5 comments about Diana Krall Christmas Songs.

1. It's ok. I was a little disappointed; all of the tracks seem to sound the same. I like Diana Krall alot, though, I will continue to purchase her music.



2. Amazon was a great site that I was able to find a Christmas Gift for a co-worker-the process was easy and secure.



3. Very good; traditional Diana Krall with her "throaty" voice and jazz intrepretation of Christmas Songs.



4. My sweetheart loves Christmas, so every year I am on the lookout for a new CD that might be nice to listen to on the rare chance we get to drive together. This CD ended up being played at home quite a bit this last Christmas, and here's why.
   
   While you might find any number of old familiar Albums, I get kind of tired of the stuff that my folks might have played in the 60's when I was small (well besides the Chipmunks... I mean that's classic). That leaves mostly three choices, Motown/ Rock and roll versions, Country versions (some of which are actually quite good) Or the Modern "Pop Diva" versions, and for me that is the worst, because they are more about showing how many times they can make vocal runs go up and down the scales, and I am just so sick of that.
   
   Well here is a pleasant alternative.
   
   The arrangements are simple and you can sing along, which is kind of the point with a Christmas CD, and the vocals are filled with such warmth and if I can say it right, a reserved (adult) enthusiasm. Again, Ms. Krall simply makes me believe her performance, and that is why I love this CD.



5. very nice collection of songs and beautiful interpretations.
   listened to it regularly way into february.
   i had to make myself move on to something else.
   highly recommended.
   diana is great.

5 comments about Andrea Bocelli - Sacred Arias / Myung-Whun Chung.

1. I bought this CD's special edition with DVD, and I am impressed by bocelli's singing in this album. I have heard many voices singing sacred songs, and christmas songs, but very few singers can achieve the "sacred atmosphere" that bocelli devotes when he sings. He may not have a "strong" voice as opera singers, but I think singing these sacred songs, devoting the "sacred atmosphere" to the audience is much more important, the voice actually is just a tool that helps a singer to achieve the result. For real, I have heard some CD by some chorus that perform sacred arias, but they did not move me as much as this CD does, mostly not even close. Personally I like "O come all ye faithful", "silent night", all "ave maria"'s, "domine deus", "cujus animam" the most. When I listen Bocelli's singing I focus on what he tries to devote in singing more than his voice color, because in terms of voice color he surely cant be compared with pavarotti or domingo, so why compares? The way of listening him and listening real opera singers is different man. But the reason I gave only this CD four stars is that I have heard several sacred arias from this album performed by his voice teacher, the legendary tenor Franco Corelli. I tried not to compare both...but I cant, not because Bocelli sings bad, he is already excellent, just Corelli is TOO excellent that cant be described by human language (well I think even Pavarotti is not even close to Franco Corelli, but this is just my opinion). Anyway if you want to "experience" the true beauty of sacred arias, this CD is highly recommended. And this is also a very good sacred aria album for beginning listeners who want to broaden their musical taste to sacred arias.



2. Excellent listening. Voice quality and tone is superb. Brings tears to my eyes when I envision listening to this in a church setting.



3. This is my second copy of this CD, I burned the first one out!!
   Andrea Bocelli has a very gorgeous voice that is a gift from above. His voice is not affected or braggadoccio but naturally magnificent. I could and do start my day listening to this spiritually uplifting CD almost everyday. It is a wonderful way to get off to a pleasant peaceful start, but also a nice way to come home in the evening if you have a CD player in your car. I highly recommend it to all.



4. Better than most of the tenors that have "bigger names" - but he has a pure and clear sound.



5. What a wonderful CD! This is music I will listen to over and over - his voice is amazing!

5 comments about White Christmas.

1. This is the best Bing Christmas CD. Another one that sells at Amazon and in stores is from an old radio show that is of poor quality. This CD is well worth the money and provides quality classic sound.



2. I have always liked Bings Christmas songs. This CD is great with all good songs everyone enjoys. Will always play this every year,



3. By far, one of my favorite Christmas singers & actors. This album was what I expected. It's a great remastered version.



4. except that Bing is "The Man". It's not Christmas without White Christmas and Bing's smooth voice can't be beat. This CD is THE classic Christmas CD.



5. Everyone should own this CD. It's a classic that is one of my favorites.

5 comments about December.

1. I bought this CD a couple weeks ago and it soon become a favorite for Christmas. I have since bought 2 more copies for friends/family memebers. Very relaxing/soothing Christmas trumpet sounds, calms you down while you're driving!



2. Relax and enjoy Chris Botti while you're writing holiday cards, wrapping packages or bustling through your hectic Christmas to-do list. We'll have this CD playing on our Christmas travels this year. Hope you do too.



3. I ordered 3 cd's (1 for myself and 1 each for my nieces). All three of us thought it was great like his other cd's. I enjoyed the one with Dean Martin.



