5 comments about Superstar Christmas.

1. An incredible range- Spiritual to Spirited... Contemporary/R&B/Country/Classical/Rock/Swing? As if by Christmas Magic, they all flow together beautifully. Do NOT be fooled by the artist listing: "Bennett, et al". The talent is endless and will have you loving your children's favorite artists as well as your parent's. Some of the arrangements are so profound that you will double the volume and listen in AWE! This is the Christmas KEEPER that will make you forget about all the garbage compilations released in recent years. Simply put, SPECTACULAR!



2. CD compliations for charity are often ho-humm, it seems that producers just ask for songs record companies/artist can spare and release it. But, this CD is something else. Most (not all) of the songs are great interpretation of christmas classics and almost all have great sound. Personal favorites are Boys II Men's Silent Night, Tony Benett's Winter Wonderland, and Luther Vandross'Have Yourself... However, the cut above every song is not really a christmas song but Barbra Streisand's 60's rendition of Our Father. Too bad the audio of the Lord's Prayer isn't really "good" but the song, the arrangement and Barbra's voice will make up for it. If you're just going to buy one Christmas CD, buy this one - and help at the same time....



3. Everyone in my family loves this CD so we play it every Christmas. It makes you sing and dance around your kitchen. Great accompaniment to making Christmas cookies!



4. If I could own JUST ONE??? Christmas CD this one would be IT!!! This is {always} in the #one play slot on my stereo Every Christmas season. The perfect mix.



5. When this first emerged in 1997 it was primarily for a good cause. On the reverse it says "In conjunction with retail sales of Superstar Christmas, a donation is being made by Sony Music Entertainment to the T.J. Martell Foundation for Leukemia, Cancer and AIDS Research." And, since it's still generally available, I assume that holds true today.
   
   As for the music, whether or not it was a deliberate choice by the producer, the fact is, this goes all over the musical map by mixing Frank Sinatra (Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow) with Boyz II Men (Silent Night) and Tony Bennett (Winter Wonderland) with John Lennon & Yoko Ono (Happy Christmas [War Is Over]).
   
   I would think that, perhaps, such a wide divergence in style might not be to everyone's liking, although there is certainly something in here for all to enjoy. And when it comes to tunes not heard a lot on radio come Christmas time, I especially liked Endless Christmas by 3T, a group that features Tariano Adaryll Jackson (also known as Taj), Taryll Adren Jackson and Tito Joe Jackson (also known as TJ), the three sons of Tito Jackson of The Jackson 5 and the late Delores "Dee Dee" Jackson. Another in that vein would include Last Christmas by the Australian group Human Nature.
   
   The sound quality is excellent but there is nothing in the way of informative liner notes.

3 comments about Concert & Radio: Sing Christmas.

1. "Sing Christmas and Turn of the Year" is an exceptional CD. Alan Lomax, a Texan in Great Britain, broadcast this program in 1957 connecting all the corners of the country. This CD contains all of his on-air talk, as well as live traditional folk music. There is a great contrast between Lomax's Texan accent and the accent's of Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales.

   The show moves pretty fast, and many of the songs are snippets rather than the full tune. Nice moments are when the same song is sung by different countries, with Lomax moving the show between them. These transitions do a very good job of highlighting the differences between the various cultures of the British Isles.

   There is some nice story-telling along with the songs. Traditions are discussed. English, Gaelic, Irish and Welsh are intermixed in an authentic manner. Alan Lomax even chimes in with a song of his own. Highly recomended.




2. Fans of uber-folklorist Alan Lomax will be floored by this holiday oriented tour de force, an amazing live BBC broadcast from Christmas Day, 1957, which gathered the talents of revered revivalists such as A. L. Lloyd, Seamus Ennis, Cyril Tawney, Ewan MacColl and a young Shirley Collins. From studios in Belfast, Birmingham, London, Wales, Plymouth, Derbyshire and Scotland, they were all contributing live on the air to an elaborate Christmas pageant that included not only British and Celtic folk material (including plenty of pagan and protest music), but also the rockin' new skiffle style and a bit of calypso and African highlife music from Britain's immigrant communities(!). The tightly scripted program features narration by Lomax, who had spent the bulk of the '50s in the UK, hosting various folk programs on radio and TV, and who waxes eloquent about the social and mystical roots of Britain's Christmas traditions. Lomax was ahead of the curve in so many ways on this project, it's hard to know where to begin -- stylistically, technically, crossculturally -- this was an ambitious, professionally realized broadcast that gathered together the best of Britain's folk talent, and yet retained the charm of a grade school talent show. Fascinating as a work of art and an historical document, this is one of the jewels of Rounder's extensive program reissuing Lomax's vast recorded legacy. The songs and snippets whiz by too fast, but it's still a dazzling show!



