Customer Reviews

Christmas Peace

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Another repackaging of the 20 Christmas songs that Elvis recorded during his career. The twist on this package that makes it different from previous Christmas releases (such as "White Christmas" and "If Every Day Was Like Christmas") is the second CD containing 20 Gospel songs.

Elvis' performance of the earlier Christmas songs (the ones recorded in the 50's and 60's) are outstanding! Elvis is in top form for these songs and several of them have become Christmas classics still receiving radio play 50 years after they were recorded! The Christmas songs recorded in the 70's are good but not in the same class as the earlier recordings. His performances of the Gospel songs on the second CD are excellent!

If you are looking for a collection of Elvis Christmas music AND some of his mellow Gospel songs, this is the collection for you!

However, if you are just wanting Elvis Christmas songs, I would recommend that you save a few bucks and buy the "If Every Day Was Like Christmas" CD, which contains all 20 Christmas songs found here plus 4 alternate versions on a single CD, making it the most comprehensive Elvis Christmas collection available. If you are just looking for some Elvis Gospel music I would recommend you buy the Elvis "Ultimate Gospel" CD.

This is a fine collection (if not a complete one) of Elvis' holiday and spiritual selections. His voice on both CD's is fabulous, as always, and the sound quality is supurb. The first selections show Elvis in his younger years, rocking and rolling. The later selections show a more reflective mood, when his voice sounds more bluesy. Both eras show an incredibly gifted man with an undeniable talent in interpreting songs. This also shows that before Springsteen, Madonna, Neil Young or anybody was labeled a "Genius" for reinventing themselves, Elvis had already done it many times over. In 1957 no other rock star would have done a Christmas album, let alone a Christmas album containing religious standards. Elvis would end up releasing another Christmas album and three religious albums throughout his career, as well as sing songs from every genre of music. It is clear that Elvis is having fun, and that he truly loves the songs he is singing (especially the gospel numbers). So if you want the best Christmas and gospel music done by the greatest artist is the history of music, this CD is for you. Hopefully it will just be a taste and you will dig further for more music by the King, if you aren't already a fan. TCB !!!

I dig Elvis doing Gospel&Christmas Music.His voice fits both styles solidly here.this is a welcome addition to any music collection.this is a great compliment to His Vocal range&all-Around depth as a Artist.

Christmas Peace by Elvis Presley has made our home soooo festive and warm. Elvis' voice is dream-like. He sings the Christmas classics like no one else can. He is at the top of his game here.

The gospel songs are interesting as I have not been a gospel music fan. However, I am now exposed to gospel, Elvis style !!

Really a great CD. Buy it and share it with all generations of your family.

"Christmas Peace" Follows The Two Hits Collections!! The Sound On All Of These Cds Are Stunning, Making Them Sound As If They Were Recorded Today!!! I Have Been An ELVIS Fan For Years & Have Bought His Cds, Dvds & Videos But The New Sound Is Worth Buying Repeats!!! Please RCA/BMG Release More ELVIS Cds!!! Favorite Tracks Are... "White Christmas", "On A Snowy Christmas Night", "Holly Leaves And Christmas Trees", "Crying In The Chapel", "Amazing Grace" & "I Beleive"!!! Happy Holidays One & All

If you love Elvis....this is a must have. Elvis Presley singing Christmas and Gospel in one set....Too Awesome. This CD is not as good as "If Everyday Was Like Christmas." That CD had some outtakes of his Christmas songs. RCA/BMG the fans want more outtakes of Elvis doing gospel and Christmas. How about a Follow That Dream CD of Christmas?