4. This is a great CD. I love Chris Botti's work and this is no exception. A great CD for background during a Christmas party or just to get you in the Christmas spirit.



5. Botti's music is always relaxing and comfortable. I'm inclined to put a bunch of his CDs in back to back on a rainy or snowy day at home and I don't care what month it is! This CD is in keeping with the others - smooth, sultry, polished.

5 comments about Christmas Eve and Other Stories.

1. This lives up to the years of superb work by the Trans Siberian Orchestra.
   The music resonated with me in ways they cannot be described in words.
   It is not just music, or just listening to music. It is an organic experience that taps into my memories of Christmas past and antiicpaiton of the Christmas season.



2. I was highly disappointed in this CD. There was only one really good tune on this.



3. I cannot rate this CD high enough! It's awsome! Words can't express how I feel about it!



4. If you love Trans Siberian Orchestra you'll love this cd but even if you don't know who they are this is a great place to start. You might find this one at your local library or might be able to listen to tracks here on Amazon.



5. In an unending sea of unique Christmas music, there is perhaps none more unique than this.
   
   CHRISTMAS EVE AND OTHER STORIES is in all a gentle children's choir concert, a religious story, a family story, an instrumental Christmas montage, an elaborate rock 'n' roll opera, and finally a cry for God's mercy among our nations. Trans-Siberian Orchestra probably did not know that they were going to end up making music history with hit titles like "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24" (a hard rock instrumental rendition of "Carol of the Bells") or "A Mad Russian's Christmas" (a similar treatment of "The Nutcracker Suite") or nationwide sold-out concert performances.
   
   There is something in this CD for everyone. If you like Gospel ("The Prince of Peace"), acoustic guitar ("The Silent Nutcracker"), hard rock ("Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24"), Contemporary Christian ("An Angel Returned"), folk ("Old City Bar"), or soft instrumental and children's choirs ("Promises to Keep"), you will find it here. If you don't like one or more of the aforementioned genres of music, then those contained in this CD will probably grow on you anyway (as they did with me).
   
   I love Christmas music very much, and I love all kinds. I particularly enjoy Mannheim Steamroller and the big band crooners of the 1940s and 1950s. But CHRISTMAS EVE AND OTHER STORIES easily earns a place among my top favorites.

5 comments about A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Original Sound Track Recording Of The CBS Television Special.

1. All I can say is that this is an excellent CD. Just sit back, close your eyes, and enjoy the music. Makes a great addition to any Christmas music collection. Will bring back many memories of the Charlie Brown Christmas movie. Love it!



2. this served as a great background music during the holidays. always puts everyone in a festive mood.



3. This is one of my favorite Christmas CD's of all times. It's excellent music for parties, for all ages!



4. I do love to listen to this. It's a classic! Everyone should have a copy of this. It brings back childhood when you listen, but you can now enjoy the music for itself also.



5. Done as the Comic Stip characters have for a long time. In the style well loved by all Charlie Brown fans of all ages. Christmas isn't Christmas without this CD!

5 comments about Pytor Illych Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker - Complete Ballet.

1. This recording of Tchaikovsky beloved seasonal ballet, 'The Nutcracker' has got to be one of the best ever recorded for the Digital era. Music performed by the Kirov Orchestra under the superb guidance of conductor Valery Gergiev in no doubt is superflous and eventhough the tempo is of the music is a bit fast, nevertheless it serves its purpose, for the concert hall. You don't have to watch the ballet to appreciate the vivid display of Tchaikovsky brilliant composition. just listen to the music and be transported to a land of magic and childhood fantasies. Simply the best gift for Christmas or any other time. Enjoy and awake your senses!



2. I heard this recording on the radio, and could not believe that a recording company would release such a hideous performance. It is technically unsound because the tempi are so fast in many places that the notes do not speak on even the violins, much less on the viole and celli. The brass sound (especially in the trumpets) is so coarse that it hurts. I have played this piece many times with good conductors and bad ones, but I have never encountered a situation in which the music and the orchestra were so utterly degraded by an "interpretation." Gergiev made what is obviously a GREAT orchestra sound at best mediocre, and most of the way through, just bad. You would have to pay me in seven figures to put this atrocity in my library of recorded music. I had to put one star in the rating to publish this review, but it surely doesn't deserve even that one.



3. this recording doesn't need another review, at what, $14 just buy it. You won't regret it. A great great recording of beautiful music.



4. Beautifully lyrical ballet music. Rarely played in its entirety, it's definitely worth the listen. Go beyond the shorter, holiday performance version. You'll be glad you did.



5. This is an excellent recording of the Nutcracker! It's wonderful to have the full ballet instead of just selections from the suite. The music somehow stays timeless even after millions of seasonal ballet performances and use in shopping malls. Whether or not your a fan of classical music, this is a good recording that almost anyone can enjoy.