3. While the quality of the individual works is not up to par with so many professional recordings, that is not the reason to buy this CD. It has only been 12 years since the end of World War II and the reverberations of that war still echo through the corners of Great Britain. Alan Lomax, the esteemed folk musicologist puts together a live radio program from all parts of the nation of Christmas music and words. Nowadays, that feat would be shrugged off, but almost 50 years go, the spirit and optimism that this could and should be done overcame any naysayers. You get a sense of a country rebuilding, of a nation of parts yet also of a whole. And it's Christmas, the time when miracles like this can occur. Imagine radios all over Great Britain (and who knows, by the miracle of shortwave, other places in the world) tuned to listen to players, singers, and wordsmiths of all types uniting in the spirit of the occasion. It may not be something that you'll play repeatedly, but you will glad to own it if you have any sense of history, any belief in the strength of radio, and want to have aural proof of the idea of Christmas.

3 comments about Christmas with The Three Tenors [CD + DVD].

1. There is a separate DVD, Christmas At The Vatican, that is bundled with the audio CD. The Three Tenors do not perform on the DVD but it is the best part of this package. The DVD is 102 minutes. Excellent camera work and sound quality with a diverse group of artists including: Jewel, Joan Orleans and the Harlem Ten, Bryan Adams, Charlotte Church, Sarah Brightman, Dionne Warwick and Sasha, Tom Jones, Al Bano, Alesandro Sanz, Manhattan Transfer, Jennifer Paige&Chance Scoggins and others.
   
   Performed Live at the Vatican. It is spectacular!



2. I was very dissapointed and wish I had returned the CD but since it was
   opened & used I was unable to



3. Two of the three tenors perform all but one of the selections on this CD, with Domingo singing only the last title, Ingemisco. A nice mix of classical and staid popular Carols, Christmas with the Three Tenors is exactly what one might expect from these icons of the opera world. Both Pavarotti and Carreras offer versions of Adeste Fidelis, Panis Angelicus, Mille Cherubini, and Ave Maria, in very similar arrangements. In addition, Pavarotti performs lovely versions of Pieta Signora, Gesu Bambino, O Holy Night, and Agnus Dei. Carreras does beautifully with White Christmas, Misericordia, Silent Night, and Ave Verum Corpus. Very formal, very traditional, with lush instrumental and choral accompaniment, this collection conveys the more religious facet of Christmas.

No comments about Party Tyme Karaoke: Christmas, Vol. 3.

No comments about Vox De Nube.

2 comments about O Divine Redeemer.

1. This is a superb collection of songs. I highly recommend this CD--I specifically recommend listening to this CD while walking through a beautiful garden or part of a forest. It really has a powerful soothing and meditative effect (especially track 11).



2. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir (MTC) like George Washington's infamous ax, has had its components replaced many times; but unlike that ax, the MTC is essentially the same dedicated group that it was a hundred years ago.
   
   The 360 members of the choir labor without pay, yet achieve a level of professionalism that caused President Reagan to call them "America's Choir". Prerequisite to being a member of the choir is being a devout "recommended" member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This devotion to their faith undoubtedly elicits the exceptional quality of their performances: a quality you will appreciate whether you accept their Mormon faith or not.
   
   "O Divine Redeemer" is neither their most recent nor their best. But given the consistency and longevity of their work, it doesn't matter. Choose any album that includes the songs you love the most - and enjoy!

5 comments about Daniel O'Donnell - Christmas With Daniel.

1. Even though he is an Irish singer, this DVD sounds like classic country renditions of traditional Christmas songs. I bought the DVD for my elderly mother who enjoys watching DVDs and listening to country music. She really enjoyed listening to and watching this DVD.



2. The music was traditional Christmas and vintage Daniel. The description on site stated October 2003 but in fact was a "repackaging" of his DVD from 1996 (not indicated in product information). Scenery is beautiful, the action is fast paced, and that is to be expected from a much younger Daniel. His Christmas CD is a better buy.



