1 comments about Ho: A Dan Band Christmas.

1. This is a quite humorous Christmas album. I think the Dan Band really excels and is better appreciated in live performances or at least video clips. The albums, where enjoyable soon lose their appeal. For example, when I first saw some Dan Band clips and bought this and the other album from Amazon, I probably would have rated this disc between 4 and 5 stars. A month later it is down to three. Does it get any worse? No, but it doesn't have the longevity one would hope for.

2 comments about Percy Grainger Plays Grainger.

1. Percy Grainger was a man of spectacular gifts. He was one of the most original composer/arrangers in the early part of this century. He was also a spectacular pianist in an age of spectacular pianists. This amazing CD documents Grainger's formidible gifts. It cannot be over-praised. Both the music and the performances are well worthy of any piano lover's attention. Don't miss this one!



2. His music was original, while taking bits and pieces from traditional tunes. He really does not get the credit he deserves! I never imagined he meant for some of his songs to be played the way he played them.

1 comments about Mona the Vampire: Tales from the Book of Slimy.

1. I would use this show as a treat saturday monring on my projector. My little girl just could not get enough of it and every day asked for it, so I purchased the Dvd's. Cute, fun, and imaginative. She now watches it every day but on the TV.

1 comments about Rockin' in your Stockin'.

1. I picked this holiday collection up a few years ago & it quickly became a MUST-PLAY Christmas cd. Some of the tunes are true rock & roll yuletide classics-such as Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer by The Smithereens, Rock & Roll Christmas by George Thorogood, along with Christmas Is The Time(To Say I Love You)by Billy Squier. However, I was thrilled upon first hearing Lovin' Little Christmas by Danny Tate! This song immediately caught my attention & I found myself playing it at least another 3 times before letting the cd play to the end. I wish Danny Tate had recorded an entire album of Christmas songs, also that Lovin' Little Christmas would receive some air-play around holiday time! This guy is a major find & while I did see 2 albums for Danny Tate here on Amazon, I can't help wondering why he's not up there with other major rock acts. Anyway, while I'm not too crazy about The ... Surfers or The Red-Hot Chili Peppers, it is a fun album all in all and you can't go wrong by sending for this collection & listening to it for years to come. Very highly recommended.

5 comments about Waverly Consort Christmas.

1. I Adore this CD! If CDs wore out I would have replaced it twice already!

   Although it's a Christmas album I listen to it all year round. The arrangements, voices and songs have a beauty that is incredible. I love especially that some songs are solos and some sung by the group. Some have singing and some not. There is a slightly different feel to each song so I never get bored.

   The sound bites offered really don't show how great this album is. Track 1 is great, 5 & 11 hauntingly beautiful, 6 is a Gregorian chant with bells in the back ground, 9 (with a baritone solo) is so soothing but track 8 is my favorite. The old hymn is lovely and the 2 different soprano harmonies breathtaking!

   I can't recommend this CD enough! If you like old carols, period music, chants and rich harmonies-buy it!




2. "A Waverly Consort Christmas" is an outstanding mix of Christmas music "from East Anglia to Appalachia." Fans of early music will love th CD, , as well as those who enjoy Celtic and early American. There are familiar and traditional Christmas songs-- enough to keep it cozy. But I believe it is the new and perhaps unfamiliar selections that will draw and keep your attention. The Gregorian chant is absolutely heavenly and the early American pieces could make a persike dancing! My favorite selection is an early American piece called "Exultation." I never get tired of listening to this CD-- and in fact I play it all year long. I believe you will not be disappointed .



3. Altho' this a purportedly Christmas album, it's charm extends to the entire year. The voices are are a revelation, and the harmonies are exquisite. One overlooked item in the other reviews are the interesting instrumentations on early instruments. Like the others, I am particularly taken with "Exultation", but there are so many other gems here, it is hard to pick a favorite. "Bethlehem" and "Shiloh" are great examples of 18th century New England puritan carols (if you thought the puritans were a grim and dour lot, wait till you hear this!), "Campanis cum Cymbalis" very consciously emulates English change-note bell ringing, and "The Darkest night in December" is a rare example of an Irish carol, wild and uplifting at the same time. The whole is bracketed with familiar carols: the Gloucester, Leeds and Yorkshire Wassails. This is a must-have album, not only for fans of early music, but for all who want something to relieve their "Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer" burn-out.