5 comments about James Taylor at Christmas.

1. I missed out on purchasing the 2004 Christmas album James Taylor recorded for Hallmark, but this album more than makes up for that oversight on my part. I love his renditions of "Go Tell It on the Mountain," "Some Children See Him," and "In the Bleak Midwinter." The highlight of the album, for me, is not the collaborations w/the other performers (Chris Botti, Natalie Cole, Toots Thielemans) but JT's cover of Joni Mitchell's "River." I like it better than Sarah McLachlan's version on her Wintersong album.



2. Is there anything much better than JT's voice and melodies?? "Winter Wonderland" is a favorite-



3. I love this CD so much I will probably be listening to it all through he year. A great blending of musical talents! Smooth as silk.



4. Kick back and watch it snow. wife a big fan and I like this one to!!!!!!!!!!



5. I like James Taylor. There's something about his voice that is so unpretentious, with it-is-what-it-is immediacy. I simply love his new Christmas CD. It's classic, jazz-flavored, but folksy and accessible. It's like sitting around a fireplace with your best friends. Speaking of friends, James brings trumpeter Chris Botti in for a few riffs on Winter Wonderland, and he does a cute Baby It's Cold Outside with Natalie Cole that's getting some airplay.
   
   Taylor does a mean Jingle Bells, having a lot of fun that seems to come across through the speakers. I guarantee that you'll never want to hear anyone else's version after hearing this one. But James hasn't forgotten his roots, and Christmas music was made with his voice in mind. His acoustic guitar sets a very comfortable, season-ready mood on old chestnuts like Have Yourself a Merry Christmas. Speaking of chestnuts, check out The Christmas Song with harmonica man Toots Thielemans backing him up. And Some Children See Him almost makes a believer of me.
   
   Remember the first winter night you tried hot cocoa... and added marshmellows? James Taylor at Christmas goes down that easy... and it feels good all the way.

5 comments about Elmopalooza!.

1. Great music - our kids 1-3 have loved loved loved this one (it's their pre-bed time favorite each night for YEARS). They loved it so much we bought a 2nd copy when the first wore out. If Elmo annoys some parents, this is a happy compromise - much less Elmo talk, and more awesome songs.



2. My son watched this movie ALL the time when he was a toddler. So much that we wore the dvd out! Now we purchased another copy for my toddler daughter who is an Elmo fanatic. What a great kid's video! (Entertaining for adults too!)



3. Had I known Rosie O'Donnell was a musical(?) guest on the video, I would never have purchased it.



4. So this was a hit at my house. The 13mo old grooves and claps to most of the songs, and my 5yr old enjoys it too. The 5yr old follows the interim bits, and the baby doesn't need to be so glued. The older one started singing the songs around the house by the second watching. I don't mind the hearing the songs repeatedly in the background either. Rosie O'Donnell's song is the 5yr old's favorite (who's also been a big Jimmy Buffet fan and enjoyed seeing him,) and the baby goes nuts for the Fugees. This is my favorite Elmo simply by virtue of not leaving that awful "Elmo's World" song stuck on repeat in my head.... Elmo loves his goooldfish, his crayon toooo - Ack, I only had to think about it a second for it to happen. I might turn Elmopalooza back on.



5. WE ALL LOVE THIS VIDEO. IT IS NOT ONLY FOR CHILDREN, BUT ADULTS AS WELL. IT IS ONE OF FEW VIDEOS SHE WILL WATCH FOR SHE IS NOT A TV FAN. KEEPS HER ENTERTAINED WHILE I GET DINNER READY. ITS A MUST HAVE IN MY OPINION!!!!

5 comments about The Lost Christmas Eve.

1. This is an entirely different take on some classic Christmas songs, and several not so well known ones. Some of them are really great but others are incredibly bad. When they stick to performing just music it can be very rewarding. The vocal songs however are strange and not very appealing



2. The first time I listened to a friend's TSO Christmas album, I thought "What is all this guitar and loudness...for Christmas?" A couple years later, we heard Wizards of Winter on-line, along with a viewing of some timed lighting - I was shocked to find out the awesome song was TSO! We bought the album and have loved TSO ever since! If you ever get a chance to go to a concert...GO...we went this last Christmas and loved it, even from the nosebleeds!



3. We've seen TSO in concert & loved them so we buy their videos as they're released. It's fun having dinner guests over during the holidays & then watching a video or two. No one goes home disappointed!



4. TSO is the best Christmas concert ever! If you can't be there, you must get the CD.



5. The music on this CD is superb. I will now buy the trilogy of which this is the third CD. It is very good rock!!!
   
   The band played on and on,
   With no one looking at their watch,
   And just when you thought it couldn't get any better,
   They would turn it up a notch.