3 comments about White Christmas.

1. Raymond Lefevre White Chrismas cd is wonderful. He ranks right up there with Paul Mauriat. It's hard at times to tell them apart. This cd is a must. Disneyland plays his music during the holidays on Main Street and I love every minute ot it. I hope they reissue this cd for the coming holiday.



2. It took a very long time(4 years)to finally puchase this CD even after searching all over the internet, but at last Amazon had it available. The music is very good (if you like instrumental stuff). My only complaint - the notes and other information regarding titles, etc are all in Japanese. Couldn't they print copies in English that will be sent to English speaking areas? Most everything else that comes from Japan is printed in English.



3. The Christmas album by Raymond Lefevre is gorgeous. There are not that many albums of seasonal music which are purely instrumental if that is your thing but this CD is ALL orchestral.The arrangements are not over fussy and therefore do not detract from the composers intentions. Raymond Lefevre used a number of clever devices in his arrangements such as sudden changes in key or raising or lowering a note here and there which caused the listener to sit up and listen to the very exciting and different sounds of the orchestra.
   Quite often it would take the listener by surprise and it made the music much more interesting and very modern sounding.He would also used shifts in timing causing the music to sound ever so slightly jazzy which takes some doing with an orchestra of massed strings.
   The orchestrations and arrangements in this recording are much more conventional and are not jazzed up in any way but are played beautifully.
   Mr.Lefevre worked very closely with two other very famous French arranger/ conductors over many years.Paul Mauriat was one and the other was Franck Pourcel. They collaborated on a number of projects but not all at the same time.The late Paul Mauriat's recordings were often mistaken for Raymond Lefevre's as also were Franck Pourcel's on occasions as they all seem to have that certain French/European sound to their arrangements.
   This was not surprising as they often used the same orchestra for their recordings which were almost always recorded in Paris,France.
   This is an excellent CD for the holidays in wonderful stereo sound.
   The quality of the recording is excellent and with such a great orchestra you simply can't go wrong with this great CD. Thank you for reading my review friends and may I wish you happy holidays and happy listening.

No comments about Christmas Toons (CD+DVD).

5 comments about Ho! Ho! Hoey!, Vol. 3.

1. Although by now some of his rhythm choices are getting a little repetitive, Gary Hoey's third collection of Christmas songs is still an enjoyable listening experience. He rocks as hard as ever on "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "Joy to the World". His soulful string bending on the fifties styled "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is particularly impressive. Even if you already have the first two, this third one is still well worth buying. It might be more of the same, but when the "same" is this good, you don't want to miss out!



2. Another great Christmas album by Gary Hoey! He continues to entertain with his third Christmas CD of rock guitar instrumentals. I really hope that he continues with this series for years to come.



3. There are millions of Christmas albums out there--why would I get this one?

   The only reason I can think of would be for the novelty. I'd heard a couple of Hoey's more intense Christmas songs (Grinsch, and Joy to the World) via "illegal" file sharing and thought it would be cool to make my parents listen to my Christmas music after listening to their lifeless drivel all those years growing up. I purchased "Ho Ho Hoey" 2 and 3 from amazon. Unfortunately this CD seems to have more than it's fair share of lifeless drivel. I guess I'll have to make a compilation CD of the few good songs and be happy with that.

   I guess it depends on what your expectation for the CD are. I'll probably buy one of Hoey's real CD's one of these days because he is a fantastic guitar player. This just strikes me as a novelty disc with a staggering lack of novelty.




4. Alright let's face it, xmas and it's music comes but once a year. At that time we tend to get a little more into the spirit by playing some xmas tunes as tradition dictates. If you like to change the tradition of the "regular" xmas music you might give a listen to guitarist extraordinaire Gary Hoey. He is the type of guitar player that if you here one track on the radio you might be inclined to go out and get a CD. You won't be dissapointed as he makes some clever arrangemnts and provides for some rollicking good fun music. He plays the traditional songs but with a rock 'n roll flair that swings and cuts deep with some excellent jam solos. His blues lines on "Let it Snow" are reminiscent of the best guitarist in rock. Not all of the songs are of the rock guitar frolicking licks as some are more in keeping with the more gentle side of the xmas spirit. Hoey's version of "Little Town of Bethlehem" is a toned down slow number with a dreamy guitar that sounds like a subdued Santana caught somewhere under a California palm tree on a sunny beach. The songs chosen are all those that you may have been forced to listen to as a child so the memories will stay alive but with a new twist. The classic corny xmas song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" has a rippping guitar that plain out rocks. Again by contrast "The First Noel" is more in keeping with the spirit of xmas and features a blistering but soothing guitar that has that Hoey magical arrangement that distinguishes it from the usual xmas fare. All in all as xmas albums go this rates right up there. If you have not yet heard of Hoey give him a try, especially if you like rock guitar. Buy it and throw a cure ball on the usual Bing Crosby, Manheim Steamroller, Nat King Cole(stil the best) and Mormon Tabernacle Choir xmas music.