4. I can't rate this CD highly. Years ago I bought THE WAVERLY CONSORT: THE CHRISTMAS STORY(LP/CBS Masterworks M37751). It's absolutely stunning music, starting with the opening "Procession of the Prophets" ("Gloriosi et famosi") and continuing throughout.
   
   Do not confuse that old LP, which has never been reissued, with a truncated CD by the same group, WAVERLY CONSORT PRESENTS THE CHRISTMAS STORY (CD/Collegium 13099) or with this CD, THE CHRISTMAS STORY (CD/Virgin Classics 15933). The best music of the LP, including the "Procession," has disappeared from both CDs!
   
   However, I can vouch that the Waverly Consort still performs the entire repertory of the old LP. A friend and I attended their Christmas concert at The Cloisters two or three years ago and we heard it. Wanting that music specifically, she bought one of the CDs (this one) and when we listened to it both of us were outraged.
   
   Maybe it's some sort of marketing gimmick forced by CBS, but if so, it's very shabby and unworthy of a good singing group.



5. I bought this several years ago as I love the 1st track, it has joined the ranks of my very favorite Christmas CD's. I am upset that someone who purchased it mistakenly, as the title they state is different and the contents are plainly listed, was able to damage it's review.
   I would suggest if they like the other so much the should pay to have the LP transfered to cd format as I have done with several of the old Goodyear christmas recordings!

5 comments about Christmas with Chanticleer - An Orchestra of Voices.

1. Beware... This is a very talented group that only a small minority of people will ever appreciate. Their artistic take on Christmas is cold. There was little to enjoy visually on the DVD. I did not like the song selection or poetic license taken. This is a group of tenorists that are more interested in precision than passion. I had to laugh.



2. A DVD from a live performance, you'll be amazed at the outstanding performance from this group, and charmed at the simple Christmas quality it delivers. (None of the overblown, sequin-filled extravaganzas that bury you in forced Christmas cheer.)
   It you enjoy the reflective warm feeling of Christmas, this is the DVD for you. You won't hear musical performances better than this.



3. Christmas with Chanticleer was originally a Christmas gift from my son and became a gift for several friends who had a love of music as we do. I first listened/watched this DVD as we were together Christmas morning and had to completely stop the festivities to focus completely on the music and the movement on the DVD. Chanticleer's style is pure and transporting. The venue - the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC - was the perfect venue for resonance and mystery. The music was haunting and lovely. A favorite.



4. This was Chanticleer prior to the departure of most of its members, and their sense of ensemble, nuance and dynamic shading are a wonder. A group can only achieve that kind of precision and sensitivity by singing together for months and years. They have so refined the art of listening to one another that they phrase and breathe almost as one organism rather than 12 separate singers. Some of my favorite selections are Rosas Das Rosas, Village Wedding, Christmastime Is Here, and the spirituals medley of Joseph Jennings at the end is both exhilarating and inspiring. My only minor disappointment was that one solo and refrain of Biebl's Ave Maria were ommitted in the editing .. perhaps they had an off night in this performance of it. I heard them perform it live in their first Carmel Mission performance and it was stunning.



5. I happened upon this performance on PBS several years ago and was mesmerized. The music itself is gorgeous, but listening to it while viewing the Medieval and Renaissance art is exquisite.
   
   This is a must-have in my Christmas collection, and I have bought it for several friends as well!

5 comments about Charlie Brown Christmas.

1. ...On the format that it was meant for. I'm hoping that the more I see on SACD, the more likely it stays around. This one certainly comes alive on SACD. Especially with all the piano. It seems that piano gets washed out on CD, but it reverberates in all it's glory with this one. It sounds like the band is right in my living room.



2. Love, the album. But the SACD transfer does little to enhance the already superb audio recording on the regular CD.



3. I am a huge Vince Guaraldi fan. His compositional genious is what really makes many of the Peanuts specials. A Peanuts Christmas is his first and, in my opinion, all-time best Peanuts soundtrack. For those who love Jazz and Christmas music as much as I do, there is no way you can go wrong. This particular CD has a few added bonuses that have not appeared on albums in the past.
   
   For other Guaraldi fans, be sure to look for the new offering compiled by his son David - Vince Guaraldi & The Lost Cues. Included are many wonderful nuggets from various Peanuts specials that have not appeared on any other album. Check it out on [...].



