01-05-2021, 03:33 AM
(01-03-2021, 02:58 AM)danfromnj Wrote:(01-01-2021, 02:23 AM)Mangar Wrote: Probably not a popular opinion here, but I'll say I still like many of Mannheim Steamroller's arrangements, particularly the non-synthesizer stuff. The synthesizer stuff was fun when it first came out, but I'll admit that much of it did not age so great. The non-synth stuff, though, like their arrangements of Silent Night, Veni Veni, O Holy Night, and pretty much all their Renaissance-flavored stuff still holds up and really does a good job of capturing the Christmas spirit for me. Maybe it's partly nostalgia, since I first discovered them in the 80s, so hearing it now takes me back, and it was what first really sparked my interest in writing my own instrumental music.
Count me as a Mannheim Steamroller fan. I was a fan of their Fresh Aire album series before they decided to take a chance with a Christmas record (Fresh Aire V is still my fave). To me, those first two Christmas albums they made are fantastic and stand the test of time. I still listen to them every year. Obviously this became their thing and the Christmas records they continued releasing were less and less interesting, IMHO. They are the number 1 Christmas music artist of all time, which is why I guess some TSO fans feel the need to always compare the two. Apples and oranges to me.
Fresh Aire 7 is my favorite of the non-Christmas stuff, but yes, Fresh Aire 5 is high on the list, too.
Sadly, it seems like Chip Davis is more interested in marketing than in composing music these days. The last few albums of new material were pretty uninspired, and most MS releases now are just repackaged compilations of their old material, aimed at making a quick and easy profit, I guess.
Yeah, the TSO vs MS comparisons don't make much sense. They perform completely different styles, even when they're both doing Christmas music. But, like you said, the fact that they're both among the top Christmas artists probably accounts for it, and I'm willing to bet the foreign-sounding names add to some confusion (Mannheim, Siberian.) Plenty of people probably just think, "Oh, that's the band with the odd name that plays Christmas music."