3. Daniel O'Donnel Christmas with Daniel I can't review this as it either came cracked or I cracked it taking it out I was looking forward to seeing it.



4. I bought this for my husband and gave it to him before Christmas to enjoy and he just loved it as he does with all of his Daniel O'Donnell music. He is a great fan.



5. This video has been received. I purchased it for my mother-in-law. She is very happy with it.

5 comments about An Evening in December.

1. WOW! What an album! My dad got the 33 1/3 back in the mid-80's. Even then as a teenager, I was into harmony. Their cover of O, Come, O, Come Emmanuel is beyond measure. THe whole album is top notch Hi-Lo's/Singer's Unlimited/Four Freshman laden influences with the afore mentioned carole as the album's centerpiece. Snatch this baby up while you can. Vol. 2 is great itself, but Vol. 1 is far better.



2. A friend who knew I was involved in choral music was kind enough to loan me this CD over the holidays. I had never heard of First Call before, but given my friend's religious convictions, I was not surprised to learn that they were a Christian vocal group. Like a good deal of contemporary Christian music (and I use the term "contemporary" in the braodest sense, since it appear this recording dates back to the mid-80s), there is little that is overtly evangelistic, and in fact, largely secular holiday songs like "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" are given prominence (although--not surprisingly--they alter the line "if the fates allow" to "if the Lord allows," which is--as the Amazon reviewer above noted-- kind of "religious correctness" but certainly understandable, given the artists' convictions, and really should not bother anyone but the most die-hard secularists.
   
   Although the core group consists of just three singers, there are several guests artists on board to help flesh out the selections. It would also appear that all the singers are, at least some of the time, multi-tracked. The effect is more fully "choral" than the three-part harmony you might expect. In fact,the record reminded me of the kind of stylized vocal ensembles so popular in the 50s and early 60s, such as the Ray Coniff Singers or Mitch Miller's troupe or any number of such vocal groups who used to pop up regularly on the television variety shows of the era.
   
   That kind of sound is largely considered passe these days, at least for the "secular" market, but there was real musicality and skill to such projects, and it's nice to see that the largely Christian market is helping to keep the genre afloat.
   
   Listening to this record did get me thinking about some of the differences between this kind of smooth, polished vocalizing and the kind of material that non-professional choral groups such as the one I am involved in tend to do. We usually have at least keyboard accompaniment, for one thing, whereas this release is a capella. The vocals are lush, and while a guest bass, David Maddux, is audibly present most of the time, the emphasis really seems to be on the higher ranges. And even with the multi-tracking and the presence of guest vocalists, the sound is still that of a relatively small ensemble--not the 35 to 50 voices I am used to working with. There is vocal fullness here, but it is still lithe and flexible.
   
   What is also striking for me is that--while most amateur choral groups do do poppier and even jazzier arrangements of standards from time to time--First Call and Co. often seem to incorporate pop elements, like time shifts, in arrangements that seem to start off as more standard treatments. The effect is surprising--certainly not jarring or unpleasant--but little musical surprises do pop up when you might least expect them.
   
   Overall, this is a very enjoyable Christmas release that should appeal to Christian and more secular audiences alike.



3. A friend who knew I was involved in choral music was kind enough to loan me this CD over the holidays. I had never heard of First Call before, but given my friend's religious convictions, I was not surprised to learn that they were a Christian vocal group. Like a good deal of contemporary Christian music (and I use the term "contemporary" in the braodest sense, since it appear this recording dates back to the mid-80s), there is little that is overtly evangelistic, and in fact, largely secular holiday songs like "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" are given prominence (although--not surprisingly--they alter the line "if the fates allow" to "if the Lord allows," which is--as the Amazon reviewer above noted-- kind of "religious correctness" but certainly understandable, given the artists' convictions, and really should not bother anyone but the most die-hard secularists.
   
   Although the core group consists of just three singers, there are several guests artists on board to help flesh out the selections. It would also appear that all the singers are, at least some of the time, multi-tracked. The effect is more fully "choral" than the three-part harmony you might expect. In fact,the record reminded me of the kind of stylized vocal ensembles so popular in the 50s and early 60s, such as the Ray Coniff Singers or Mitch Miller's troupe or any number of such vocal groups who used to pop up regularly on the television variety shows of the era.
   