4. Oscar nominee Vince Guaraldi on piano delivers classic smooth jazzy beats for the holiday season from the 1965 Classic and prime time Emmy winner A Charlie Brown Christmas.
   Also finishing off the Vince Guaraldi Trio is Fred Marshall, Monty Budwig on bass, although the SACD lacks in sound compared to others the bass is tight and deep coming out of your speakers. Jerrhy Granelli, Colin Bailey on drums and the Mastering of George Horn.
   Audiophiles will notice an improvement from this hybrid sacd over a regular cd others may not. Being a hybrid this will play on all cds players as well as super audio players, where sacds alone will not. The stereo sound is adequate and quite good with deep tight bass however I'd also love to hear this perhaps in a 5.1 Dvd audio.
   This is a great add to any collection and a good introduction of jazz to children. Whether played soothingly low while a child is making a Christmas list with that Red Ryder BB gun or perhaps mom and dad put it on Christmas morning as the kids open presents. Maybe at the end of a long and busy day in traffic Christmas shopping you come home and put on this cd, fire up the fireplace, and just kick back and enjoy.
   Happy Holidays.



5. I actually own a special high definition format CD of this same album.
   It's a Monster Cable special to highlight HD audio.
   
   While the audio on the HD was good, the quality between the different formats did not seem to change at all. Very difficult to hear any variation and in truth not that much better than a regular CD version.
   
   I bought this to compare and the result is pretty typical of most SACD format albums I have. IT sound tremendously better under a SACD format.
   It's just seems smoother and more complete. Sounds don't get cutoff at the tail end of a note and seem to have that natural fade it should have.
   
   Highly recommended for anybody with a SACD capable player.

2 comments about Christmas Present From Polyphony.

1. Heavenly music, beautifully captured in a location with fantastic acoustics. This is music that needs to be heard on headphones or outstanding surround sound to be really appreciated. Here I am in February still listening to this CD of Xmas music... it's very calming to the soul. I can't recommend this highly enough.



2. This is an essential Christmas choral CD. The program itself is fabulous and unique, lacking the tacky "favorites" found on most recordings of this type. Entirely a cappella except for two Rutter arrangements with orchestra. Not a single track is lacking in depth and sincerity.
   
   Polyphony is one phenomenal choir. For its small size, it has truly unmatched sustaining power and control (demonstrated most astonishingly in Lauridsen's O Magnum Mysterium and the end of Howells' A Spotless Rose). The only disappointment on the entire disc is Grieg's gorgeous "Ave Maris Stella" in which, for whatever reason, the men sing with a rather unblended and even wobbly sound while the women are almost entirely straight-tone. "Sing Lullaby" by Howells is a priceless gem worth several times the cost of this CD....a powerfully haunting piece performed here to utter perfection and taste. You will also find what is most assuredly the most perfect and definitive recording of "O Magnum Mysterium" to be found anywhere. The balance and length of line this incredibly gifted ensemble achieves in this too-often-performed piece will leave you breathless.

5 comments about Yuletunes.

1. Without a doubt my favorite Christmas CD. I had only known a few of these groups (Shoes, Matthew Sweet, MaterialIssue) when I bought this from a bargain bin. What a bargain! Every song is top notch and original, too, I do believe. An absolute classic for anyone who likes popular music.You may actually want to listen to it long after Christmas season is over. It is that good.



2. I'm not a big fan of holiday or Christmas music and albums. They tend to be sappy affairs full of renditions of "classics" made worse by somebody's latest "improvements". Not this album. The songs are all originals and hold up quite well as songs, not just "holiday" songs. 'Tis a hard album to find though.

   I first heard Material Issue's "Merry Christmas Will Do" whilst I was working out in the gym and recognized Jim Ellison's vocals and thus my quest began. That one song alone would be worth the price of the CD but you get other great songs. Spooner's "The Saddest Time of the Year" is absolutely gorgeous, full of longing and wistfulness. One word of advice to those who would record Christmas songs: listen to this song and if you can't record something as good as this, do us all a favor and don't bother. It just doesn't get any better than this for Christmas tunes.

   Other standouts on this album are Shoes' "This Christmas" which features a very active bass line, "It's About Time" by The Idea, and Kelley Ryan's "It's Not Christmas". Really there's not a bad song on this CD although it may take some time to warm up to the Cavedogs' "Three Wise Men and a Baby (Xmas Song)" - I mean I like it 'cause it's offbeat and all but to each his own.