5. Got some funny looks when we first played it, but it grew on us. Very tallented and versatile guitarist and the songs are quite good in moderation.

No comments about Gabriel's Greeting: Medieval English Christmas Music - Sinfonye.

5 comments about The Christmas Album.

1. I agree with the majority of the comments made about this album. But, I 'accidently' caught "Snowfall" on AM radio on the way to work the week before Christmas 2005 and was blown away by the harmony, the melody and even, yes, the lyrics. The song makes me shiver. Needless to say, when I verified that it was the Manhattan Transfer, I snapped up a copy. Christmas is over, but when everybody has left my work area - I just put in the CD and let "Snowfall" play - over and over and over again - It really is a great mellowing agent.
   
   If you suffer from insomnia - play "Snowfall." It's better than any drug on the market! I'm not saying that the song is "dull," but it WILL mellow you out!! Four stars!!



2. 
   Christmas Music is part of the American Way of Life. Year after year, American people get full of joy and the pleasure of listening to Christmas Music becomes a must.Also artists from many different styles and their labels are very conscious about it. It is rare to find an artist from the traditional pop scene who has not recorded at least one Christmas Album.
   
   Unfortunately, this Christmas tradition in American music scene is fading away among young artists though sales keep hot in the season. This proves traditional pop artists have got a market niche which maintains year after year even selling the very same album that has been recorded many decades ago.
   
   Repertoire is basically the same and this is another peculiar facet of Christmas Music. This is an indicator of the traditional `American way of buying music'.
   
   It is commonplace in the USA that many different traditional pop artists record the same hit song in a season. I remember one well-known song that has been recorded by Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Peggy Lee, and even Astrud Gilberto, besides its sensational original take. This shows Americans like to listen to that same song or repertoire as recorded specifically by their favorite artists.
   
   It is different than the music industry and customers in Brazil, for instance. If an artist records the same songs as other one does, he is minorly categorized as a `cover artist'. This is a bad category which labels the artist a minor artist, lacking creativeness as for Brazilian market parameters.
   
   It is very interesting, anyway, to listen to the same repertoire as recorded by so many different artists from so many different times under so many different arrangement concepts. Comparison arises inevitably. Somehow, a delicious comparison. What's the best `Jingle Bells' from Johnny Mathis to Diana Krall? Who's recorded the most creative `Silent Night' - Wynton Marsalis or Nat King Cole? There is a killer `Jingle Bells' recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra under arrangement by Michel Legrand and with Jean Pierre Rampal on flute. Ooooh God!
   
   Year after year, those albums are made available by continuous reissuing or not. Some even keep in the label's catalog on and on even out the Christmas season.
   
   This is the case for this `The Christmas Album' recorded by one of the dearest Jazz vocal ensembles in the place and arranged by the master Johnny Mandel.
   
   Some uncommon and some very common songs make up the program. Here what matters is the 'Manhattan style', like it or not. I like it. I like their sometimes pop, sometimes jazzy approach.
   
   Common Christmas songs here include `Let It Snow', `Silent Night', 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas', and `It Came Upon the Midnight Clear'.
   
   The idea to include unconventional the Beatles' `Goodnight' worked very well and it's a differentiation point. The world Christmas anthem by Mel Tormé `The Christmas Song' is great too though one may say it is preferably to be listened to in its original take as sung by Nat King Cole!
   
   Also program opens with a beautiful rendition of 'Snowfall'.
   
   This is a great Christmas album. The Manhattan Transfer imparts a different view to the Chritsmas repertoire.



3. Don't take the title as a slam. This is a great CD! It has Tony Bennett crooning "Snow" in front of the Transfer! I took this CD and combined it with Christmas Acapella (their best X-mas CD) and made myself a great Christmas mix.



4. It's all right. The songs are all very slow. Even otherwise upbeat, carols like "Let It Snow!" have been taken at a much slower pace. Not my favorite, but others may like it.



