8 Days of Christmas

Destiny's Child

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 30, 2001)
• Original Release Date: October 23, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00005QG8X
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (103 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #120,083 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Chilly, forced, and overdone, this mixed bag of modern classics, tarted-up traditional carols, and trio of tunes penned by Beyonce Knowles doesn't conjure a single warm and fuzzy image of chestnuts roasting on an open fire or Jack Frost nipping at your nose. Rather, it's just another forum to showcase the band's Gucci bag of vocal gymnastics and crass materialism. The Texas trio takes seasonal classics like Irving Berlin's "White Christmas," "Silent Night," and "Little Drummer Boy" and embellishes them with their own trills and off-kilter harmonies, obscuring the songs' simple beauty. "On the eighth day of Christmas, my baby gave to me a pair of Chloe shades and a diamond belly ring," brags Knowles in the title song, a takeoff on the "12 Days of Christmas," without ever explaining why they lopped off four days. The band is shamelessly self-indulgent throughout the dozen songs found here, taking untold liberties, like renaming "Carol of the Bells" "Opera Bells" and recasting "Silver Bells" as "Platinum Bells" to reflect their multiplatinum status. But the low point of the record is when Destiny's Child hawk their Hasbro-manufactured dolls in the intro of "Platinum Bells": "Ladies, remember long ago we asked Santa to give us Christmas dolls? This year the dolls are you and me under the tree." Humbug. --Jaan Uhelszki

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Disappointment, December 10, 2001

By	Katrina (Santa Cruz, CA United States) - See all my reviews

While Destiny's Child has great harmony and good producing skills, this album is somewhat lacking. The first three tracks are nice and enjoyable. "8 Days of Christmas" and "Winter Paradise" are nice Christmas songs for the new generation and "A DC Christmas Medley" fashionably mixes a number of good Christmas songs. After that, the rest of the songs are missing something. "Silent Night" seems to be extremely over produced with Beyonce' breathing over her singing just a little too much. The song is naturally beautiful and with Beyonce' singing, the song should have been a pretty good one. However, towards the end you are wishing that she would stop breathing so heavily and just sing the song. "Little Drummer Boy" claims to have Solange, but you barely hear her over Beyonce'. They sound so similar that you have to struggle to hear Solange's 15-year old vocals. The song is decent, but it leaves you wondering if Beyonce' steals the spotlight from everyone, even her little sister. Kelly and Michelle's solos stand out from the rest of the album... Maybe because you don't hear Beyonce' taking all of the good verses. "Do You Hear What I Hear" is definitely the best Classic song on the album. "O Holy Night" is mediocore with Michelle singing the entire song. She has a pretty voice, but it can be a bit irritating towards the end. "White Christmas" and "Platinum Bells" are both too short. They should be interludes instead of songs. But after hearing "Platinum Bells" a couple times, you are glad that it is so short. "Opera of Bells" is a great harmonizing song. However, it makes you wonder why they are a trio if Beyonce' does all of the harmony and sings over herself instead of having Kelly or Michelle cover her vocals. The entire song is vocals, but you never hear Kelly or Michelle. Nonetheless, it is a gorgeous song.

The album is a good album for teenage Christmas music. It is not however, a classic Christmas album... Unlike Mariah Carey's Christmas album, it will not contimue to sell after next Christmas. Furthermore, for Destiny's Child to be so religious, you wonder where is the soul? Christina Aguilera's Christmas CD has more soul and gospel music than Destiny's Child's CD. Christina Aguilera is more pop while Destiny's Child still try to link themselves with a R&B genre. If they are R&B, where is it in their Christmas album? The absence of soul or gospel really left the album incomplete. It is a nice ablum to have in your Christmas collection, if you have a Christmas collection, but it is definitely not one of the best.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This album just (...), December 15, 2001

By A Customer

This is the most awful Christmas CD i've ever heard! It's just terrible. They absolutly butcher almost every Christmas song and the originals aren't that great either. The song 8 days of Christmas is is catchy and cute but the words are so dumb it's unbelievable. This Cd is so bad.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Very "DC" Christmas!, November 1, 2001

By A Customer

Let me begin by saying that I love Destiny's Child. I think they all have extraordinary voices, with killer tracks. I was expecting a more lush Christmas album than what I was presented with. The girls are sounding their best in this album, but I missed the orchestras and horns which you hear of in other Christmas album. Anyway, the CD kicks off with "8 Days Of Christmas", which is a great R&B adaptation of a great Christmas classic, and follows into the "Happy Face"-esque "Winter Paradise". This song basically talks about how great it is during Christmas, which is a prevalant theme throughout the album. I did not really feel "A 'DC' Christmas Medley" very much. The song selection was odd, and a few different chord projections in the background music would have helped. Michelle sounded like she was struggling to reach the low notes in her solo. Beyoncé has the first solo in the album, singing "Silent Night", backed only by an acoustic guitar. The arrangement is nice, and Beyoncé sounds very good. "Little Drummer Boy" is next, with an "appearance" by Solange Knowles, Beyoncé's little sister (I don't know if one line counts as a featured appearance). The harmonies are killer in this track, and it overall is very good. Kelly jumps in with "Do you Hear What I Hear", and her rendition of the song helps to make it one of the best tracks in the album. Her sweet voice blends well with the upbeat accompaniment. "White Christmas" is another standout track, and Michelle sounds especially good in this song. The harmonies are very well arranged in this track. "Platinum Bells," a remake of "Silver Bells" seems slightly out of place here, with the whole "Ladies/Christmas dolls" intro. Michelle takes her turn at the mike with her rendition of "O Holy Night." This really was not as good as I expected. I love Michelle's voice, but she went flat more than once during the song. It should have been pitched a bit lower, which is where her voice sounds the best. "Spread A Little Love On Christmas Day" and "This Christmas" are two power R&B cuts, with the catchy hooks DC is known for. The final track, "Opera Of The Bells" is definitely the best track on the album, with the girls using those pipes to their full potential. This is a good album, but only Destiny's Child fans will truly enjoy it.