   That kind of sound is largely considered passe these days, at least for the "secular" market, but there was real musicality and skill to such projects, and it's nice to see that the largely Christian market is helping to keep the genre afloat.
   
   Listening to this record did get me thinking about some of the differences between this kind of smooth, polished vocalizing and the kind of material that non-professional choral groups such as the one I am involved in tend to do. We usually have at least keyboard accompaniment, for one thing, whereas this release is a capella. The vocals are lush, and while a guess bass, David Maddux, is audibly present most of the time, the emphasis really seems to be on the higher ranges. And even with the multi-tracking and the presence of guest vocalists, the sound is still that of a relatively small ensemble--not the 35 to 50 voices I am used to working with. There is vocal fullness here, but it is still lithe and flexible.
   
   What is also striking for me is that--while most amateur choral groups do do poppier and even jazzier arrangements of standards from time to time--First Call and Co. often seem to incorporate pop elements, like time shifts, in arrangements that seem to start off as more standard treatments. The effect is surprising--certainly not jarring or unpleasant--but little musical surprises do pop up when you might least expect them.
   
   Overall, this is a very enjoyable Christmas release that should appeal to Christian and more secular audiences alike.



4. I first heard the title track when the L.P. came out. Just once on radio here in Chicago. I could never find the album though I looked and looked. But I never gave up because the song and performance were so haunting. Now at last finally years and years later I have it and I plan to give many copies to many friends for Christmas. This I think unquestionably is one of the most magical Christmas albums every made. The title song has become a choral favorite; it is a truly unique, heart-touching song. Many people I am sure longed for this collection the many years it seemed to have disappeared. Now that you can get it, get it!



5. The first time I heard this album, was in the 80's, and I never forgot it. Our family plays this album every year at Christmastime. It's the perfect mix of traditional and non traditional arrangements.

No comments about I'll Be Home for Christmas.

5 comments about A Christmas Experiment.

1. The Canadian Brass combine their creative talents with the voices of children's choirs to bring a refreshing new sound to traditional Christmas songs! Five stars from me for a great CD!



2. I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I purchased this CD last year on a whim. Christmas Experiment quickly became one of my favorite Christmas CDs. We know that Christmas is particularly special for children, and that really came through with the singing of the children on this CD. The first track ('Twas the Night Before Christmas) immediately caught my attention with the child's narration backed up by the full, lucious tones of the Canadian Brass. Jingle Bells is high-spirited and lots of fun to listen to. I especially love the young soloist for Drummer Boy. There are a few tracks with just the Canadian Brass--as always, they demonstrate wit and charm with their arrangements. Give yourself a treat and buy this CD.



3. The Canadian Brass is an ensemble known for both its virtuosity and its creativity. Both attributes can be found in its Christmas recording A CHRISTMAS EXPERIMENT. The disc was recorded in conjunction with an A and E television special which is available on DVD.

   This is not a traditional brass choir Christmas album, though certainly there are elements of this in many of the tracks. Most of the tracks involve the vocals of two children's choirs: The Bach Children's Chorus and The Georgian Bay Children's Choir. The voices of these two groups are almost angelic. The pleasing quality of the children's voices makes the recording worthwhile. Most of the arrangements are original, and lovers of the Canadian Brasses antics will enjoy the arrangements of "Jingle Bells" and the original "Sleigh Runners." While a carol such as "O Come All Ye Faithful" is so standard that people are hardly excited by it, the powerful version of this recording will make listeners stand up and take notice. Perhaps one of the most original pieces is the Brass's version of "Jolly Old St. Nick." It begins like the groups prior recording the Pachelbel Canon, but moves into the familiar song.

   I will have to admit, when I first purchased the recording and saw the title A CHRISTMAS EXPERIMENT, I have expected it to fail. I am glad I was wrong. The experiment is definitely a success.




4. The music on this album works astonishingly well as part of the television special (metioned in other reviews).
   
   However, listening to the music on its own, it doesn't really work. As a fan of experimental, challenging music, I hate to say this, but: this is just too "weird" for a Christmas album. If you do not already have the Canadian Brass' other Christmas album, that is the one to get.



5. If you're a Canadian Brass form, this is christmas music in fine form. They have two Christmas CDs, one more traditional, one more snappy modern carols, they're both pretty good.