5 comments about Christmas with the Rat Pack.

1. Great CD for decorating the house. It was good to hear some of my favorites singing the holiday songs. It's very nostalgic!



2. Album is outstanding. Wanted to share it with my daughter. Delivery was extremely fast and dependable.



3. Really enjoyed this CD. Had a great variety of different tunes and was upbeat, even on the slower numbers. This will definitely be a new Christmas tradition to be played year after year.



4. The beautiful voices of Frank, Dean and Sammy live on with this wonderful CD. A must for anyone who enjoys listening to beautiful holiday music.



5. A sublimely classy Christmas album, this has Messrs. Dean, Sam and Frank singing all the standards of the season with the smoothness of the finest brandy-tipped eggnog. This doesn't rollick, it swings, sways and steps easy---and the signature Rat Pack repartee is priceless:
   
   "Thanks for being here tonight, Frank."
   "You're welcome, Marvin."
   
   A cool, bright album for your cool, bright holiday season!

3 comments about Black Christmas: Spirituals in the African-American Tradition.

1. A wonderful collection of traditional spirituals with a Christmas theme. Inspired performances by both soloists and chorus. These songs capture the true meaning of the Christmas season; that of hope, love and joy.



2. This is one of the most moving Christmas CDs I own (and I have over fifty). The classically trained voices give some exquisite renderings. This is really an unusual Christmas collection--it's not background music, but something to enjoy in private.



3. Worth the "price of admission" if all you got to hear was the wonderful "Mary Had a Baby." Especially at the prices it can be had for in good used condition. Classical music meets gospel and produces a timeless result.

1 comments about Christmas with Carmen Cavallaro.

1. Cavallaro was a piano virtuose. Listen the tracks (Jingle Bells, for example) and verify that this is in fact a very beautiful CD. I think I have bought today one of the 2 last used albums from Amazon.
   
   Another very good Christmas CD is Beegie Adair's. Two different styles. Both very nice. BUt this CD is, in my opinion, very special.

3 comments about White Christmas and Other Doo Wop Christmas Classics.

1. This collection features the wonderful, classic, Doo-Wop recording of White Christmas by The Drifters! That one track is worth the price of the CD!!!



2. What a bargain this cd turned out to be! If you like even one song on the record I encourage you to order and be surprised at how fast you will find yourself doo wop'ing and bee bop'ing around your Christmas tree this year. Share these fun songs with your kids and grandkids, make up a batch of cocoa and have some holiday fun!



3. This CD was cheap to buy, and that was a good thing because of all the cuts, only the featured song, White Christmas, is worth the price. The other songs are not recognizable.

No comments about Medieval Songs & Dances.

No comments about All Is Calm: Instrumentals Contemplative Christmas.

4 comments about The Mystery of Christmas.

1. According to the notes, the Elora Festival Singers is a professional chamber choir founded in 1980 by their director, Noel Edison. The name comes from a musical festival given every summer in Elora, Ontario. They have performed on the Canadian Broadcasting System, and given concerts in Eastern Canada and the United States. They are now the professional core group of the famous Toronto Mendelssohn Choir.

   They are a very competent choir, singing everything on this disc with ease and beauty. Most of the carols are pretty well known, and include some from Canada, England, France, Holland and Poland. There are the 'Huron Carol,' 'O Come All Ye Faithful,' 'Harold Darke's 'In the Bleak Mid Winter," "Ding Dong Merrily on High,' 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing,' and some less common ones. The less usual items include Honegger's 'Laudate Dominum' and Poulenc's 'Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël,' which are performed very simply and effectively.

   The Elora Festival Singers is not apparently a very large group, but the reverberant recording makes them sound larger. Their excellent diction is not obscured, and the sound is very smooth.

   The organ accompaniment by Michael Bloss are very effective, and include some room filling bass, although it is not super low.

   The music ranges from the more peaceful and meditative to the more dramatic, and the choir conveys the varying moods of the music. The recording is quite lovely.




