I've reconsidered - "Fairytale Of New York" version IS great

A few days ago I posted a well-intentioned but somehow a bit critical review of the Katzenjammer/Ben Caplan/Trondheim Soloists version of the Pogues/Kirsty MacColl evergreen "Fairytale Of New York". Although I liked the version right away, I noted that the new version is "not great, but pretty good". Boy, was I wrong! After listening to it several more times, it has dawned on me that this is great as hell, mostly due to its genius arrangement, but also the singers' voices. The contrast between the Katzenjammer girls' angelic voices and Caplan's gruff baritone, is as fascinating as the Shane MacGowan/Kirsty MacColl duet, and when augmented by a string orchestra and nothing else, the song transcends itself, becoming somehow bigger than life. So there you have it. I'm sorry if I led some people astray suggesting this was merely good. It's not. It's plain awesome!

Below you'll find two links to the song, one to the music video, one for their joint performance on Norwegian TV show Senkveld last Friday. Happy Christmas indeed!

Music video

Senkveld performance

Foto: WiMP/Karina Rønning