Customer Reviews

Christmas Memories

5 star:		(87)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

This review refers to the Barbra Streisand "Christmas Memories" CD.....

There is no doubt that this is one beautiful album. The music, the words, and Barbra's wonderful tones combine for a CD that will have anyone mesmerized, and leave fans delighted.Barbra seems to put her heart and soul into such classics as "I'll Be Home For Christmas" and "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve" and her rendition of "Ave Maria" is very moving and almost too beautiful for words.

There are twelve tracks including "A Christmas Love Song" a wonderful melody composed by Johnny Mandel and "I Remember" by Stephen Sondheim(see buying info for complete list).Most of the songs are dreamy, romantic and sentimental.As far as Streisand albums go, it's fabulous.

If you are looking for something really 'Christmassy' though, you won't find that here. As I said the music is beautiful, but it just doesn't say Christmas to me. This would be nice for a romantic dinner for two or just quiet listening for fans. There are no upbeat holdiay tunes included in the mix to bring good cheer.

The CD quality is excellent.Barbra's voice and the music fill the room wonderfully.

I would recommned this to fans who just can't get enough of Barbra, but not for a holiday party.

Happy Holidays...Laurie
also recommended:
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The greatest living pop singer of our time, lush orchestrations, emotional depth, surprising material -- it all adds up to one of her best albums. I'm rather amazed at some of the criticism levelled at this record for being too slow and too "down". Is this because it doesn't feature the same songs included on countless other Christmas albums? Or because the songs aren't instantly recognizable sing-alongs? As for the tone of the record, other than the masterful melancholy of "I Remember," and plea of "Grown-up Christmas List", the ten other tracks are either romantic and hopeful, and in every case, incredibly evocative of the holiday season. Not since "The Broadway Album" and "Yentl" has she sung with more passion and subtlety. She is the best ballad singer there is, and I don't mean the contrived power-pop ballad, but something far more adult and sophisticated. And has anyone listened to Streisand's first Christmas album recently? Besides the frenetic opener, "Jingle Bells", it's one slow ballad after another, and in this opinion, a less cohesive sound than this current Christmas album. This new work is a holiday album about spirit and emotion, and reminds us of what it is to be human and feel something. Stop and listen. This is music for our time, and the season.

This album is classic Barbra: powerful but vulnerable, articulate yet emotional , truly passionate and musically inspired. On even the first listening I was moved to utter chills by "Grown-up Christmas List". I immediately responded to its lyrics in the context of our new, post September 11, world. "I Remember" is a somber choice for a Christmas album, but don't we all have some bitter holiday memories that never fade? "One God" is a joyously affirmative album finale that celebrates the triumph of Love over hatred and division. And, to me, that's the real Spirit of Christmas.

Much of the album is romantic and wistful, and I certainly enjoy that too. But these three songs are deeply compelling.

Bravo Barbra!

"Christmas Memories" contains Barbra Streisand's best vocals since "The Broadway Album" and some of the performances are career highs. The last four songs in particular are all outstanding... "My Grown Up Christmas List" is incredible, a new "Ave Maria", the hauntibly beautiful "Closer" and the perfect closing song "One God". The songs here are less traditional than on "A Christmas Album" and can appeal to people of all religions. Recorded live with a 90-piece orchestra, this new collection will no doubt be as great a classic as her first. The first 8 songs spin a mellow and pleasant Christmas atmosphere that will make excellent background music in many homes this holiday season, but it is songs like "My Grown Up Christmas List" that I dare radio stations to latch on to... how beautiful a sentiment to think of adults still having the same sense of joy at Christmas as they did as children, with only their wishes changing... Of course, "Closer" would be a great choice in these troubled times. This is undoubtedly Barbra Streisand's best album in many years... the lady has still got it!

