Album Review: It's a Pony Kind of Christmas · 4:07am Nov 27th, 2015
It's after Thanksgiving, so I broke out the Christmas music!
When I heard about the album It's a Pony Kind of Christmas, I was cautiously ambivalent to optimistic, despite the fact that I love both Christmas music and ponies. For one thing, ponies don't celebrate Christmas. For another, a lot of the listed songs were among the most grating of Christmas carols ("We Wish You a Merry Christmas," "Jingle Bells," "the Twelve Days of Christmas," "Jolly Old St Nicholas," "Deck the Halls.") It did have AJ and Apple Bloom singing "Auld Lang Syne," so I was going to check it out, but I had my doubts that even the MLP team could save this cash grab.
In my opinion, they did. Almost the whole album is great. The standard carols have all been revised or rewritten to suit the characters, be less repetitive, and some of them are even still general enough that you could slip them on a Christmas party playlist and people would ask about where this new version came from. On the non-general side of things, the title track is exactly the song you'd want from an MLP Christmas special and displays why ponies and Christmas are a natural fit (other than, ya' know, them not celebrating Christmas.) Plus we get an extended version of the Hearth's Warming carol from Hearth's Warming Eve.
Now, I will say that whether you agree will probably depend on three things.
1) How you feel about Christmas music. I personally love Christmas music, and this is good Christmas music. If you roll your eyes every time you hear Christmas music, even in December, this is probably not going to be your cup of egg nog.
2) How you feel about rewriting traditional songs. This is the other side: if you know every verse of "Silent Night" and it's going to bug the hell out of you that they aren't singing the right words, this might bug the hell out of you. Honestly, I'm usually that person, but since I'm not particularly attached to any of these carols I didn't mind (and in some cases, these version might be my favorite versions ever.)
3) How well you can accept ponies singing about Christmas. I had some serious dissonance during the first song ("It's a Pony Kind of Christmas") but I was able to get over it in the first few songs, and by the second listen it only came up in flashes. I can totally see some people just being like "but-- but-- it's not canon!" So if you can't get that AU tag on it, you might just want to stick with "The Heart Carol" (now with verses!) and "Days Gone By" (the "Auld Lang Syne" rewrite, which doesn't specifically reference the holiday.)
So, that's the general review, but for those interested, I'm going to go song by song and share my thoughts. If you like surprises, I recommend treating this as a spoiler and skipping it. On the other hand, if you've already listened to it, or you're considering buying select tracks, or you're curious and still deciding, read on!
1) It's a Pony Kind of Christmas - the Mane Six
This is an episode style song, with parts of a verse for each of the girls. With blatant talk of Equestria, it's probably the biggest source of canon dissonance. BUT each of the parts for the mane six is perfectly in character in terms of what they'd love about Christmas, and I have to admit it makes me mourn the MLP Christmas special that's never to be.
2) Jingle Bells - Rainbow Dash
A kiddie pop-punk song along the lines of "Awesome As I Wanna Be," this is one of the most character specific songs on the album. It keeps the "Jingle Bells" chorus, but the verses tell about Rainbow Dash picking up Rarity, Pinkie, and AJ-- who are all nervous for some weird reason 
-- for a flying sleigh ride into a sonic rainboom. The verse break is a bit weird, and the ending feels kind of meme-ish, but over all, it's pretty adorable.
3) Deck the Halls - Rarity
This one is sort of Christmas carol pop, if you know what I mean? The sort of thing that would be on a Target commercial. Except for the opening lines it's a rewrite to the same tune, and there are only a few bumpy lines. There's nothing specifically pony about it, but Rarity singing about decorating for Christmas feels so in character that it doesn't really matter if non of the lyrics are pony. Though the more I think about, the more it sounds like a Target commercial (not that that's a bad thing, really.)
4) We Wish You a Merry Christmas - Twilight Sparkle
This is one of my favorites, but it suffers from a weird problem. So, the song is a show tune/episode style song that uses the first verse of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" as a chorus. It might be my favorite version of that song ever, just for having great, cute, well written verses in between. While it's very pony, it's also very Twilight. It sounds like it should be in the same imaginary Christmas special as "It's a Pony Kind of Christmas."