5. It always surprises me that this very special Christmas album from The Manhattan Transfer doesn't show up on everyone's list of must have holiday music. Like snowflakes drifting by a frosty windowpane, there is something very wistful and melancholy about this labor of love from Alan Paul, Janis Siegal, Tim Hauser, and Cheryl Bentyne. And there is some fun mixed in as well, the trademark 1930's and 1940's elegance of this fabulous group on glorious display.
   
   Tony Bennett joins the group on probably the most heralded track from this project, The Christmas Song. As covers go, it rivals Gloria Estefan's stunningly classy take on this Christmas chestnut. The opening song, Snowfall, is just as good, however, and deserves to kick off this marvelous collection of Christmas favorites. The Manhattan Transfer always manage a surprise or two on every album, and this is no exception.
   
   A Christmas Love Song is one of the prettiest and certainly one of the most romantic of Christmas love songs in the vocal genius of these four talents. Johnny Mandel handled the vocal arrangements and put music to Alan and Marilyn Bergman's beautiful lyrics, placing it right up there with The Carpenters' Merry Christmas, Darling. And the fun medley, Happy Holiday/The Holiday Season, adds a smile to the melancholy.
   
   By the time the Transfer sing Judy Garland's version of Have Yourself a Merry Little Chrismas, then close with Goodnight, you'll be a fan of both this wonderful group and this Christmas album. Having been a fan of The Manhattan Transfer since they began, Mystery being one of my favorite songs ever recorded, I don't know how any Christmas collection could be complete without this one.

3 comments about La Navidad en Mexico: A Christmas in Mexico.

1. We have previewed the C.D. and we loved the music. We are teachers and are planning to use several selections from the C.D. for our annual children's bilingual Christmas program. We wish we had all the lyrics to the song entitled "Blanca Navidad" which is number 8 on the C.D. If anyone is listening, we are desperate and would appreciate receiving the lyrics to this particular song. Our children have previewed this song and want to learn the words for their program but we are stumped on some of the lyrics. Please help us!



2. I think this is a very good CD for children and adults. Los Peces En El Rio has a very fun, salsa beat to it. Other songs are very good Spanish renditions of the English songs. I plan to use this CD in my first grade Spanish class and at any Christmas gatherings and I have already had other teachers ask me where I purchased it.



3. I wanted to use some typical Christmas songs for my Senior Citizen Spanish Class, and this CD truly fit the bill. We had a lot of fun singing along with some of the songs. Good quality and clear enunciation.

1 comments about A Warren Hill Christmas.

1. This is the 1st time I've come across a negative review (editorial review) of this Christmas CD. I've seen & heard several others and they were all quite complimentary. I think it's a very entertaining CD. The 1st 2 tracks "Frosty the Snowman" & "Santa Baby" were so much fun to listen to that I kept playing them over & over...those and some other tracks were done in a straight-ahead jazz fashion. Some of the other songs were more traditional. Then there was the VERY FUNKY "Jingle Bells". I have to say that I was disappointed in his version of "Silent Night. There just wasn't much to the arrangement. It was just too short...maybe a little guitar or piano in between might have added to that particular track. "White Christmas" (Which was one of my favorites tracks) was beautifully done as well as many others. All in all this should brighten up anyone's Christmas.

5 comments about Merry, Merry Christmas.

1. I figured that maybe once I grew up I'd grow out of this CD...but I didn't. It really is a great Christmas album. 2 songs could probably stand to be omitted but "I'll be missing you come christmas" and "I still believe in Santa Claus" are more than enough compensation. Plus, it may be the only Christmas album I could listen to the whole way through without getting bored.



2. what a great album they still rock even to this day there music will live forever!!! I love all of you stay positive and never give up. buy this album you will not regret it!!!!!!!!!!! misty



3. This is one of my all time Christmas cds. I still have my original copy that I got when this first came out. This cd has one of the best versions of The Christmas Song out today and there has to be 1 trillion remakes of this song. Nat King Cole would be proud of this version. This cd really captures the spirit of Christmas which most of the newer Christmas cds do not do. You usually have to get Christmas music from the 50s, 60s and 70s to really capture the Christmas spirit but this one does the job just fine. Buy this cd and you will be pulling it out every Christmas for years to come.



