Montaigne Records
Release Date: November 3rd 2023
Reviewed by: Joshua Andre
Michael Bolton– Christmas Time (Amazon mp3/iTunes)
Track Listing:
- Christmas Isn’t Christmas (feat. Mickey Guyton)
- Joy To The World
- The Prayer (feat. Lara Fabian)
- White Christmas
- Let It Snow
- Jingle Bell Rock
- I’ll Be Home For Christmas
- Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
- The Christmas Song
- Winter Wonderland
Michael Bolton isn’t that much of a recognisable name. He’s recorded the original song “Go The Distance” for the Hercules film back in 1997. But… that’s about it. He’s not a pop artist, but rather an adult contemporary artist along the lines of Richard Marx, Cliff Richard, Lionel Richie, and Phil Collins. Big in the 90’s and not much more, Michael is sort of popular for his songs “To Love Somebody”, “When a Man Loves A Woman” and “Reach Out I’ll Be There” (all covers), while “How Am I Supposed To Live Without You” and “Time Love And Tenderness” are both semi-popular hits for Michael. But there was this 90’s sound that he inhabited while he was at his peak; and even though Michael steadily has released albums, there hasn’t really been much hype for his music. I thought that there would be at least some hype for Michael’s latest studio album Spark Of Light, but that album, which recently released this past July, features Michael singing much of the same- inspirational adult contemporary songs and relationship songs in his signature style. But as most of his listeners have gotten older and some have moved on; how does this album rank amongst others this year and amongst his peers and contemporaries? While others like Richard Marx have evolved and stayed relevant, some others have faded away, as that ‘easy listening’ genre isn’t what people gravitate to much anymore. It’s a shame, because sometimes laid-back songs like from Richard and Michael are songs that make you think. People have traded that in for club-ready songs for the dance floor with little to no meaning. And as such, Spark Of Light holds no relevance in 2023 whatsoever.
All of the songs have that ‘90’s sound’, and it seems as if Michael’s music is stuck in time. That’s not necessary a bad thing for fans of his, but generally speaking, we’ve all moved on from that sound- in fairness though, Richard Marx does that genre the best and everyone else is playing catch up. Songs like “Eyes On You”, “Beautiful World”, “Safe”, “Home” and “Out Of The Ashes” are all album highlights. But they all sound… the same as each other. There’s no distinctiveness. There’s no evolving as an artist here, and Michael seems keen just to stay in his own lane. “Eyes On You”, “Whatever She Wants”, “Safe” and “Home” are relationship songs where Michael sings about a special significant other and relays that they are special to him, while “Out Of The Ashes” is that grandiose and anthemic melody about rising above adversity and overcoming your trials and tribulations. It’s as vague as anything and a CCM artist could sing that song and you’d be none the wiser that it was from Michael Bolton. Could Chat GPT have written it? Maybe. But there is no wow factor here and to me it seems like Michael is phoning it in. That may not be what he is doing but that is what it seems, and I certainly won’t be listening to this album in a hurry, given that overall, it was a total snooze fest. The aforementioned songs I mentioned were okay. But okay isn’t good and a comeback album can’t be just okay.
Now, moving onto his recent Christmas album Christmas Time, well, 8 of the 10 tracks are a literal carbon copy of 8 of the 10 tracks from his 2007 out-of-print album A Swingin’ Christmas. No re-recording, no re-mastering, just re-releasing. And that just smacks of laziness, if you ask me. Not that that is what Michael is actually doing (being lazy with his decisions), but such decisions boggle the mind. The new tracks (“The Prayer” and “Christmas Isn’t Christmas”) are duets with Lara Fabian and Mickey Guyton respectively, and I reckon it’s great that these melodies replace the overplayed “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” and the also overplayed “Silent Night”. However, “The Prayer” is incredibly nondescript (I do prefer Pentatonix’s version much, much more!), and “Christmas Isn’t Christmas” doesn’t fit for some reason- Mickey’s vocals outshine Michael’s and I would have preferred this to be an original song with just Mickey, or Mickey and a much more ‘relevant’ artist, sorry to say.
I don’t know what is next for Michael Bolton. This may be his last album. There may be another more. But until he drastically learns to evolve as an artist like Richard, or double down on his own style and hope for the best; I think I’ll just stick with his songs from yesteryear. Michael needs to reinvent himself or just simply retire. Michael Bolton wasn’t really my favourite artist anyway, but listening to this album and reviewing it was more out of curiosity than anything else. And as such, my curiosity has been quenched. Spark Of Light (and even more so Christmas Time) is a non-event, but let’s pray that this genre of music overall stays in fashion, and let’s hope that another artist revolutionises the ‘easy listening’ genre for the better.
3 songs to listen to: Christmas Isn’t Christmas, The Prayer, The Christmas Song
Score: 1.5/5
RIYL: Richard Marx, Chicago, Air Supply, Westlife, Lionel Richie, The Eagles, Phil Collins, Cliff Richard