Our Review
Listening to Harvey Reid, I feel transported back to a simpler time in my own spirit, to a more romantic and less complicated time in early adulthood. Reid's The Heart of the Minstrel on Christmas Day is simple, romantic, warm, and sentimental. It epitomizes modern folk minstrelsy.
Described in the liner notes as "the most powerful of Christmas songs," Reid's version of O Holy Night displays his unique power and style on guitar. I enjoyed this song a lot.
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen was another very engaging guitar arrangement. On this song, I heard the sort of licks I have come to recognize and love on modern folk arrangements. This song has such hit potential that I am surprised never to have heard it on our local Folkways broadcast.
I enjoyed the title track, Reid's own composition, for its dual message of sadness and joy concerning the condition of musicians during the holiday season. As he himself said about the song, "... Christmas and its music tend to make musicians feel insignificant [but] there actually may be no happier time to be a musician." As over-bought as our American Christmases have become, it is a season abundant in both joy and sadness, a truth this song doesn't try to sugarcoat.
A gem!
--Richard Banks
(Reviewed in 1999)
No More
Harvey Reid
The Heart of the Minstrel on Christmas Day
Order from Amazon
Artist site
Label: Woodpecker
Length: 61 minutes
Genre: Folk
Release: 1990
Track List
| Song Title |
|---|
| God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen |
| Deck The Halls |
| Angels We Have Heard On High |
| Greensleeves |
| Santa Claus Is Coming To Town |
| Silent Night |
| Little Drummer Boy |
| Away In A Manger |
| Good King Wenceslas |
| Ode To Joy |
| Hark, The Herald Angels Sing |
| O Tannenbaum |
| Jingle Bells |
| Carol Of The Birds |
| Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer |
| The Heart Of The Minstrel On Christmas Day |
| O Holy Night |