Her best studio album since "The Broadway Album." Streisand's singing on her past two albums has taken on a darker tone, but no less passionate and thrilling, yet the material wasn't always up to the par of singing. Here, the songs suit the singer, and there's nothing like it when that singer is Streisand. The arrangements are gorgeous, and the singing has an immediacy that makes the emotion even more powerful. She also not afraid to expose the occassional cracks in her delivery, which only add to the sincerity of the performances. The album's masterpiece is "I Remember" which is a tour-de-force of song/actress/singer. So many other highlights: "Snowbound," "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve," "Ave Maria," "I'll Be Home for Christmas," "Grown Up Christmas List," "One God." I suspect that this will be one of the biggest albums of her career, and deservedly so. Say what you will, but there is no better singer in pop music alive today.

I love Barbra's voice so much I bought this cd without sampling it first. I have to admit that if I had listened to it first I probably would not have bought it. All of the songs have the same general tone. They are all very soft and melodic with lots of orchestration. There aren't any peppy songs to break the mood. It's too bad she didn't experiment more. Listening to a song or two is fine but listening to the whole album makes me bored.

This is exactly what I was hoping for when I discovered that Barbra was releasing a second Christmas album. It is a superb selection of songs, well chosen to suit Barbra's powerful soprano voice.

I was particularly pleased at the inclusion of It must have been the mistletoe, a rarely recorded song. It appears on Barbara Mandrell's album Christmas at our house and has also been recorded by Vikki Carr, but I know of no other versions. The only frequently recorded songs here are I'll be home for Christmas and Ave Maria, but Barbra sings them beautifully, as she sings all the songs here. The other familiar song is What are doing New Year's Eve. I do not recognize any of the other songs here but they are all wonderful - I particularly like Christmas memories and Grown up Christmas list.

I prefer this to Barbra's 1967 Christmas album but I know that there are plenty who will disagree. You must make up your own mind. My main reason for preferring this one is that, overall, I feel the song selection was superior.

I've read some of these. I think every artist's work deserves to be rated on its own merits, with consideration to available facts. We have here one of the greatest vocalists the world has ever known, beyond question. This is also a singer who is reaching her later years. I wouldn't buy her records if all I was interested in was comparing her to Celine Dion, who I also enjoy, but who is in an earlier period of her vocal life. Celine will be incredibly lucky to show this kind of staying power and vocal health when she is 58, as would any singer.

Above all my impression here is a sophisticated musicality, sensitivity to text and phrasing... and perhaps most important... that indefinable "something" that is the chemistry of Barbra Streisand and is incorporated in her "style": her personal stamp that shines through and that, I think, is seldom deliberate, but instead a natural and extremely rare gift. That's why we have Barbra Streisand, instead of words about Barbra Streisand. That's why we have art and not just words about art. Her singing is as intimate as a cup of coffee with a dear friend and/or as big as New York City at the same time. You hear that from the first phrase of "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and through most of the songs in this collection.

I find it an interesting collection... not the usual holiday fare but not remote either, and I don't know about you, but I'm at the age where the same carols over and over every year, frankly, can be a minor annoyance.

So I treasure her performance in particular of the Stephen Sondheim song...she still has the magic. As Quincy Jones put it, she's one of those rare beings who was touched by God. I believe that about Barbra.

I also think she is in one the most interesting stages of her career and I anticipate great things to come. I only hope that she doesn't let the usual stuff that happens to mature actresses happen to her... as when the camera pans over to Olivia de Havilland and she looks filtered through gauze. Such things rob women of their strength and their real beauty. It also robs the film itself of its integrity.

I've always loved Streisand's face almost as much as her voice, and I want to see it in a Woody Allen movie soon, playing an integral role in one of his ensembles... or something like that.

Thanks,

Cat

Love the voice. No doubt she has talent, but really... Can she get some help on song selection. Really weak Christmas CD. Droned on and on. Not festive, not uplifting, not spirtual. This is not a CD you would put on while trimming the tree. Better luck next time.

I was very excited to see that Babs was releasing a new Christmas CD since her first one is one of my all-time favorite Christmas albums. However, this new one is uninspired and dull with little Christmas feel to it. Each time I played it, I found my attention drifting off. Compared to the brilliant Linda Eder Christmas CD full of beautiful renditions of traditional and new songs, Barbra's comes off lacking in every way. Sorry, I really wanted to love it.