4. I never thought that New Kids On the Block's Christmas album was that good. It is a very uplifting album that combines their dance pop from Hangin' Tough to the more traditional Christmas numbers that we all know. I still like This One's For the Children, which was a Top 10 hit just in time for Christmas in 1989. Along with Phil Collins' Another Day In Paradise, these inspiring kinds of pop songs make the top 10 the week of Christmas. Children is moving a ballad and shows the New Kids' caring for children that don't have everything for Christmas. I was nervous of them singing The Christmas Song, since nobody can touch Nat King Cole's classic. But they actually sound good in their version and they tailored the song to fit with Jordan Knight's falsetto singing. After that, there are a few funky numbers that are just as catchy. Somehow, Maurice Starr's music in '89 was starting to become too identical, with this album and the albums he did for Perfect Gentlemen, NKOTB, Finest Hour and other Boston groups in 1990. But he keeps his profile low here, as he gave NKOTB solid Christmas music here. The twin leads of Jordan Knight and Joey McIntyre as well as wildman Donnie Wahlberg are just as dynamic here. A wonderful album that doesn't follow the usual formula for Christmas albums.



5. This is a fun Christmas album all the way through BUT it is the magical power of 1 song that makes this album Unforgetable! "I'll Be Missin' You Come Christmas" is the BEST Christmas song ever recorded. Musically beautiful, full of Christmas spirit, and sung to perfection by Jordan Knight. This is an eternal Christmas classic that never grows old and always feels good.

1 comments about Christmas Bells.

1. One of the first CDs released by the famous Westminster Concert Bell Choir, this is a pleasing collection of well-known Christmas carols arranged for handbells. Westminster is home to one of the earliest and best-known university handbell ensembles in the country, started by Don Allured in the early '70s. This recording suffers from poor sound quality (the high bells have a crashing sound) and relatively stale readings. It is buoyed, however, by excellent arrangements by Betty Garee and Mr. Allured. Also, at this time Westminster played on the widest range of handbells in the world: over 7 octaves of bronze handbells. This CD is an essential for the collector and student of handbell ringing, as Mr. Allured and the Westminster Concert Bell Choir have had a dramatic impact on the modern art of handbell ringing all over the world.

2 comments about Vince Guaraldi, A Charlie Brown Christmas (Monster Music High Definition Surround Sound CD SUPERDISC).

1. This was amazing-it is hard to believe that they have never gone back to the original session tapes and remixed this before now. It is just like they are in the room with you with Vince spread across the front channels and the drums and bass coming from the rear. A real must for all fans!



2. Well, I've ended up purchasing both of the new releases of the original Charlie Brown Christmas music: this one (the DVD/CD release) and also the remastered version just on CD (with the yellow background cell artwork on the cover).
   
   On this release, you get a DVD and a CD. For some reason, the CD included is NOT the remastered stereo version. It appears to be just a reissue of the original Fantasy Records release on CD. Without the remastering, the sound is brighter, but also much noisier. Some, however, seem to prefer the original, especially if it's what they grew up listening to.
   
   The DVD, on the other hand, has the new, beautifully remastered (some would say re-mixed) versions, in a variety of surround formats, etc. I haven't played them on a surround system, but even just listening to the high-definition stereo tracks through headphones was truly wonderful. Oddly, the songs are not in the same order as on the original release.
   
   Now, about the digital sound files that are included on this DVD for your iPod. The liner notes claim that these files provide a better sound than if you were to rip them from the CD yourself. Well, this is true if you just take the CD that came with this package and rip the files -- because you are then comparing the original release with the remastered version.
   
   Not good enough.
   
   So I went back to the store and bought the remastered CD, and ripped those to iTunes using the Apple Lossless conversion. The result? The files that I ripped myself have about twice the bit rate as the ones provided on the DVD here. They don't sound "twice as good," but on good headphones they do sound clearer, more distinct, and more alive than the pre-made versions on the DVD. Musically, they appear to be identical in terms of the take, the mix, etc. (I haven't confirmed this for every single track).
   
   It's a bit misleading that on the back of the package, this DVD/CD release mentions compatibility with "Apple Lossless," as if they had provided digital files already encoded for you in Apple Lossless. They have not. The files provided have a bit rate of 320 kbps, less than half the bit rate of the Apple Lossles files I ended up ripping from the remastered CD release.
   
   Overall, I'm certainly not sorry I purchased this DVD/CD package, or the remastered CD. The remastered CD is great for the car or office, and provided the best files for my iPod. This DVD, on the other hand, is great for a home theater or DVD-based audio system that can take advantage of the surround and/or hi-definition stereo, and hey, it includes the original recording on CD as a bonus!
   
   I would call this a 5-star release, but I am deducting one star just because of the lack of clarity and slight misrepresentation in the packaging about what's included. I applaud Monster Music for the job they have done with these recordings, but they should know that people who invest in these sorts of releases would like to have as much ACCURATE information as possible about what they are buying.