The problem is that the verses are very talky, and this is the first time I've ever really noticed Rebecca Shoichet subbing for Tara Strong. It doesn't quite sound like Twilight in some places, though it's not far off. But when I can get out of the uncanny vocal valley, I love this song, and it's one of my favorites on the album.
5) Silent Night - Fluttershy
While this is sung in the traditional, lullaby style, it's a total rewrite (which isn't surprising, given the religious nature of the original.) And as not-a-fan of Fluttershy, I have to admit... this is absolutely adorable. It's a beautiful song about the animals hibernating on Christmas Eve. It's perfect for Fluttershy in every way, and Fluttershy nails it. This was one of the biggest surprises of the album, and it was a good one.
6) The Twelve Days of Christmas - Pinkie Pie
This is not my favorite song to start with, and they didn't do much with it. The gifts are switched up to be random or Pinkie Pie-related objects (though I will admit that I chuckled at day five. Nice callback.) The saving grace is that Pinkie is racing through it (with some subtle straining to do it all in one breath on the later days.) It's not awful, but probably the low point of the album for me.
7) Last Year I Got Coal For Christmas - Pop Fly (yeah, I have no idea either.)
I was surprised this wasn't the low point of the album. It's a song along the lines of "I'm Getting Nuttin For Christmas," which I usually hate, by a character I've never heard of. But... it's really not that bad. I like it better than "I'm Getting Nuttin' For Christmas" at least. I'm not sure why it's here, it doesn't really have anything to do with pony that I can remember, but it's here, and it's not painful or boring.
8) Jolly ol' St. Nick - Spike
The other huge surprise. This probably contains the most of the original, though it's altered here and there, and preformed in a swing/big band style. That last point just makes it; I'm not a Spike fan, but the mental image of him doing his big number (or pretending to do it while dancing around the castle) makes me giggle. He even scats. It's the cutest Spike has ever been.
9) Days Gone By - Applejack and Apple Bloom
Oh god. This song. They knew what they were doing. Okay, I always cry at "Auld Lang Syne" to start with. This is a complete rewrite, about remembering happy times with family who aren't here anymore. Sung by AJ and Apple Bloom. Let that sink in. Sure, it's painted in the verses as being about family that are just in other places, where they'll be reunited one day. But... seriously, come on. They knew what we'd be thinking. It's fucking beautiful and I tear up every damn time.
10) The Heart Carol - The Phoenix Chamber Choir
This is an extended version of the song from Hearth's Warming Eve with two verses. It sounds just like the version on the show, I wouldn't be surprised if it was recorded for that (though the same choir provides backing for a lot of the other songs. The verses are pretty, and it makes it a little more sing-along-able than the barely there show version. It's nice, but no surprises, good or bad.
So that's it! If you listen to Christmas music, overall I recommend a download, and I'm sure the songs are all on youtube, if you want to check them out. I'll be listening all season.
This album is objectively beautiful in many ways, which makes me lament that #3 is such a sticking point for me. I want to enjoy it wholeheartedly, but it keeps throwing me. I did thoroughly enjoy the extended Heart Carol, predictably.
Interesting. I'll have to give it a looksie, and probably a buy.
As it happens, I'd already heard the album, and I absolutely loved Days Gone By, and yes, I tear up a bit on it too. Of course, I love Auld Lang Syne to begin with, too.
The version of Jingle Bells was my favorite track until I hit that one, though, for shear Rainbow Dash silliness.
I made it through the Twelve Days of Christmas once. Never again...
--arcum42
My idea of Christmas music: "Christmas at Ground Zero" by Weird Al Yankovic
My idea of a Christmas movie: Die Hard
As much as I love me some ponies, this may not be for me.
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Just to mention, bookplayer isn't kidding when she says the version of Jingle Bells is along the lines of "Awesome As I Want To Be".
"Jingle Bells (Hey!) Jingle Bells (Hey!) Jingle All the Way (Hey! Hey!)"
Rainbow Dash is awesome, in her own way, sometimes...
--arcum42
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You know that's not a selling point for me, right?
I didn't even know there was an album until I saw this! I'm listening to Silent Night and it's LOVELY.
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I suppose not. I don't know. I was cracking up when listening to it.
Though I suppose I'm really saying that my two favorite songs on the album were done by the cast member who has a band and sings professionally, so that might not be a big surprise.
