Five years later, Steve Perry is still in a holly jolly mood. He’s expanding 2021’s The Season with six additional songs – including “What a Wonderful World,” which you can stream below.
He first began exploring Yuletide favorites with the Silver Bells EP in 2019. The Season followed as the former Journey frontman’s first new LP since 2018’s Traces, a comeback that was almost 25 years in the making. The deluxe edition of The Season, issued in 2022, was expanded to feature 10 more tracks – including Perry’s first original holiday song, “Maybe This Year.”
This latest edition, now retitled The Season 3, is due on Nov. 8 from Dark Horse Records. Other new tracks include “Jingle Bell Rock,” “Let It Snow” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” and the resonant songbook classic “Call Me Irresponsible.”
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Perry initially returned to these songs in an effort to reignite the Christmas spirit after a holiday lost to the pandemic. “The ones I recorded were the ones that touched me most when I was a child, that emotionally meant the most to me and conjured up the spirit of Christmas — that was my decision-making process,” Perry told UCR.
He said he hoped to create a very specific atmosphere: “The spirit of this record is a fireplace burning, sitting in front of it quietly, no media going on, just a cup of eggnog — with ice and a little bit of fresh nutmeg on it. That’s it.”
Sessions for The Season were co-produced by Traces collaborator Thom Flowers, and featured multi-instrumentalist Dallas Kruse. Drummer Vinnie Colaiuta also appeared on several songs.
“When I was really young I heard them being sung, but I never sang them – so this was a first for me. I just needed to sing these songs,” Perry admitted. “It was touching the reverence of the original spirit that I think got me back in the Christmas spirit. I realized how important they are when I started singing them.”
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