5 comments about Rockapella Christmas.

1. I love music and I love Christmas. This CD has something for everyone to love. Anyone who has sang in choir will really appreciate the talent here, and those who have not will be pleasantly surprised at this vocal delight. My Christmas music collection has everything - classic, country, pop rock, religous. This CD is at the top of my list and I will be listening to it all year long! If you want something different, that will please listeners of all ages, this is the Christmas CD for you!



2. This is a solid Christmas album from the male acapella group. Really fine five part harmonies on mostly traditional songs, witha few originals. If you like your Christmas music smooth, you should enjoy this.



3. Our family has an extensive collection of holiday music CD's we've collected over the last 15 years.
   This album, Rockapella Christmas, always makes it into everyone's favorite to listen to. We all love it. They have beautiful voices and are perfectly in key and in tune and harmony with each other. It is a pleasure and a joy. I highly recommend it to anyone.



4. Wonderful music and harmonies. I think that I listen to this CD more than any other that I own.



5. These guys are very talented singers. There is no disputing that. But there's no variety in the arrangements. Sometimes it sounds like you're listening to one depressingly long track. They do try something different at the very end with "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," but you're already tired of it before you get to this one.
   
   They took "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," a very pretty song, and mixed in some Glow Worm? In my opinion, this doesn't work at all. And the lyrics on the original tracks... Ouch. Here's a line from "Christmas Without You:"
   
   "I hop on a train to Macy's,
   Thinkin I'll just replace these
   memories we made together.
   But all the memory shelves are bare."
   
   That's right. It does say "memory shelves." This is the kind of Christmas CD you want to put on in the background when people are talking and only half listening. It's very pretty, unless it has your full attention.

No comments about A Baroque Christmas.

5 comments about Winter Solstice on Ice.

1. Definitely not the best in the Winter's Solstice series, this is a mixed bag at best. Disc I is much like the others; if you like others in the series, you'll like these instrumental pieces. Disc 2 is disappointing; it's a collection of songs reminiscent of what you'd get on a "Light (or Lite) Hits" pop radio station. The songs are unremarkable, and the voices are a distraction. For my money, Winter's Solstice 5 is the best so far, but this does not meet that standard.



2. This Winter Solstice is probably the most disapointing of the series. Although disc one is pretty and typical of some of the other releases, I am not particularly inspired by any selection as I have been on IV and V. DiscTwo sounds like commercial lite FM. I would have never bought this if I had known that I was getting over processed, unevolved music that I like to avoid. I will still play Disc one and even enjoy some of it, but Disc two will collect dust.



3. To repeat the other reviews, disc one is great, disc two not so good. They should have just made a long disc one, and added some of the good instrumentals from disc 2 to 1.



4. Maybe I liked this soundtrack best because I saw the A&E special and then purchased the CD. Having seen the skaters and the whole production on television and then when I heard the music on the CD I could picture the skaters performances. Maybe the other CDs in this series were a better compilation of music but this one holds a special place for me at Christmas time.



5. From the crystalline textures of "Yesterday's Rain" to the edgy acoustic guitar in "What Child Is This," this album retains a Christmas mood, while taking you occasionally into a medieval forest. The second disc has a few more energetic selections with a bouncy "This Christmas" and then a mellow and comforting "Christmas Wish."
   
   "The Gift" is melancholy in mood, but a beautiful love duet that is hopeful and moody. "I Wish I Could" continues the melancholy mood and then funky jazz appears to break the mood and send you into mellow smooth starscapes.
   
   "Esawayo" displays some beautiful instrumentation with vocals from a land far away. Samite also appears again with "Stars to Shine." Both songs had me looking for more of his music.
   
   ~The Rebecca Review

1 comments about Christmas Vespers at Westminster Cathedral.

1. The Westminster Cathedral Choir does consistently fine work: one can always depend on their precision, musicality and good taste. Their sound is bright and forward, more like a French choral sound than the usually darker English sound. The lush, reverberant acoustics of the cathedral are a joy, particularly when the organ is used.
   
   This is such a beautiful CD; it was just released this month. Here is Roman Catholic liturgy at its finest. You can't listen to this prayerful music, so beautifully sung, and not lament the Church's widespread misunderstanding of the Vatican II liturgy directives, which stated that Gregorian chant, sacred polyphony and the use of the organ should continue to have "pride of place" in the reformed Roman liturgy. Instead, in our zeal to be contemporary, which is a legitimate concern, we have succeeded in cutting ourselves off from centuries of our tradition, and we are the poorer for it.
   
   And so this recording is all the more precious. I think what I enjoy the most here is not the polyphonic motets, which are lovely but which can be found elsewhere. It's the chanted psalmody, especially since chant in the Liturgy of the Hours is relatively under-recorded, compared to the flowering of recordings of chant in the Mass. The beauty of Westminster's chant touches us, as it moves along at a reflective, unhurried pace. It's accompanied by the organ, which is not authentic, but for many of us it's a guilty pleasure, and it's very well done here. The organ also comments on the psalmody in brief improvisations which are a pleasure in themselves.
   
   Five stars aren't really enough to give justice to this fine recording. I can't recommend it highly enough.

No comments about Christmas With the Stars 2.

1 comments about Joyful Christmas.

