San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Christmas remixes eternal like Neil Young
The Chronicle’s guide to notable new music.
HOLIDAY TUNES
Laufey, “The Christmas Waltz” (AWAL) Growing up between Icelandic capital Reykjavik and Washington, D.C., Laufey’s perspective on wintertime is unique. It’s also what makes the Icelandic Chinese singer’s take on Frank Sinatra’s holiday staple so alluring.
Her arrangement is inspired by Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” and is stitched throughout with a gorgeous cello and piano. Sleigh bells ring and an acoustic guitar settles in as a children’s choir leads the song’s sprightly second movement, before Laufey brings it home with her classy delivery. It’s an elegant way to ring in the season.
If you like what you hear, the song is part of an ongoing “A Very Laufey Holiday” compilation project that Laufey is adding to each year. Also, her latest album, “Everything I Know About Love,” which came out Oct. 14, showcases her overall talents as a divine emerging vocalist.
Donny Hathaway and Lalah Hathaway, “This Christmas” (Atlantic) Donny Hathaway’s 1970 “This Christmas” is an undisputed classic that is also one of the first Christmas carols written and performed by Black Americans. Hathaway died in 1979, but the song’s influence endures, and now, more than 50 years after its original release, a new version featuring his five-time Grammy Award-winning daughter, Lalah Hathaway, is here.
Lalah recorded new vocals that were woven in with a demo of her father from 1970 that features an acoustic piano instead of the original’s electric and has an overall more relaxed feel. This is somehow the first recording of Lalah and her late father together, but it couldn’t come at a better time this year as it breathes new life into an all-time great Christmas song.
NEW ALBUMS
Neil Young & Crazy Horse, “World Record” (Reprise) In the past 12 months, Neil
Young’s output has been nothing short of prolific. From a new album of songs recorded in a barn with Crazy Horse, to a number of unearthed vault recordings, to his long-lost San Francisco album, “Toast,” Young hasn’t slowed down. Now “World Record” emerges as another collection of brandnew songs with Crazy Horse.
Produced by Young and the incomparable Rick Rubin, the album was recorded live before being mixed to analog tape at Rubin’s famed Shangri-La studio in Malibu. The first single, “Love Earth,” is a whimsical ode to Mother Nature, with Young singing, “Love Earth/ And your love comes back to you.”
Young plans to also release a film titled “Harvest Time,” set to hit theaters nationwide on Dec. 1. Made in 1971, the film celebrates the 50th anniversary of Young’s seminal album “Harvest” and features footage captured in Northern California, London and Nashville when the album was being made.
Dezron Douglas, “Atalaya”
(International Anthem) Jazz aficionados might recognize Dezron Douglas for his work with Ravi Coltrane or the late Pharoah Sanders. Modern jazz heads have heard him most recently on his 2020 duet album, “Force Majeure,” with harpist and partner Brandee Younger, or on drummer Makaya McCraven’s groundbreaking “Universal Beings.” Now on his latest work, “Atalaya,” Douglas on double bass leads the charge on a talented ensemble, establishing himself as a bassist and bandleader in the shape of Charles Mingus.
Along with drummer Joe Dyson Jr., saxophonist Emilio Modeste and George Burton on keys, Douglas captures many wavelengths on the record. From the calm and serenity that gives way to an inspirational groove on “Rosé,” to the enlightening jolt of “More Coffee Please.”
Douglas is currently touring with Phish’s Trey Anastasio Band and has even released an Atalaya coffee blend to pair with the album’s lead single. Dig in and have a sip — er, a listen.
LOCALLY MINDED
Stone Foxes, “On the Other Side” (self-released) When Shannon Koehler of San Francisco stalwart rock band the Stone Foxes had his second open-heart surgery, the singer started taking stock of what mattered most in the world around him.
“We’re all trying to get through our own things in a big beautiful broken world, trying to reach greener grass, while holding on to the people we love,” Koehler said in a statement. “Through my second open-heart surgery, through working on anxiety with therapy, and living in the midst of a deeply disturbing America, I leaned on the love of my wife, Shana.
“Together, (my brother) Spence and I supported each other by creating this music,” Koehler added. “We hope this album helps others strive to reach the other side of whatever they’re going through.”
“Help Me Now” is a harddriving blues-rock song about getting through rough times. But much of the album is also a call for environmental consciousness, like on “Time Is a Killer” and “Man’s Red Fire.”