For that matter, Jolly 'Ol St. Nick would have been done by Spike's voice actor, Cathy Weseluck, and she voiced Shampoo on Ranma 1/2, and sang in a number of songs in that role. Both the Japanese and English voice actors on Ranma 1/2 formed the bands DoCo and DoCo USA for the music for the show. So it's not surprising she can sing well...
--arcum42
I did a bunch of investigating and Pop Fly is most likely the background colt known as First Base.
I also really loved Auld Lyne Syne. But I'm a little at a loss for how to interpret it.
Who exactly are the Apples mourning? My first reaction was that it was their parents, but then Big Mac is conspicuously absent from the song. Is Big Mac "away" and the song is lamenting his absence? Or is he also dead? And why are there added lyrics about Loyalty and Kindness?
Are Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash dead/away in this Christmas Alternate Universe?
I'm probably overthinking this.
Mine opinion after listening is that it is very well done, but when listening to the album, it keeps hitting me that the ponies live in a different universe. I have a strange recommendation:
I would not give this to a fan, but I would give it to a nonfan:
Fans would have trouble with the cognitive dissonance, but nonfans could think of this as good Christmas-Music; so now, I would give it to nonfans. Yes, the recommendation is pretty much the exact opposite of usual.
I would point out that this music is from a show and that it is all characters from the show singing. Some of the recipients might check out the show and become fans. Unfortunately, the new finds would discover that ponies live in a different universe, at which point, the cognitive dissonance, would make the album to hard to take, except for when Miss Pinkamena Diane Pie sings because she sees our universe through the 4th Wall.
Pop Fly is the name of a background-colt with a BaseBallCutieMark (BaseBallBat and BaseBall) with the same color-scheme as Flash Sentry, but is an Earthen Colt. He is also sometimes referred to as 1st Base. He has never had dialogue. Given Vincent Tond, the voiceactor of Flash Sentry, sings the song, it is likely that Pop Fly is an younger brother of Flash Sentry.
I rather like the album myself, though it feels so weird that they took the time to thoroughly secularize all of the lyrics that weren't already, but left in the direct mentions of Christmas. Just call it Hearth's Warming.
I really love the Rainbow Dash song, especially since you could easily subtitle it "Rainbow Dash finds a sleigh, terrorizes Ponyville". She literally sings about flying over Ponyville while ponies below run and hide, not to mention the end of the last verse where she rhymes "faces fearing doom" and "sonic rainboom".
That Apple family song, too.
Also, assuming I copied it right (I'm on mobile at the moment), the entire album is available on the official Hasbro YouTube channel in case anyone wants to taste before buying:
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | "It's a Pony Kind of Christmas" Album: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNXV9Mb7egjH4w06GepMH0AjgucgizSPj
I'm kinda hoping the physical CD shows up at Wal-Mart so I can get a real copy. If it does, it goes into the cart, regardless of the wife's complaints.
There is no dissonance. The ponies are singing about Jesus because HiE, that's why.
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My guess is that it's some combination of Hearth's Warming not being a graceful replacement for Christmas in syllables, not wanting to write all original songs, and worrying that the parents of the kids it's aimed at (or other non-MLP fan friends and family) would find it weird if they re-wrote traditional songs to be about a made up holiday. So they tried to make it as "pony" as they could without being too weird, basically. Which they succeeded at, whether it's what they should have been aiming for or not.
In however many years, when the last episode of the last season is aired, I want them to use the Heart Carol as the credits music.
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Now, now, we all know that these are truly ancient songs that have over the years been adapted and modified to better suit modern traditions. Christmas was some ancient, pre-Equestrian winter holiday which got folded into Hearth's Warming Eve in the early classical period. Numerous traditions were adapted and modified over the years, but the overall spirit of the old holiday fit with the new one.
A handful of pony musicians and historians know that the were older versions, but only two ponies remember the original words to all the songs. But they don't sing those in public, not anymore.
But one night a year, when everypony else is with their families, Luna and Celestia sit together in front of their Christmas tree, adorned with ancient nutcrackers, sleighs, and faded, threadbare balls, and look up at the angel perched on top of their tree that they inherited from their father. They remember the days when holiday was derived from holy day, when men and women believed in Jesus (though their father never took them to church), and when they woke up in the morning, eagerly unwrapping the presents left for them by Santa Claus (and didn't tell their dad until they were ten that they caught him wrapping their presents five years earlier). They reminisce about the old days, and periodically try to reinvigorate the small, flat, black device that they spent centuries watching when they were younger, before it failed, as all things eventually do.