Few can deny Elvis Presley's overwhelming influence on the rock music genre. If he didn't invent the style, as a handful of dissenters contend, he certainly defined it and inarguably reigns, by a staggering margin, as its number one selling artist of all time. BMG's latest Elvis release, "Christmas Peace," demonstrates the sphere of his influence goes beyond the parameters of rock and roll, impacting two musical sub-cultures: Gospel and Holiday Seasonal. Elvis's song catalog from these genres is voluminous and his overall record sales for each group far surpass the totals of any respective competitor. In fact, according to the CD's liner notes, the "King of Rock and Roll" has sold over 100 million Christmas and spiritual records in his career!!!! "Christmas Peace" is a savvy pairing of the two similar styles and spotlights 20 of Elvis's finest gospel tunes and an equal number of his Christmas recordings. Following the pattern established with last years mega-hit "Elvis 30 #1 Hits" and this years Top-Ten release "Elvis 2nd to None", BMG offers in chronological order, samplings of Elvis's songs from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Disc 1 (Christmas) highlights include Elvis's signature holiday song, the brooding "Blue Christmas" and the rollicking "Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me." "If Everyday Was Like Christmas," "If I Get Home on Christmas Day," and the very soulful "Merry Christmas Baby" are standouts, as is "Winter Wonderland"; a song so infectiously bouncy you cannot help but sing along!!! Disc 2 (Peace) features all of the King's most important spiritual selections. The standard classics include "Peace in the Valley" and "How Great Thou Art" (unfortunately, the 1960s studio version, not the more sweeping and moving concert version of the early 1970s) and "Amazing Grace." "Crying in the Chapel," a 1965 release that hit Number 1 on the pop charts is a beautiful ballad but seems out of place in this grouping. Of the 1970s offerings, "An Evening Prayer" and "He Touched Me" best demonstrate Elvis's remarkable vocals. Disc 1 is just a good a compilation of Elvis's Christmas material as any previously released. Disc 2, because of the 20 song limitation, merely provides a glimpse of Presley's brilliant gospel catalog (to get the complete picture, one must purchase the 1994 box set "Amazing Grace: His Greatest Sacred Performances). But for those seeking to capture the best of both worlds, "Christmas Peace" is a collection worth having.

I'll give this cd a 5 star---------BUT WHERE IS THE CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM ELVIS-----WHICH I REALLY WANTED TO HEAR ?????? On the Christmas cd #8 states Christmas Message from Elvis on the discription list of Songs. I received this cd and there is no suchChristmas Message !! (VERY DISAPPOINTING) !!!! On the Cd Disc #1 (Christmas) if you look at the back where the list of songs are it does not say anything about this message being on the disc----Amazon has this WRONG on their list---Because it IS NOT THERE !!! BUT I would still get this CD---It's Still GREAT because it's ELVIS !!!! I LOVE ELVIS -----So I WANT ANYTHING HE SINGS !!! So get this cd, Elvis' Singing will NEVER let you be sorry ! I could never get threw the Holiday's or any other day without this CD ! This is a great christmas CD, don't let the fact that there is no Elvis message on this stop you from odering this If you want to have Peaceful Holidays you will love this cd. There is no way I could handle Christmas without Elvis! Dina

Christmas Peace is an excellent album that everyone who likes Elvis Presley should own. It combines one CD of Christmas songs with one CD of the Gospel songs that were so close to his heart. They are not only inspirational to listen to, they also show that Elvis was a deeply Christian man who was overwhelmed by his life circumstances. Would any of us do better? You cannot sing with the conviction he does on his Gospel selections and not believe it. The songs on this album capture both the sacred season of Christmas and the sacred theme of Gospel music.

In chronological order, this album comprises the eight Christmas songs that Elvis recorded in 1957, the one he recorded in 1966 and eleven tracks that hr recorded in 1971. I'm not absolutely sure if this is every Christmas song that Elvis ever recorded, but if there was much missing I'd know about it. The eight 1957 tracks were made into a twelve-track album by the addition of four gospel songs recorded at around the same time but which aren`t included here; while those tracks wouldn't be out of place on a Christmas album, they are easily obtained elsewhere, especially on compilations of Elvis' gospel music. Indeed, when this particular Christmas compilation was first released, I remember it being available as part of a double album, with the other part being a compilation of Elvis' gospel songs. I didn't buy it then because I already had a double CD of Elvis' gospel music and had the 1957 and 1966 tracks, together with one of the 1971 tracks, elsewhere. However, I eventually bought this compilation, some time after it appeared as a single CD, to get the other ten tracks.

The 1957 tracks mainly comprised Christmas classics, though not everybody appreciated Elvis' interpretation of some of them. If those critics were shocked then, they got an even bigger shock when they heard the Phil Spector Christmas album six years later. At this distance in time, those 1957 recordings don't sound all that radical but they still sound distinctive. At least one original song (Santa Claus is back in town) was included, while another (Santa bring my baby back to me) sounds as if it could have been an original, but I don't think it is. I believe the solitary 1966 track (If every day was like Christmas) is also original.

The 1971 tracks offer a more adventurous selection, with just four well-worn classics (O come all ye faithful, First Noel, Winter wonderland, Silver bells), plus Merry Christmas baby (a classic, but not so well-worn) and a lot of tracks that may be original, but are in any case rarely recorded by other singers (On a snowy Christmas night, Wonderful world of Christmas, It won't seem like Christmas without you, I'll be home on Christmas Day, If I get home on Christmas Day, Holly leaves and Christmas trees). Some of the obscure songs are brilliant and deserve to be better known.

This is a great Christmas album that has plenty of familiar classic songs (about half the songs here overall) but also a fair number of obscurities, all delivered superbly by Elvis Presley.