2. Maybe I'm a LITTLE bit prejudiced in favor of this fine album because it contains some of my favorite Christmas songs, or because it also has some of the beautiful songs my choral group sang last Christmas -- whatever -- The Elora Festival Singers, with Noel Edison and Michael Bloss and everyone else involved in creating this CD, do a wonderful job of transmitting the holy, joyful, festive AND secular air of that special season.
   
   I especially loved "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day" and will probably wear out that track long before I wear out the rest of this fine CD.
   
   It is almost March, and I'm still playing this CD. I may end up getting a second copy.



3. I found this album quite by accident in a college bookstore in a small town outside of Toronto. We played it (June!) on our way to Northern Ontario, gasped at its beauty, read the liner notes, and discovered that we were actually passing by Elora! On our return trip, we stopped in at Elora and learned more about the singers and the festival. This album is so remarkable in its clarity, sensitivity, and variety, that it ranks as my all-time favorite Christmas album. The family members and friends to whom I have since given this CD share my enthusiasm for this magical Christmas tour.



4. In my search for a Christmas CD that would be suitable for a gift, I came across this recording. After reading the previous reviews and listening to the excepts of the 20 provided tracks, I decided that this would be the recording. My CDs arrived today and I can say that I was not disappointed. This is one of the most beautiful Christmas CDs that I have heard. The Elora Festival Singers under the direction of Noel Edison and with organ accompaniment by Michael Bloss have put together a compilation of hymns and carols that cover the range of the familiar to the less known. If you purchase this CD it should be one of your favorites for many years.

5 comments about The Choirboy's Christmas.

1. I thought this CD was excellent. Like Anthony, I was a Cathedral Chorister. I used to sing in Peterborough Cathedral Choir, in the UK. Christmas to me is just not the same without some of the great music that is on this CD.

   The recording was really good and St.Pauls Cathedral Choir lived up to their reputation. Anthony was brilliant in the solo parts and backed up well by the choir. The choice of music was great, with all the songs I used to really enjoy singing.

   Get this CD, I can assure you that it will be played Christmas after Christmas.




2. I'm a big fan of the sweet former chorister Anthony Way. His voice on this particular CD has started that inevitable change and is a little huskier than on his previous albums, but no less enjoyable for this.
   My favourite track is Balulalow which is beautifully sung by this unique boy soprano, with much expression and a gentle delivery.
   Anthony is joined by the men and boys of St.Paul's Cathedral on this Christmas release, but it doesn't sound like your average mundane choir recording. Anthony Way's vocals could never be described as mundane and the arrangements of these traditional Christmas carols are also different and very pleasing.



3. A beautiful holiday collection. Anthony's voice is that of a true professional, a hardworking treble who really delivers the
   magic of Christmas, a must have in any collection. This cd is diverse from other "choral collections" as it focuses on the sweet voice of this young former choirster who called St. Pauls home for many years before branching out into other classical vocal recordings.



4. Brilliantly performed Christmas classics. Alone or with the choir of St Paul's Cathedral, Anthony is an amazing vocalist.



5. Anthony Way is revered by many - including myself - as one of the finest treble soloists to have ever been recorded. This disc gives every reason why. His is really as perfect a voice as I have ever heard, and is enjoyable listening for hours on end - more than can be said for some otherwise excellent trebles. I must take issue with the reviewer who claims that Anthony's voice was showing the signs of voice change in this recording. In my opinion, Anthony sounds better on this recording than on almost any of the other recordings I have of him. His voice seems to have reached its greatest potential here. Another recording with his choir made only a month before this one - "Passiontide at St Paul's" - shows him at the same pinnacle of perfection in his little verse tidbit of Gibbon's "Drop, drop, slow tears". His voice inflection, spot-on vocal control, and incomparable musicality are stunning.
   
