No comments about Chanukah.

No comments about Drew's Famous Chanukah Party Music.

No comments about Season's Celebration.

No comments about Chanukah Celebration.

5 comments about Beyond a Shadow.

1. I'd put this on par with Rich Mullins. I just got this cd in the mail after hearing Shepherd of Life on the radio. This cd rocks. At times it sounds like Jorma (from the secular group Hot Tuna), other times like Loggins and Messina. It truly is a must have!



2. Thsi album has to be the best that i heard since Rich Mullins Liturgy. It has really ministered to me a great deal. His music is very honest and you can tell that he really loves the Lord.



3. Steve Bell is perhaps the finest living contemporary Christian songwriter and a fine fingerstyle guitarist as well. If you like Rich Mullins, Bruce Cockburn, Keith Green, Larry Norman, Don Francisco, etc, you'll be pleased to find Bell "of that ilk," though with his own personal stamp.

   What most folks don't know is that Bell has been doing this a long time. Beyond a Shadow collects songs from his four studio albums of the last ten years. He has three albums since this first came out, availble only in his native Canada or via mailorder (though I have seen the live album in the states repackaged to look like a new studio album).

   For my money, I'd say, seek out the live album first. If you like that, skip this collection. Instead, find Bell's website and buy the whole lot. You won't be disappointed.




4. Steve Bell is one of those Christian Artists who inexplicably (or maybe intentionally) doesn't make it into the CCM (Contemporay Christian Music) mainstream. Think Mark Heard, Bob Bennett, the Lost Dogs, or any of their pack.
   Steve Bell's style and vocals remind me of early Dan Fogelberg, while his content is as powerful as that of Keith Green, or Rich Mullins' best works. A great singer/songwriter in anybody's book. Give this one a chance, and you won't be sorry.



5. Steve Bell is a Canadian songwriter/singer. I would label this a folk/blues type album. This CD has awesome lyrics and the instruments are very awesome. Great songs in "wings of an Eagle" (probably my favorite song of his) "Burning Ember" and "Drumheller Circle" (a great instrumental). He has some very worshipful songs that have very powerful lyrics that are sung to God.

2 comments about Chanukah Carols.

1. This album, featuring comic actor Stanley Adams (You remember him as the head cannibal on "Gilligan's Island" amongst many other roles) takes the traditional Christmas holiday songs and puts a Jewish spin on them. They are packed with Yiddush phrases, but none to worry..there is a complete Yiddush glossary included as part of the package!
   
   My Dad bought our family this album in the early '60s and it was an instant hit with my brother and sister and I. The songs are very well performed by Adams in several different Yiddusha personas, and "The Night Before Chanukah" performed as a British royal subject, too! Adams really has a flair for this Catskills type of humor, and this is a one of a kind album that you and your family will delight in year after year.
   
   There are not many Chanukah parody albums. This may be the only one! Of course, we know the Chanukah song by Adam Sandler, but that's about it. The cover art is hilarious too, with Adams dressed as a Yiddusha Santa Claus trying to carry a laundry bag full of gifts over his shoulder.
   
   Tracks include "Matzoh Balls" done as "Jingle Bells" and a hilarious version of "Tiny Totele" a retelling of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." Adams and producer Sid Wayne have made an album here for the ages, and you "Don't have to be Jewish" to appreciate its charm and cleverness.
   
   I highly recommend this album. You won't be disappointed!



2. OMG! I have been looking for this album for years. When I was a kid in the '60s my father brought it home and it became an instant hit for our family. Sadly, in a flood some years later it was damaged beyond repair. Every few years I've done an internet search for it with no results. Finally someone re-released it! I didn't have to think for more than a second about buying it. Now my children can enjoy it too.

4 comments about A Child's Hanukkah.

