CD reviews
In lieu of a Christmas album, M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel, in their bonny collaboration as She & Him, have released a collection of old standards titled Classics. Some songs, such as Stars Fell on Alabama and Time After Time, will be familiar to most listeners, and others, including Maxine Brown’s fantastic Oh No, Not My Baby and This Girl’s in Love With You, may be new.
Classics
Columbia
In lieu of a Christmas album, M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel, in their bonny collaboration as She & Him, have released a collection of old standards titled Classics. Some songs, such as Stars Fell on Alabama and Time After Time, will be familiar to most listeners, and others, including Maxine Brown’s fantastic Oh No, Not My Baby and This Girl’s in Love With You, may be new.
The duo’s first album, Volume One, was a surprisingly luscious and lovely collection of original and covered material. The combination of Deschanel and Ward is intrinsically prone to a darling, hipsterish pretension, but Volume One blended their talents in a way that avoided obnoxiousness.
The duo’s idea of classics runs a wide gamut – mostly songs from the 1930s, ’50s and ’60s with country, funk or blues undertones. Both their song choices and delivery have a time-worn familiarity.
Classics’ best ingredient is Deschanel’s milky chocolate voice, which is never showy or bombastic. It recalls a time when records crackled on the turntable like a winter fire. With She & Him, every day is Christmas.
A Better Tomorrow
Warner Bros
