1 comments about A Passover Seder Festival.

1. Religiously--
   I can imagine that this recording is very meaningful to listeners who are of the Jewish faith. For those of us who are not, it walks us through the Passover Festival and helps us understand its importance to those who are.
   Musically--
   This is not lieder or opera; it is a totally different genre. Nor is it a language we are accustomed to hearing. Still, we can enjoy the beautiful choral work and, of course, the fabulous voice of Richard Tucker.

No comments about Merry Christmas.

5 comments about Secret of Giving.

1. I love Reba's first Christmas CD! But her second one (this one), misses the mark on most counts. When the sounds of the season come on at Christmas I want to hear sleigh bells and chimes and something that makes me feel like its snowing outside (even if it isn't)so that I can curl up by a warm fireplace and watch the Christmas lights glow in the dark with beautiful music in the background. This CD does not do that for me, unfortunately.



2. This CD, a supposed Christmas CD, im most cases does not resemble anything Christmas at all except the theme of the songs. The production values and content here are NOT CHRISTMAS! I'm going to listen to "Bing Crosby's White Christmas" for a taste of what REAL CHRISTMAS music is!! I'm sorry Reba.



3. You really have to like Reba in order to get this CD. Its really awful. More pop ditties with a couple of Christmas classics thrown in there for good measure. This is one of the worst CDs I have ever heard in my life. If you want to hear Reba do Christmas get her first Christmas CD "Merry Christmas to You" because that one, while not outstanding by any means, at least has some Christmas sounds on it. This one does not.



4. She's crosseyed on the CD cover and she must also have been crosseyed when she picked out the songs for what is supposedly a Christmas CD! That's a laugh.



5. Between this album and Reba's first Christmas album, "Merry Christmas to You," you have all you need for the holidays! The first album has more traditional Christmas favorites, and this one has a couple with a lot of great new material that captures the true spirit of the holiday.
   
   1. This is My Prayer for You--This is a great way to start off the album. With a great country up-tempo, it may not have snow and sleigh bells, but it does offer the hope for a season filled with joy, peace, and love.
   
   2. I Saw Mama Kissing Santa Claus--A Christmas favorite that Reba's voice is perfect for; very enjoyable song!
   
   3. One Child, One Day--An upbeat country tune that celebrates the true meaning of Christmas--Christ coming into the world!
   
   4. Mary, Did You Know?--This has always been a favorite song of mine, and Reba's voice is PERFECT for it. It really helps you to reflect on not only the significance of Christmas from the lens of Christ's birth, but also from Mary's courage in saying "yes" to God and allowing all of this to happen.
   
   5. Up on the Housetop--Another Christmas favorite with a really upbeat tempo that is a lot of fun to listen to!
   
   6. The Angels Sang--Another great song that focuses on the true meaning of the Christmas season....and the children's chorus is a nice touch!
   
   7. Santa Claus is Coming Back to Town--The saddest song on the album, telling the story of a divorced couple and the mother who decides to let her ex-husband play Santa Claus for the kids despite how hard it will be on her to have him there. While it may not be the most uplifting song in the world, Reba's voice is crisp, clear, and beautiful as always and it captures the reality of a lot of family situations around the country. Beautiful.
   
   8. The Secret of Giving--Perhaps the most "un-Christmas" song on the album in tone, but it's another song that captures the true spirit of the season----giving from the heart!!
   
   9. This Christmas--Probably my favorite song on the CD. This song really captures three big things about the season: 1) The courage of the Wise Men to seek the Christ child despite the fact that "logic told them it was crazy," 2) Mary's courage in facing the long, winding road ahead of her, and 3) the love Christ felt for the world even though he came into it knowing people would not believe him. Wonderful.
   
   10. 'Til the Season Comes 'Round Again--The best way to end the album! The first song on the CD was a great opener, and with this song, it all comes to a nice, complete circle. This beautiful lyrical song focuses on the beauty of having family and friends around you during the holiday, and the hope that we can all retain that love through the new year...until the season comes around again! "One night, holy and bright, shining with love from our hearts! By a warm fire, let's lift our heads high, and be thankful we're here until this time next year."
   