But mostly, they're happy to share each other's company once more, sing Auld Lang Syne, and to say Merry Christmas, even if only three creatures on the planet have even the barest inkling of what those words truly mean.
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Rainbow Dash's song sold me on listening to the rest of the album, as I realized that they were having fun with these.
Agreed pretty much all around. I usually find almost all christmas music grating as consarnit, but this album was really, really good, most especially Silent Night and Days Gone By.
Hm. When it first cropped up, the entire Hearth's Warming thing as an episode, it left me feeling a little hollow, personally.
Yes, I suspend disbelief so as to enjoy all fictions I obsess over - as I've done for MANY years, whether MLP or otherwise - but the concept of replacing actual religious holidays with canonical creations has akways left me a little anxious. Perhaps it's due to my upbringing, which is fair - quite humourless and staunchly religious. Like everyone else, I have experienced severe bouts in the past with my creativity forgiving the conscious mind whilst my unrelenting core remains insistent. If I had a dime for every time my imagination has gone to cerebral war over such trivial issues, I'd have a few hundred dollars, I'm quite sure.
This? Somehow I've yet to manage to bridge this gap. Christmas carols have come and gone in recent decades, and at some point I started to resent the commercial tendency that the music industry had taken in regards to such. Which is sort of ignorant, I admit.
Maybe pony can fix me! Let's hope! I'll definitely give it a listen.
... wait, is it nearly Christmas already? Oh wow.
Days Gone By was amazing
Real tear jerker and easily my favourite.
The album as a whole is pretty awesome. Well worth checking out if anyone hasn't already!
But are they good enough to thaw the frozen heart of a retail worker?
~Skeeter The Lurker
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Straight from the Buried Tire school, I see.
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EDIT: Man, I didn't even know that existed.
For those of you who are as confused as I was, there's what looks to be a tire buried underground in "Hearts and Hooves Day":
derpicdn.net/img/view/2013/11/1/461703__safe_shipping_straight_scootaloo_sweetie+belle_apple+bloom_big+macintosh_cheerilee_hearts+and+hooves+day_cheerimac.jpeg
Looking at it in the episode in HD, it really does look like a tire.
That's some real epileptic trees stuff.
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Eh, it's not really any kind of common expression. It's just shorthand for the popular fanon that Equestria is built on the ashes of a more mundane and familiar human civilization. In "Hearts and Hooves Day," roundabouts the 20-minute mark, we are shown a cross-section of the earth that the CMC's have dug their Cheerilee-trapping pit into; in the lower right corner, buried many strata down, is a modern-looking automobile tire. To most people this is cartoon shorthand for "this is the earth, there is shit buried in it," but it can be spun to support the post-apocalyptic theory.
But ponies do celebrate Christmas!
...In G3 :V
While I am not surprised at all that they re-wrote the lyric to Silent Night... Ugh, okay, I am not offended, but speaking as a Christian, it irked me a bit. For those that don't know, Silent Night is a rather important hymn for most Christmas services. The soft mood and humble lyrics about the Virgin Mary and Christ is poetic and beautiful. I am just a bit miffed that they even included it. There are countless other, more secular Christmas carols they could have used. WHy re-write a hymn that has deep meaning to religious folk?
Other than that, was a good album. Cute, funny, and catchy.
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Man, this just makes me want to write more stories exploring that idea.
Sadly, Horse Voice has already written the best possible use of this idea.
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And in EQG, if you believe the comics.
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Those are not ponies, are they, Skywriter >:V
(No, they are, I'm just being belligerent ;_;)
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I'd guess they wanted a slower song, and most secular songs aren't in the public domain. I guess they could have gone with something more obscure, like "The Holly and the Ivy," or maybe "Greensleeves/What Child is This?" but most kiddies might not recognize it as Christmas music.
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Clearly that is a part of a giant horseshoe from the days when dinoponies ruled the world.
