Customer Reviews

A Christmas Cornucopia

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I'm a lifelong Annie Lennox fan and was excited about the release of this album. However, upon listening to it the first time through I couldn't help but think, "This is the ANGRIEST Christmas album I've ever listened to!" Another reviewer said Annie seems to be at "full throttle" throughout the album and that's a spot-on description. And yet I have already listened to the album several times over because the arrangements are interesting and different and INTENSE. Annie Lennox never ceases to fascinate the listener even if she is scaring the pants off you in a few songs. "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" sounds like she's storming the ramparts and if you don't lift a glass to holiday cheer she's going to kick your ass. "Coventry Carol" also has that intensity, but it works. The way "Il est né" is repeated in an atonal fashion shows Annie can be scary and intense in French, too. It's only on the last three songs that the throttle is pulled back a bit. "Universal Child" is haunting, lush and touchingly tender. It's a relief after the vehemence of the rest of the album. There is definitely passion in this recording which makes it worth purchasing and enjoying. Just do as she says and back away slowly!

Annie Lennox is an extremely talented individual who gives of herself more than many other artists out there. This Christmas collection is no exception. It is NOT for everybody however. Many of the selections are madrigal and obscure to the average individual. People who have taken voice, performance classes such as choral, and music educators would be the most likely to be ABLE to appreciate her efforts. Alas, the teeming masses yearning for Christmas make out music will need to look elsewhere. I found the unique twists on the songs to be very enjoyable and relaxing to listen to. I will be keeping this playing throughout the holidays.

True to her unique style of singing, Annie has come out with a new album that breaths life back into what has become a rather monotonous genre in the music category - the ever less varrying string of boring Christmas albums that are pumped out each year by artists whose time has long since past. Annie, on the otherhand, has put her all into this new album and released a wonderful array of beautifully rendered holiday classics. Her voice is still as vibrant as it ever was, and her unique style shines through on every song. I've listened to this album from start to finish, and I can honestly state that it is a masterpiece of music, with each song as unique as Annie herself, and with each song as satisfying to listen to as the last. Along with Enya's, and Sarah McLachlan's latest Christmas albums, Annie Lennox's newest album will definitely become an annual favorite of mine every holiday season going forward.

I've always loved listening (and dancing!) to Annie's music, so I was excited enough to order this far before its release. After giving it a listen, I'm ambivalent about this CD. The mixture of Christmas songs is very interesting -- traditional carols along with more unusual ones mixed in -- and the arrangements are so creative to be nearly startling. For example, Annie chose the less traditional Forest Green melody for Track #10, "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem," and weaves African drumming, penny whistle, and other embellishments into other tracks. There are small, delightful surprises in the way that each song unfolds.

While these ingredients and arrangements *should* have resulted in a 5-star album, what detracts (and distracts) from the music is, surprisingly, Annie's singing; every song is belted out at full throttle, on 8 cylinders. It's the equivalent of a bright, unrelenting sun that makes you squint. I know: that's how she sings. But some of these songs beg for softer expression, or at least nuance, and yet there's almost no varying from the FORCE with which she sings.

(The other distraction: on track #1, she sings "excelsis" wrong -- or else this word is pronounced very differently in the UK than in the US.)

I'm glad to have this in my music library, but it won't get played as often as my other Christmas music.

I don't want to bash anyone's negative review of the is CD but I'll simply state that those who had negative things to say about this CD are all wrong. What CD were you listening to?

I'm a fan of really well done Christmas songs and Christmas albums or which there are very few of the latter. I saw this in the store and I thought I'd give it a listen. It was simply amazing! For the last number of years we've been treated to so much treacle from top 40 artists who release a Christmas CD at the height of their careers to earn big from the Cash Cow of holiday music shoppers. Give me a break! With the exception of Leigh Nash and Sixpence None The Richer and their wonderful Christmas CDs, there has been nothing else outstanding in Christmas music...until now!

I'm not a huge fan of Lennox. In fact, I don't own any of her other music but I did enjoy "Pavement Cracks" & "The Saddest Song I've Got" from a few years ago. Lennox does have the chops though, I'll give her that. In this CD her voice is loud and raw and gentle and everything you want in a Christmas CD. A word of caution, you'll want to play this CD loud because that's how she sings it. There's full emotion in every song and you feel it because Annie Lennox puts everything she has into every song. The orchestration is beautiful and at times you wonder if the music is accompanying Lennox or is she accompanying the music. And that's it really, her voice is an instrument, as another has said, and it melds with the music.

Very rarely do you listen to something like this for the first time and are extremely moved. When it comes to Christmas music that has only happened a few times for me in the past few years. The first was a couple of years ago when I heard Frank Sinatra's version of Silent Night from 1991 while I was driving in my car. I hadn't heard it before and it was his last recorded song and it's full of that same rawness that's in this CD but Sinatra's is quieter and meant to be heard that way. The other time was with the aforementioned Sixpence None The Richer's "Dawn of Grade" Christmas CD. Leader singer Leigh Nash has such a beautiful voice and on "Dawn of Grace" and her own Christmas EP "Wishing For This", you find yourself entranced and honestly, I listen to her Christmas music throughout the year...it's that good.