   This album has faced a lot of criticism on here because it does not have a lot of traditional Christmas carols. While I love the traditional Christmas carols as much as the next guy, I am so grateful to have a Christmas album that is so full in faith, hope, and love. Reba McEntire delivers another masterful work with ten songs that in different ways all capture the true spirit of the Christmas season, and I find it to be very inspiring. Her voice is as wonderful and beautiful as always, adding her special touch (her own brand of holiday magic!) to a collection I will cherish forever.
   
   And I will certainly be pulling this one out all season long and I will do the same "when the season comes around again!"

5 comments about A Clay Aiken Christmas.

1. If you enjoyed this special on TV, you will enjoy owning this DVD. The only negative is that it is not the same as what was broadcast on TV. The DVD does not mention Megan Mullaly what-so-ever. Perhaps she didn't give them recording rights?!? Seems like it was something for Barry Manilow to appear on the special. Some of the behind the scenes comments were comical. Favorite cuts are "Mary, Did You Know" and "Merry Christmas With Love".



2. I do believe Clay Aiken has the most beautiful voice out there today. When I heard him sing "Mary, did you know," I cried and played it and cried some more.
   I am not a very religious person but that song has words that make you want to reach out and touch Mary, the mother you feel you know. And reach out and hug the singer you feel you know also. I am an old lady and it doesn't have to be Christmas to want to listen to that again and again.
   [...]



3. Clay Aiken happens to be one of my all time favorites that came through the American Idol wringer and gave us the opportunity to listen to his awesome range of voice and feeling. I would have tagged this DVD with 5 Stars as a rating but for two things. This Christmas special was done in a cozy atmosphere which was presumably a living room with fireplace, tree and goodies placed everywhere. At the same time there were tables outside of that living room area where people sat to listen, almost a cabaret like setting. While I find nothing at all wrong with Clay's voice and selections of Christmas material to sing for us, I find it odd that so little interaction went on between his "guests" and himself! His musical guests, on the other hand were warm and friendly but it was Clay's show and I believe it was his responsibility, in such an intimate setting to interact just a bit more with his living room kids and adult listeners at the tables. He also needs a dresser...badly!



4. Beautiful Christmas music and a nice message for the holidays! Great gift too!



5. Christmas is a time for people to get with their loved ones and rejoice. This DVD is perfect just for that. It's got musical variety, beautiful voices, a beautiful set, and that warm Christmasy feeling to get everyone in the mood. Perfect gift idea as well for kids from 1 to 92!

4 comments about Portrait of P.D.Q. Bach.

1. To those of you who've studied music history and the classic formation of the Masse, this album will be particularly poinient. To those who haven't, it's just plain fun, from the Angus dei to Gloria, it'll have you in stitches



2. I spent a long time looking for this! Some P.D.Q.Bach output is frankly poor slapstick - no doubt funny in concert, but it doesn't wear well on disc. However, I can forgive all for the `Eine Kleine Nichtsmusik': a delight to any classical music fan with a sense of humour. As far as I can make out, the strings play Mozart's `Eine Kleine Nachtsmusik' pretty straight, while the brass and wind play anything else from the concert repertoire which harmonizes even vaguely. The result is deliciously outrageous (the sudden fanfare from `Petrushka' is wonderful) and occasionally sublime (however did he spot that `I Dream of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair' goes with the slow movement?). Here, at least, Schickele has achieved the high level of some of the Gerard Hoffnung music festivals. The `Echo Sonata' is also fun - a simple idea, nicely executed. The `Missa' is OK (especially the Gloria and the hippy Sanctus), but some of the performers (and more so in the carols) have perhaps not realized that musical humour needs to be performed with style, not just bashed through, or the impact of the contrast (serious music vs. joke) is lost.

   (Of other P.D.Q.Bach offerings, my favourite is `Iphigenia in Brooklyn'.)




3. This is another classic member of the P.D.Q. Bach collection by Peter Schickele, on which the good Professor takes us on a journey through P.D.Q.'s writing for different milieus.

   The first item is the "Missa Hilarious," which purists are advised to avoid at all costs - if this weren't offered in the spirit of good clean fun, I am sure many would find it offensively blasphemous. Even so, I cannot help chortling at such moments as the "Gloria," in which the words aren't quite those that one would expect... The customary array of weird and wacky musical instruments required for P.D.Q. Bach's music is here as well, and puts the finishing touches on the comic effect.