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derpicdn.net/img/view/2013/4/3/286819__safe_twilight+sparkle_princess+luna_princess+celestia_princess+twilight_princess+cadance_species+swap_artist-colon-egophiliac_alicorn+tetrarchy_dinosaur.jpeg
I did not know this album was a thing that existed. Thanks for bringing my attention to it!
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photos-4.dropbox.com/t/2/AAC4IpYCcYVT3Ri10ZptTYT3c-27dlA5Q0MAAremmnKcKw/12/42205824/png/32x32/3/1448658000/0/2/t-rex%20rainbow.png/EMOdnyAY3vcDIAcoBw/PlBirNH87wmzwDecTZdfhRFb6nMRjlTCmyyYJPm9oLI?size_mode=3&size=1280x960
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I've been listening to Christmas music since Nov. 12th. Apparently, stores got flak a few years ago for playing it before Nov. 11th, Rememberance Day. The public got super pissed, feeling that it was disrespectful towards war vetrans. So yeah, at least there isn't Christmas music playing right after Halloween.
And then there's this year. The company cheaped out on Christmas playlist, severely reduceding it. The intercom's been playing the same THIRTY (not even) or so tracks in a fucking loop. And these are literally the same tracks, not even different versions by different singers. Just the same ol' shit. And this fucking ride lasts for TWENTY FUCKING NINE MORE DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!! >:[
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I wish Silent Night were on the playlist for variety. But y'know. Religion. Offensive. Retail. Blargh. Can't have people having the angries while they shop. But play Jingle Bells Rock several dozen times a day? That's a-ok! Funtabulistic even![/veinpop]
I've lost track of the amount of times the Peanuts theme has been played. Does that even really count as a Christmas song?!
SO MANY SONGS ABOUT FUCKING SANTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :@
Having been raised a Catholic, hearing about the lyric change on Silent Night for the pony album does raise my eyebrow a smidgen.
So yeah, will prolly listen to the pony Christmas album for a bit of variety. Y'know, if the company hasn't wrecked Christmas music for me yet. Maybe I can hook pony up to the store intercom... yesssssssssssssss... :]
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Greensleeves would have been good, but I'm happy either way.
Pop Fly's song is far and away the stinker for me, because I just don't care about it at all, and it's grating on my ears. I'm probably going to delete it, though maybe its just sour apples starting off.
But Jingle Bells is just awesome because it tells a story in its narration and I can see Rainbow Dash in my head zooming around Ponyville causing mayhem, abducting her friends, and causing the Apple Family barn to be destroyed yet again.
And Days Gone By is just beautiful.
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When I worked at Pier 1 Imports, they did something nice one year. They sent us three CDs to play in the store: One was 25% Christmas music, one was 50%, and one was 100%. We had to start the 25% in October (when we got our holiday shipment) but we didn't have to go to 100% until the second week of December.
Gah, the mood whiplash! Reaction in a nutshell -
Rainbow Dash song: *bobbing head and grinning* "Alright, this is fun and jaunty!"
*Goes through rest of songs relatively unscathed*
Gets to Applejack song: "I'm not crying, you're crying!"
Even without thinking about the whole "Apple family parents are dead" sadness, the song really hits home (heh) because I've been away from everyone I know for three months now, and this'll be the first Christmas where I don't get to go back home and spend time with family. Skype/Facetime are great, but they're not quite the same, you know? So basically pony music has reduced me to:
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Hm, something went wrong there. Maybe it's on my end?
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My bad.
Here. Dropbox linking is weird.
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Ha! And we just got that Jurassic Park parody, too. Dinoponies all over the place.
Weeks later... I'm listening to this album once a day.
At least.
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I just bought it and I'm definitely enjoying it.
But if you're listening to this every day, I have to assume that's because you haven't gotten a copy of the original Broadway cast recording of "Hamilton" yet.
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I have not. I've heard one song from it and liked it, though.
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I did too. But... um... is it weird that I was completely thrown by the fact that it doesn't retell the Hearth's Warming story like I thought it did?
This is what happens when you go write your own songs for your stories, I guess—you completely forget that those songs aren't on rotation for anybody else.
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Just think of it as a different verse that never makes it into the carolers' songbooks.
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Actually, umm, I just now thought of it as something that it wouldn't hurt to ask Daniel Ingram if he'd be interested in seeing. Email sent. Reply expected never.
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Hey, no shame in that. I'd be pleased if I were the creator.