But Christmas Cornucopia is about Annie Lennox and the selections are distinct and what Christmas is all about. You'll sing loud when you sing along and you'll listen hard when you just sit there and are amazed by her voice. For those who said they chucked this one in the garbage, I say dig it out and unplug from the top 40 and give this another listen. It doesn't get any better than this. Thank you Annie!

Not your shallow, commercial pop-holiday album here. This one's an awakening for soul and spirit, full of esoteric reminders of the true essence behind the celebration; that being the promise, labor and birth of Christ consciousness on the planet. The appearance of The African Children's Choir and African drums on some songs brings the experience right back to the cradle of civilization. A nice bonus is the included booklet containing Annie's message, the song lyrics and some very cool old-world visual art. It's spirituality without religion, so listen with your entire being!

If you like traditional Christmas music, you'll love this album. If you like Annie Lennox, you ought to love this album, too. If you can imagine Annie Lennox doing traditional Christmas music in her own inimitable way, and if you've enjoyed her most recent albums, then nothing here should surprise you.

Some reviewers have absolutely trashed this album, insisting that Lennox's voice is shot. They've awarded the album one star and used words like "grating," "screeching" "strained," and "processed" to describe her singing. Two reviewers claim to have thrown the album straight into the trash. I'm not sure if they're listening to the same album I'm hearing, because Lennox's vocals sound just like they've always sounded to me. If anything, her tone may have deepened over the years, but as far as I can tell she certainly hasn't lost her chops. I think I'm being objective when I say that Lennox's singing is as powerful and as haunting on this album as it's ever been. As for the musical arrangements, I think she manages to keep them reverent and appropriate to the material without compromising her signature sound.

I can only guess that certain listeners are disappointed that Lennox would record these traditional Christian carols in favor of the secular material for which she's best known. One reviewer boldly claims that Lennox's original compositions "far surpass the quality of the compositions she has chosen for A Christmas Cornucopia." Is he referring to time-tested classics like "Silent Night" or "The First Noel?" Another reviewer claims to have enjoyed only the secular "Universal Child," Lennox's one original composition on A Christmas Cornucopia. Of course these reviewers are free to express their opinions, but, assuming they knew what they were buying, I have to wonder why they ordered the album in the first place.

As I said earlier, nothing here should surprise you about this album if you've taken three seconds to read the song titles. If you buy this album expecting traditional Christmas carols sung by Annie Lennox in an Annie Lennox style -- I can't see how you could possibly be disappointed.

I like it, don't get me wrong. But (just for fun) compare it to the Fred Waring "Now Is The Caroling Season" CD/mp3 (available here). It was recorded only a few years after the horrors of World War Two.

There is a gentleness there without getting cloying in the Waring version.

It seems like Annie has to shout the music, as it's pretty hard to be more bombastic than the Mannheim Steamrollers of the world.

My favs from Annie are God Rest Ye, and In the Bleak Midwinter. And others posters are right, Lu-lay Lu-lay is NOT a lullaby. It's mourning the deaths from "The Slaughter of the Innocents." What better backup than women from parts of Africa where such monstrosities still happen.

Fred Waring is as comfortable as seeing old fashioned large Christmas tree bulbs. Annie is a bit more like those flashing LEDs out now. How 21st Century, eh?

The amazing, ever-artistic Annie Lennox presents us with a whole new take on traditional Christmas songs. Unique harmonies, strikingly evocative production, and a musical homage to both Merry Olde England and to the pagan roots of Yuletide. Aside from the use of pre-Christianity instruments that harken back to winter solstice festivals, the song selection is unapologetically Christ-related. There's not a snow man,a pumpkin pie, or a gift-wrapped present in sight. Yet, being the abstract, right-brained artist that she is, Christ comes across as a glorious, non-religious idea for humanity, a concept that everyone can strive for. It's all tied-up nicely with "Universal Child". "Cornucopia" is different. Perhaps not everyone's cup of grog, but I love it! Annie's vocals venture out to the classical/operatic side for this material, but she's also surrounded by the ethereal, pristine soprano counter-melodies we've come to expect from her.

This review is not just the accolade of a fan. Nor am I religious nor remotely a fan of the "holiday season". I crawl to the happy day when December 26th arrives. But good music helps. If I hadn't totally fallen for "Cornucopia", I would say so, or not write anything at all. I'm loathe now to admit I was even tempted to forgo purchasing it altogether. It's my humble opinion that one and two-star reviews for "A Christmas Cornucopia" are either written by listeners whose hearing is going, have terrible sound equiptment, or have only listened to samples on their PC's.

As a lifelong Annie Lennox fan, I was at first taken back by the stark lead vocal layer on most of the songs. No reverb, no richness added to the tracks like the "Winter Wonderland" vocal track of years ago. Annie chose a voice that one might hear in the days when Christmas Caroling was popular. A lone voice then joined by layer upon layer of precise, intricate melodies created mostly with Annies vocals but sprinkled with additions by the childrens choir she located in Africa. The arrangement of The Holly and the Ivy rocks with a "sing along with me" invitation that one cannot resist. The ending of the As Joseph Was a Walking with numerous layers of celestial "Alleluyahs" is incredible. Well worth the listen and the purchase. And no saxaphones in the bunch, thank you!