   "Echo Sonata, for two unfriendly groups of instruments" is equally amusing - and pokes fun at the trends of contemporary music making along the way whilst being short and digestible. Also digestible (just about!) are the Three Christmas Carols that end the programme: "Throw the Yule Log on, Uncle John" is perhaps a bit predictable, "O Little Town of Hackensack" doesn't work as well as it might have done (although that may have something to do with the tune employed- very different that the classic tune I'm used to as a British cathedral singer), and "Good King Kong looked out" is an absolute blast, with its tongue-twisting vocal sound effects, catchy rhythm and melody, and the surprise appearance of... well, that wouldn't be a surprise if I told you!

   Also on the programme is one of Peter Schickele's own pastiche works: "Eine Kleine Nichtmusik," which is a justly famous and side-splitting re-composition of Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" with added woodwind and brass parts. Whether you laugh or scoff at this, it is undeniably a prime example of the fact that Peter Schickele really is an accomplished and learned musician- only someone with a deeply-honed musical background could pull off a spoof like this in such a way that it actually works.

   Though it's just forty minutes long, this disc is very amusing. P.D.Q. Bach's portrait could not have been painted much better than this...




4. It's been so long since I lost my record collection which included this album that I'd almost forgotten it. Missa Hilarious is a jewel, especially for an Episcopalian or Catholic who would be familiar with the service music Schickele's lampooning. "Gloria" is one of my all-time favorites.

   Along with "The Wurst of PDQ", this is the CD to buy.

2 comments about Christmas with Marty Robbins.

1. I am so thrilled that Amazon was able to find this album for me...I have been looking for it in CD format for a REALLY long time. This is the best Christmas album I have ever listened to. It brings back so many wonderful memories. I was weaned on Marty's Christmas album and am passing the tradition on to my children. I think they were as happy to receive the CD as I was! My kids are 18 and 16, so that says a lot...we all know what discriminating taste teenagers have. (Wink!) I strongly encourage everyone to pick up this CD and start a Marty Christmas in your home. His rendition of the more traditional Christmas songs ("O Little Town of Bethlehem" and "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing") are truly heartfelt and beautifully done, but I prefer the songs that aren't the standards. "One of You (In Every Size)" and "Christmas Kisses" always make me smile. If you want to be wrapped in the warm fuzzy feeling that comes along every Christmas, RUSH to buy this CD. You won't be disappointed.



2. I found this to be a pedestrian effort at Christmas Music, not original or upbeat. The quality of the CD was below average, and it came with no liner notes.
   If you want classic country Christmas music look to Hank Thompson, Eddy Arnold, Randy Travis or Buck Owens.
   Most Christmas music reviews are of the 'I listened to this when I was a kid and was thrilled to find it on CD here's 5 stars yadda yadda' variety. I completely understand this type of review, but they're not very helpful.
   I just wanted solid, mid 60's sounding country Christmas music, avoid this CD unless you are a Marty Robbins fan.

5 comments about 'Tis the Season for Los Straitjackets.

1. I have to say as a LS fan that I was hugely disappointed with this record. Pete Curry is a great bass player, song writer, guitarist, etc. and he is fantastic when he's producing/engineering another band (Torquays "Somewhere in California" - true 5 star surf/rock instrumental record) but this is a terribly boring record. It sounds like "Ka-Ching" to me - let's see if we can make the cash registers ring with very little effort. This is especially the case when you listen to the fantastic new release produced by the great Mark Neill - "Supersonic Guitars in 3-D" rocks! Tis the season to give this one a pass and buy the Ventures Christmas record instead.



2. I don't know if it's my Southern California upbringing, but I find surf instrumentals to be some of the most spiritual music known to mankind. Add Christmas tunes to the mix, and you have a Holiday treat almost as sweet as Eartha Kitt singing Santa Baby!
   
   What works about Los Straitjackets' Christmas CD is the way they play their vintage surf guitars in a way that keeps the true essence of the Christmas songs we love. They are playful and creative, but never go overboard with trying to totally overhaul the tunes.
   
   The finest creative touch shines on track #6. The beginnings of the surf classic "Pipeline" start the song, then Los Straitjackets go full throttle into a beautiful rendition of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," then briefly blend the instrumental portion of Del Shannon's "Runaway" midway into the tune.
   
