmas themed songs which are either from local artists or otherwise get overlooked by the predictable playlisting of mainstream media & those who devise the tunes picked to be piped through establishments nationwide. It's always good when someone creates something new to add to the canon: I only hope that the mainstream pick up on some of them as I feel they are superior to much of what is forced on us & certainly a great deal fresher.

You can check the song out via this link:

https://www.facebook.com/bernie.cunningham.31/videos/2249734768715188