No comments about This Glorious Christmas.

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.

No comments about Drew's Famous Chanukah Party Music.

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.

5 comments about Miracle On 34th Street: Original Soundtrack Album (1994 Film).

1. Great album with songs by great performers. The music was as good as the movie. I really enjoyed Sarah McLachlan's Song For A Winter's Night, and Natalie Cole's Jingle Bells.



2. Then this is your cd. The whole cd will have you singing along and tapping your toes. The songs range from fun and unbeat (Natalie Cole's "Jingle Bells"), to easy jazz (Ray Charles "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"), to beautiful and soothing (Sarah McLachlan's "Song for a Winter's Night"). It has been one of my favorite Christmas cds for years.



3. This is one of the all-time great holiday soundtracks.It ranks
   right up there with "Home Alone"!The songs are great(Kenny G's
   "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" is a gem!),but it's
   the instrumentals that really stand out-that main theme is
   beautiful!As companion volumes,I recommend the complete
   orchestral score CDs for both the 1994 and 1947 versions,
   which are available online at www.intrada.com.



4. Driving home to Maine for Thanksgiving, I found myself (as usual) switching stations constantly along the Mass Pike. I can't think of any other stretch of road where the signals go in and out so quickly. Well, it makes for some variety, I suppose, but it's kinda distracting. I really have to get a car CD player one of these days. If only for safety's sake.
   
   One thing I discovered is the number of stations that were already in high holiday mode (as in EXCLUSIVE holiday mode). Now I hate to be a Scrooge, but a steady diet of anything can get pretty maddening. At least, if there were a mix of styles. Problem is, as radio station playlists become more and more restrictive, genre-wise, the special holiday programming becomes increasingly samey too.
   
   The nice thing about the soundtrack for the 1994 version of MIRACLE ON 34TH ST. is that it actually has the kind of variety you wish you'd find more of in broadcasting. It's a mixed bag, but not outrageously so. Fans of Natalie Cole can usually deal with listening to Dionne Warwick (and vice versa). Nobody in Ray Charles' camp is likely to complain about his track being followed by Aretha Franklin. And I know that Kenny G. has his detractors, but in limited doses, I never have a problem with him. The instrumental take on "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" mixes a little light jazz among the soul and the standards. And it's all rounded out nicely with soundtrack selections composed for the film (I assume--never actually saw the movie) by Bruce Broughton, which are very well done. The closer is a pleasant surprise from Sarah McLaughlin. "Song For A Winter's Night," while not really a Christmas carol is appropriately seasonable and quite haunting. The double tracking of her vocal adds a dimension to her somewhat mannered style that I hadn't heard before.
   
   So maybe I'll break down, get that CD player installed in my car, and bring this CD along when I head for Maine again over Christmas. It'll offer more variety than most radio stations--and no commercials. How can I lose?



5. Track Listing
   1. Overture - Bruce Broughton
   2. Jingle Bells - Natalie Cole
   3. It's Beginning To Look Like Christmas - Dionne Warwick
   4. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Kenny G
   5. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town - Ray Charles
   6. Joy To The World - Aretha Franklin/FAME Freedom Choir
   7. Santa Claus Is Back In Town - Elvis Presley
   8. Signing - Bruce Broughton
   9. Bellevue Carol - Bruce Broughton
   10. Song For A Winter's Night - Sarah McLachlan

1 comments about Die Tradition Des Gregorianischen Chorals (The Tradition of Gregorian Chant).

1. This is probably the best deal available for extensive chant resources, with 4 CDs. I sing chant, but I learn better by hearing than reading music (amateur, I know). It has many Palm Sunday propers and hymns, even some not included on any other chant CD I own. It includes propers for Easter, Palm Sunday, Dedication of a Church, Christmas Matins Responsories, along with one CD each of Old Spanish and Ambrosian Office chant. The download is over $20, but the CDs are under $4, with extensive booklets in multiple languages including Latin and English. A great starting point for singer or fan.

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.

3 comments about This Ain't No White Christmas.

1. A Christmas album by Rudy Ray Moore? Yes, it is. The CD opens with the only song on the album, which is the R&B classic "Merry Christmas Baby". Rudy does a good job with the vocals (he was an R&B singer before he was a comedian). This is a decent version of the song. The rest of the album consists of Rudy's raunchy comedy routines. The best routine here is "Night Before Christmas (Part 1)", which is a hilariously filthy version of the well known poem. The rest of the material is somewhat uneven, and it should be noted that many of the jokes have nothing to do with Christmas. I also should mention that the sound quality of the CD is not that great. It sounds like it was copied off of an old LP that has a few scratches on it. But Rudy Ray Moore fans will still dig it.



2. A Christmas album by Rudy Ray Moore? Yes, it is. The CD opens with the only song on the album, which is the R&B classic "Merry Christmas Baby". Rudy does a good job with the vocals (he was an R&B singer before he was a comedian). This is a decent version of the song. The rest of the album consists of Rudy's raunchy comedy routines. The best routine here is "Night Before Christmas (Part 1)", which is a hilariously filthy version of the well known poem. The rest of the material is somewhat uneven, and it should be noted that many of the jokes have nothing to do with Christmas. I also should mention that the sound quality of the CD is not that great. It sounds like it was copied off of an old LP that has a few scratches on it. But Rudy Ray Moore fans will still dig it.



3. I ain't lying. Rudy Ray Moore has One singing song and the rest is his routine which always has cracked me up. I've always been down with Rudy's brand of Humor. this is a tight Party record and He will have your sides hurting from laughing out loud. Rudy has always done his own thing and Kept it real.

5 comments about An All-4-One Christmas.

1. Chey, should have given the money to the Salvation Army !



2. Chey, should have given the money to the Salvation Army !



3. These christmas songs are the most beautiful sounds in the air.My favorite songs are The first noel and The christmas song.So deep and strong are their voices that i can say thanks for Alfred,Tony, Delios and Jamie.Now i can sing much better.



4. It`s funny, but i found my review for this album, that i`ve written 5 years before. But frankly sayin`, my thoughts still have stand on the same view point! This is may favorite band, this is definately the best band in the whole world, and this album is greatest christmas album i`ve ever heard. Thank you guys for you have made in the music industry!



5. This has several traditional Christmas songs and some very good new songs. It has great harmonies and excellent music.