1. Nice sounding renditions of the traditional holiday favorites. Some songs are in english and some in hebrew or yiddish. There is a bit of patter with brief hoiday explainations which would make this a good CD for non-jews but I found the patter annoying after a bit. My kids (4 and 9) enjoyed trying to mimic the accents. I liked Just In Time For Chanukah (Margie Rosenthal and Ilene Safyan) better.



2. We bought this on the recommendation of a friend and my daughter loves it. We got it when she was 3, but her interest in it has definitely grown over the past couple of years. She listens to it year round, and I like it too!!



3. A friend sent us this CD and all of us (children were 3 and 6 years old last year) love it. Musically beautiful, and fun for the children, too.



4. What a mechayah! This CD is a great mix of old and new Hanukkah songs, in the form of a family home celebration that is not some tedious preachy trip. The kids joke around with each other, explain a lot of things to the adults, and vice versa, in normal conversation.
   
   As for the songs, there's a nice rendition of the Dreydel song with FIVE VERSES (in English) that explain the meaning of each letter in the game. Plus you can learn to count to 8 in Ladio with "Ocho Candelitas." Other songs are in Hebrew and Yiddish, while their original new song, "Hanukkah at Home" is in English with an Israeli-sounding tune.
   
   Among the other new songs are "In the Darkest Days," which tells how we light the candles in that long nights of the winter solstice, at the dark of the moon. Think about it -- Hanukkah begins on the 25th of Kislev, so Rosh Chodesh (New Moon) of the month of Tevet always falls in the middle of the holiday. Even if you live in the Southern Hemisphere (where it is summer at Hanukkah time) you still light the menorah at the dark of the moon. I'd never even thought about that until I heard this song. What a great insight!
   
   Another winter song on this CD is "In The Window," which tells how Jews in the villages of Europe (and also today) lit thier menorahs on the windowsill. The song goes through lighting the eight candles of Hanukkah and how they reflect onto the newly-fallen snow in a mellow, reflective tune that is very catchy. It's another counting-to-8 song, too.
   
   Not all the songs are so serious. There's plenty of fun and some silliness here, too. The "Hanukkah Waltz" is "lighter than latkes and smoother than schmaltz," and you can "kiss the maydl with the ladle" (Mom in the kitchen?) before you do "The Hanukkah Hop." If you are a gullible little kid who falls for the tale of the "Dance of the Leftover Latkes" your older siblings tell you, then at least "We've Gotta Lotta Latkes."
   
   The last number on this CD, "Hanukkah Remembered," is an instrumental medley of all the old favorites -- enjoyed by the parents after the kids have fallen asleep at last. All in all, it's a wonderful CD -- highly recommended!

2 comments about Reggae Chanukah.

1. The first time I listened to this CD I only liked a couple of songs, and was actually somewhat disappointed with my purchase. I decided to give it another listen, and am glad I did. It grew on me, in fact I walked around long after Chanukah was over singing some of the catchy tunes. If you want tradition - this isn't it, but it sure is a lot of fun, plus a little reggae goes a long way to brightening a winter day!



2. This funky reggae Chanukah CD really brings the spirit... the reggae spirit... into this Jewish holiday. The songs are catchy and funny, too.

2 comments about Hanukkah..and all that jazz!.

1. Picture this: On a cold, snowy night in December, you and your significant other go out to your favorite club together. It's a cozy little local place, with mellow patrons and an excellent piano player in the background as you walk in. You share a drink together... and suddenly you notice that, instead of the ubiquitous variations on Xmas carols heard everywhere else, THIS pianist is doing elaborate jazz interpretations of Hannukkah tunes! That's exactly what this CD is -- a delightful concert on solo piano that goes beyond "party music" to create an atmosphere that is an interesting blend of Jewish music and American jazz.



2. I received my copy of Hanukkah... and all the Jazz today.
   What wonderful and refreshing renditions of familiar Hanukkah tunes. My husband enjoyed it so much he wanted to take it to his office and listen to it there also. This is destined to become one of my favorite holiday CDs.

No comments about Soothing Sounds.