Bob James Angels Of Shanghai CD

' [from the liner notes]On the eve of the 21st century, and after a long recording career of both original and traditional folk and roots-based music, Joel Mabus released his holiday album, 'How Like The Holly' for Christmas of 1999.

Here is a poem that Joel wrote for the liner notes of 'How Like The Holly':When nights are longest and days are coldest comes the time for telling stories. The time for fire against the chill, light against the dark, bread against the hunger - we huddle close and swab our fears with our finest and oldest comforts. Denying the storms of brutal nature, we make for ourselves a place where it is safe to dream, where it is safe to be a child,or to become a child in dreams again.

This is a place where bold myth and subtle mystery transpose, where faith is born of legend, where wide-eyed hungers feast on ancient certainties. A place with noble tales spinning and weaving through the decades like stout cords, holding us fast to the bosom of humanity - this is the place we rebuild each December - this is the place I call my Christmas. ----- REVIEWS The album has become a perennial favorite for many folks looking for a peaceful and fresh take on the holiday -- and Joel's two original songs on the album have become yearly standards for folk radio: 'The flowing and poetic 'How Like The Holly' is a celebration of the winter solstice, and the scathing & irreverent - or is it the height of reverence from which he writes? - 'Let's Do Christmas Right' could easily be adopted as the theme song for the 'Alternative Christmas' movement.

' [Susan Hartman, Dirty Linen]A 'unique and beguiling holiday CD,' wrote Chris Rietz (head of the CD department of Elderly Instruments) in a review for the Lansing State Journal. He goes on to say: 'It's something of a quiet album, more powerful for its understatement. But more importantly, Mabus brings a clear-eyed sense of tradition, of connectedness to the past that rings just the right bell for the season in a way that few other Christmas recordings do.

'As a singer, he has a deeply rooted grasp of traditional style and the ability to deliver a song directly and with conviction. His world-class skills on guitar and banjo are harnessed, as always, in service to the song.