   The selections on this recording enable it to be far more than a soloist record. They range from the almost obligatory - but never old - Willcocks arrangements of "O Come all Ye Faithful" and "Once in Royal David's City", to a unique performance of Cornelius's "The Three Kings" - with Anthony singing the solo (and it's so glorious that I wish it was always performed this way), to a really spine-chilling rendition of "Do You Hear What I Hear". No, I'm not kidding. That last really is powerful, and the choir sings it full-bloodedly - as though their life depended on it, not as if it were a little candy-song. The "king of cathedral choirs", that of St Paul's, is featured here in all its glory, and in the more "intimate" acoustics of the Temple Church - more "intimate", that is, when compared to Wren's massive cathedral, which is the choir's home. The English Chamber Orchestra comes on board to lend a vibrantly festive air, and all is merry and bright. That the recording was made in July and August seems to have had no effect on the performers. They sound as though there were snow outside, and this church was a warm haven of Christmas joy. In fact, it is the warm fervency of this recording that makes it so special. There are innumerable Christmas carol recordings. Very few sound as though the musicians loved, believed, and adored everything that they were singing. This does. What higher praise can be given? Perhaps I have already given it; crediting this recording, while on NPR's From the Top show, with introducing me to, and entrancing me with the Anglican men and boys' choir tradition. I have never been the same since. This is pure magic!

5 comments about Tales From the Crypt: Have Yourself a Scary Little Christmas.

1. Let me start off by saying that this album is NOT for everyone -- especially those who have no sense of humor about the holidays. If you find lyrics like "Stockings stuffed with ears and fingers (fa la la la la la la la la) Chopped from all those carolling singers (fa la la la la la la la la)" offensive, don't even bother.

   If that tidbit made you laugh, this album is for you.

   The Cryptkeeper delivers his pun-laced humor, mixed with not-horrible singing, incredibly hilarious lyrics, and that trademarked cackle that sends a chill right down my spine every time I hear it. I can't help but make this my first holiday CD each year. Who could resist that "Saint Nick Rap"?? (That reminds me... anyone know where I can reach the Dallas Cowgirls? My friend Jack wanted some special cheer.) Oh, my sides are aching just thinking about this horrifyingly humorous holiday hoot.

   Again, not for everyone -- but if you're looking for an atypical holiday album with deliciously twisted lyrics... then look no further.




2. This is my favorite Christmas cd and I drag it out every year. Don't get me wrong, I like Bing Crosby as much as the next person, but this is just fun. I love "juggle bills" because it is a great parody, and it also lets me know that it isn't just me who feels flooded by bills around the holidays. And, "Deck the halls with parts of Charlie" just needed to be done. The whole cd has an almost cute quality about it but it is just good plain fun. I will pass this on to my own kids some day as Bing was passed to me.



3. Well, boils and ghouls, it's Christmas in July! Light the candles and bake the Tollhouse cookies, for the Cryptkeeper (John Kassir) is coming to your doorstep! The 1994 album "Have Yourself a Scary Little Christmas" is chockfull of chestnuts, holly, mistletoe, roasted venison, blood & guts, amputated limbs, exploding missles, decaying zombies and, best of all, your delightful Host with the Most. Graciously supported by the spectacular orchestrations of the Salvation Army, CK croons, cackles and belts out 11 unique carols generously laced with wicked wits and putrid puns. What other album features St. Nick filing for bankruptcy (Juggle Bills), a salute to horror movie icons (Christmas Rap) or a New Year's eve party attended by deceased celebrities? (Should Old Cadavers Be Forgot) Or how about a Douglas Fir tree decorated with spleens and kidneys (Deck the Halls) or a mortician who embalms a family a LITTLE too early? (Moe Teitlebaum) But that's not all, folks. As a bonus, the CD's booklet contains a brilliantly colored reprint of "And All Through the House," a horridly classic tale from the 1952 "Vault of Horror" comic book (and eventually a favorite Tales from the Crypt episode). Last but not least, kiddies, this recording includes the most shocking incident of all, something only the Cryptkeeper would have the audacity to do: HE TAUNTS SANTA CLAUS!! YOU'LL LAUGH! YOU'LL SCREAM! YOU'LL BE CHILLED TO THE BONE! GUARANTEED FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY! :D



4. This Christmas CD features The Crypt Keeper(John Kassir) singing parodies of Christmas songs. The songs are done with the same type of "ghoulish" puns that were used on the TV show. If you enjoyed the Crypt Keeper's sense of humor on his TV show, you should enjoy this CD.



5. i have loved this cd since i got it in highschool. its halarious.

No comments about Soulful Christmas 2.