   Track #6 is worth the investment alone, but this entire CD is excellent modernized Holiday music. Take a chance on this one!



3. If this album doesn't get you rockin', you're already dead. From the opening bars, you can't help but dance (or at least tap your toe.) Nothing preps me for the Christmas season like this album. The day after Thanksgiving, this is the first CD in the stereo: it's a family tradition.



4. ...for the holiday blahs...X-mas classics have never rocked liked this. Of particular delight is the seldom heard Christmas classic, "Marshmallow World"...Easily my favorite Holiday collection.



5. This is a great Christmas CD. Los Strightjackets are true to clean instrumental rock.
   Tom Davis

3 comments about This Christmas Time.

1. This is the greatest Christmas CD I've heard in a long time...



2. This is a wonderful album to add to your holiday season soundtrack. The songs are done with tender vocals, yet, you can tell the boys had a great time with this project.



3. I sought out this album solely for their rendition of "drummer boy" because I LOVE bagpipes. These guys did a great job! The rest of the album is also enjoyable, because I like country, and Lonestar's sound. This is a good Christmas album to add to your music library, and not get tired of over the years.

5 comments about Holiday Classics.

1. I have been listening to James Last since I was 4 years old ( I am now 31 ).All his music is brilliant and this xmas cd is no exception . James Last is a great person with a wonderful outlook on life and this comes through very clearly in his music .Beautiful music that will leave you with the feeling that life truly is magical and playful despite all the problems the world seems to be experiencing .Sit back and let a musical genius entertain you with his amazing orchestra .



2. If you like beautiful Christmas music this is the cd for you.All of these songs are lush and also have Christmas bells in them.A lot of these got played on WKTZ in Jacksonville Florida last Christmas.Their website is jones.edu and you click on the wktz icon to listen.This is the kind of Christmas Music you use to hear on beautiful music stations.You don't hear this type of Christmas music on most radio stations anymore except for Wktz in Jacksonville Florida and Sunny XM'S Beautiful Music Channel 24.Wktz and Sunny has most of the instrumental Christmas artist like Last,Faith,Lex De Azevedo,Ingman,Chacksfield,Mancini and others.I highly recommend this cd if you like beautiful Christmas music.



3. In the review of this CD, Bill has his history correct, and Jeff and Murmick have their recommendations correct. The JL genius comes through again. It's an invitation to queue it up and decorate your Christmas tree!



4. My wife Pat, had this music originally on an 8-track tape from many years back. No 8-track players around now, for a good number of years, and we had looked high and low, but could not find it. Finally found it on Amazon.com. Really GREAT CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!! and we are listening to it now, as I type this review.
   Thank You.



5. This Christmas CD will get a lot of play this year around my house during the Christmas season. The mixture of religious and other Christmas music seems to be a perfect mix. If you like European Christmas music, this CD will be perfect for you. Well done music, typical (and masterful) James Last style.
   
   These are full-length songs with a good medley featuring "White Christmas" as well.

2 comments about Christmas in Vienna.

1. On the soundtrack to a PBS TV Special that coincided with the Christmas Season of 1992, this set reached the the Top 10 that Christmas in several European countries. La Ross, ever able to meld her voice around difficult arrangements and changing styles,once again holds her own with two opera stars.

   The novel "Upside Down" seemed challenging enough; Ross was able to hit the notes, while all the while adjusting the speed of her soft and airy voice to adjust to the tempo of the track. Even Ross' critics who contend her voice is too light and airy, or that she is one to emphasize style over substance in her pop work would have to concede that neither is sacrificed for the other here. Both elements are at play in a presentation full of grace and finnesse-which is what such a degree of a great performance would require.

   Here, she shines on solos "Amazing Grace" and "Ave Maria". "Ave Maria" is notoriously difficult to deliver-especially in a dead language. Ostensibly, "Ave Maria" is in Latin. Thrown in for good measure is her then-current British chart entry-that is, "If We Hold On Together" from "The Land Before Time", a huge hit in Japan years earlier that contains all the majestic power of an opera.

   Speaking of scaling majestic heights, the cut spent two years in the top-twenty in Japan and subsequently was certified quadruple-platinum and was at the time of its pinnacle the best-selling single by a foreign artist in Japan.




2. What a lovely album. Listen to Diana Ross's version of Amazing Grace! Play it loud!