   One other thing - the cuteness factor is kept to a minimum so there's not a lot of kids singing badly just to be cute on this CD. That seems to be limited to one song here - The Puddles' "The Christmas List" and it's not even that annoying like most kid songs are. All in all, this is just an excellent collection of tunes that you'll be listening to even when it's not holiday season, like I have been this week. That makes it the only Christmas album you'll ever need.




3. I was blown away, this here com"YULE"ation is a treasure trove worth any desperate discovery deep digg'n to find a YULEdeer donor.This past millennium-merry-mirth-merchandized-mix comes close to the ideal model to which YULE clerics complie toward,all that was wrong is righted by the insertion of a few instr-tinsels of your choosing for the lesser likes. ~~~Merrily Mix ~ 1 $ , 2 $ , 3 $, 4 #1\2 , 5 #1\2 , 6 # , 7 % , 8 $ , 9 $, 10 $ , 12 % , 13 # , 14 #1\2 , 15 # , and 16 #1\2 ~~~Post Script:Thanks to those prior for thier tune in, the high praise and pleasing acknowledgements are right on target. This is a National Treasure of Altenative Pop Christmas Songs, if you have a copy please share it's play often, let's all wish we get a commercial reissue or some resonate response covers someday.The Cavedog's and Herb Eimerman's tracks shine most brightly.***buyit, saveit, shareit, giveit, cherisit, donatit to the local library*** YULEridgemality Factor = 15 1\2



4. I searched everywhere for this CD after hearing the Shoes song "This Christmas" in a store. It is so beautiful and non-christmasy as is the rest of the CD.
   I am a big fan of Christmas music, but as another reviewer mentioned, I can't stand anything with sappy kids choruses or gimmicky tricks.
   This CD has some of my favorite performers doing interesting songs.
   As a side note, it is possible to get this CD new from the label. Its on Black Vinyl records out of Zion Illinois.

   Enjoy!!!




5. Inspired by The Beatles Fan Club Christmas EPs and Phil Spector's Christmas LP, popmeisters The Shoes put together this compilation of 16 bands, most relatively obscure, and came up with some pure pop delights. This Yule punch bowl is filled with jingly-jangly guitars, Beatlesesque melodies and harmonies, Spector Wall of Sound sleigh bells, and more to brighten your holiday listening. Standouts are many, including The Shoes' "This Christmas," Bill Lloyd's Marshall Crenshaw-ish "Underneath the Christmas Tree," The Idea's Byrdsy "It's About That Time," Matthew Sweet's "Baby Jesus," and The Cavedogs' "Three Wise Men And A Baby," which sounds like an outtake from The Beatles White Album. - Dennis MacDonald, AMG

3 comments about Music for Your Halloween Party.

1. Its great for halloween or anytime! The songs are great for dance parties! I like the monster mash best. Its a classic. Have fun!



2. Several of the songs on this CD are NOT the original releases. These are:

   Monster Mash, Haunted House, The Purple People Eater, Spooky

   If you want the originals, this is not the CD for you.




3. "Music for Your Halloween Party" does indeed include the original versions of the dozen songs K-Tel put together for this 1996 collection. The album starts with the official song of Halloween, "Monter Mash" as performed by Bobby "Boris" Pickett and then goes for anything that talks about monsters (Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London," Sheb Wooley's "Purple People Eater," and Ray Parker's "Ghostbusters) or has a Halloween theme, such as "Spooky." There is even "The Time War" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and the theme for "The Addams Family" (television show vocal version, not the theatrical film). But well before they got to ten tracks the producers just went for some classic party tracks, which explains the presence of Buster Poindexter's "Hot Hot Hot," "Tequila" by the Champs, and "Celebration" by Kool & the Gang. You can have fun trying to come up with reasons why any one of those particular songs is perfect for Halloween. I have yet to come across the perfect Halloween music collection, which would specifically require double figures of tracks that deal explicitly with the idea of horror either explicitly (e.g., "Don't Fear the Reaper") or through a pop culture connection (e.g., "Tubular Bells"), but there are probably all sorts of licensing reasons that we have not gotten to that apex yet. So, given what is out there at this time "Music for Your Halloween Party" is an above average effort and if you are looking for some Halloween tunes you could easily do a lot worse than these dozen tracks.