1. 1. Go Tell It On The Mountain - Commissioned Listen Listen
   2. Angels We Have Heard On High - Lou Rawls Listen Listen
   3. Away In The Manger - Patti Labelle Listen Listen
   4. O Little Town Of Bethlehem - The Choir Listen Listen
   5. A Christmas Message - Kaycee Grogan Listen Listen
   6. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Anointed Listen Listen
   7. O Come All Ye Faithful - Oleta Adams Listen Listen
   8. We Three Kings - D C Talk Listen Listen
   9. What Child Is This - Puff Johnson Listen Listen
   10. Shining Star (Emmanuel) - Nancy Wilson Listen Listen
   11. Joy To The World - Eddie DeGarmo Listen Listen
   12. Silent Night - Peabo Bryson

2 comments about Christmas.

1. James Brown turns this out.Holiday Music ain't really my bag but there are a few things i dig.James&crew rip this set up.Hey America is very honest&to the point.this is a great collection at a great price.James will have the Crib Shaking during the holidays.



2. don't get me wrong, i love jb; but this album has a *huge* xmas gap in the godfather of soul's catalog and that is that it does not contain "santa claus go straight to the ghetto." not only is this the best jb xmas song, but it's also superb to memorize and then bellow back at those chirpy little carollers during the yule tide season.
   
   honestly, this isn't a one star album (and believe me, james does have a few that qualify), but i needed to get that cumulative star rating down so you'd buy either "santa's got a brand new bag," the bargain choice (with a super great pic of j.b. dressed up in full st. nick gear); or mr. brown's "christmas collection: 20th century masters [remastered]" (which is really just a re-issue of "funky christmas"), which is THE choice of the other two if you want to plunk down a couple more bucks.
   
   get j.b. for xmas, you won't regret it. just don't get this one.

No comments about Complete Christmas Collection.

5 comments about Where Will You Be Christmas Day.

1. this is quite possibly the best CD i have ever heard in my life. i absolutely treasure the music and am so thankful that the guys at dust-to-digital thought to put this compilation together. it is not "christian" necessarily, even though it is a christmas album (when you hear "christmas in jail" and "papa ain't no santa claus" you'll see what i mean) so don't think that it is only for those whose taste runs to the religious. the music represents the soul, the backbone, and the seed of just about all american music (except perhaps techno...). a must own for any lover of folk, country, rock, blues, soul, gospel, and even funk music. this is the best of the best--you will not be disappointed!



2. This CD has a wide range of musical styles, collected from rare recordings from the 20's to the 50's; most of the recording seem to come from a gospel/blues tradition, but each is unique in it's own way...
   Some of these songs are quite enjoyable, but others take some getting used to; this is not a CD I would play on Christmas with the family gathered round, but I have been listening to it in my car during the holiday season...I collect Xmas CD's, and this unusual compilation is a welcome addition to my collection.



3. If poorly recorded roots music is of interest to you, you might want to consider buying this CD. The poor recording is, of course, not the fault of the company making the CD. The recordings are made from old originals that were made with primitive equipment in primitive conditions. There is no arguing that the music is historically significant. But, I was hoping that there might be one or two songs I could consider listenable. Each year I search for obscure music to add to a large collection of holiday CD's. This one, unfortunately, will not be one that I count among the worthwhile purchases. Pairing this with the John Waters CD is, I suppose, logical. I would recommend that one first, however, on the basis of sound quality if nothing else.



4. I love this cd. The songs are uniquely christmasy. I don't necessarily play it Christmas morning when I'm sticking with the traditional stuff, but I play it more than any other Christmas cd I have. In contrast to the guy that doesn't think these are recorded well, I think these have excellent sound quality for this type of old music. The variety is awesome from the bagpipe guy to a Leadbelly quicky, Buell Kazee doing his usual thing to blues, solo vocals and more. I get these songs, like "The Wrong Way to Celebrate Christmas" in my head and I can't get them out. I wish I could find another Christmas cd like this one. Now that would be the right way to



5. This is collection of Christmas songs recorded from old 78s. Some of the songs are a bit scratchy, but they are all quite listenable. The recordings date from 1917 to 1959, with the majority being recorded in either the '20s or the '30s. The music is played is a wide variety of styles; including gospel, folk, calypso, blues, county and others. Most of the songs are quite enjoyable. This is a very different Christmas album than any other you've ever heard, which is a good thing.

2 comments about Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet (Complete Suites from the Ballet).

1. I have a number of other versions of Romeo and Juliet and bought this one for the novelty of the DSD direct recording. I wish I hadn't. The problem isn't with the new format, but more fundamentally with the mix. The mid-range is muffled, when one can hear it at all. This lamentable defect is all the more striking by the clarity of the percussion and violins. Those wishing a good SACD/DVD audio recording are advised to pass; there are too many great straight CD recordings already available to waste your money on this.



2. I couldn't disagree more with another reviewer who must have had cotton-wool in his ears. The sound engineering of this exquisite performance is superb, but for one point. I was struck by the excellent clarity and superb balance between solo instruments and between the instrumental sections. The clarity of sound is up with the best Telarc has given. But there is one flaw. I don't know whether the balance engineer went to sleep for the first few tracks, but the entire string section is huddled over to the left. Things improve later, matching in well with the remainder of the orchestra which is (positionally) well balanced. Balance in the sense of relative volume of the instruments is good throughout. And as for the actual performance, I think it is one of the best I have heard, and I have decided to put up with the mis-placed strings in the early tracks and buy the release: you don't get such a combination of quality in both music and sound (with the one caveat) often enough.