My Favorite Things

My Favorite Things

Yes Virginia

Wise Guy Records, 2001

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 12/19/2001

I make no secret about the fact I get a lot of music in the maileach year - so much so, in fact, that I am so far behind with myreviews that it would take me a month of Sundays to even make adent in the pile. In those mailings, there are a select number ofartists whose new discs jump from the envelope directly to my CDplayer, and I can count the times I do this on both hands.

One such case is Yes Virginia, the Wilmington, Delaware-basedband led by bassist Paul Janocha, whose independent Christmasalbums are like a special gift I get in the mail each year rightbefore the big day. It's been interesting listening to Yes Virginiagrow as a band, both in their musical ability and the rounding outof their sound, especially since the addition of keyboardist MarioPadovani. Even though I thought last year's O Holy Night disc slipped a little, there was more thanenough for me to make this disc a treasured part of mycollection.

Yes Virginia welcomes a new member to the band for their latestoffering My Favorite Things - namely, drummer Gregg Hoffman. (Formerdrummer Mac Hines, who apparently fell into a deep depression aftermy comments about his work in my review of O Holy Night, died in a mysterious bathtub accident. Weird,since I always thought he was afraid of water.) Hoffman proves tobe an excellent fit with the band, and if these four songs are asign of things to come (a full-length disc is promised in 2002),people may forget about groups like Mannheim Steamroller andTrans-Siberian Orchestra. Simply put, this is Yes Virginia's bestwork.

The shift of the spotlight has been slowly occurring in theband, much in the same way that guitarist Joe Merkel has beenexpanding the horizons of his playing. On My Favorite Things, the spotlight is equally shared byMerkel and Padovani - and it is Padovani who seems to be one of thetwo keys which is really making this band click. The second isHoffman, whose drumming seems to breathe new life into the sound...now, all Janocha and Padovani have to do is raise Hoffman's volumea notch in the final mix.