Customer Reviews

Comfort & Joy

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Please ignore the Scrooge reviewing before me. This CD is fun and entertaining. They bring some new sound to some classics that tend to get older each year.

I am sitting here listening to Rocapella's new Christmas release - "Comfort & Joy". If you are a fan of last years Christmas album - RUN to pick this one up as well. If you have not had the pleasure of either of Rockapella's Christmas CD's in you r player at the holidays - do yourself a favor and put these at the top of your wish list! GREAT SINGING, GREAT SONGWRITING, GREAT ARRANGMENTS ON CLASSICS!

This is the classic work of Rockapella for all those who know and love their music. However, it is not the best work that they done. I still prefer their album "Christmas" during the holidays. George Baldi's voice is very smooth and melodious, but I think that it will take more time for him to be truly integrated with their unique style. It does have a different sound than their previous work, but their origional songs such as "Little Mary Snowflake", "Love and the Lights" and "This Christmas Day" keeps with their tradition of wonderful music. It is fun to listen to and gets you in the Christmas spirit.

I have a very hard time giving a bad review for Rockapella, so I can't give it a low rating, but I can't give it a high rating, as much as I'd like to, so I'll simply have to settle with 'It was good, but it wasn't.' Trust me, this review hurts to write. Rambling aside, I'll start with the good points.

"Little Mary Snowflake", "This Christmas Day", "Please Come Home For Christmas", "Snowstar", and "Peace on Earth". Jeff Thacher needs to be more involved in writing and arranging. Seriously. "Peace on Earth" is a beautifully written and performed song and I for one would love to hear more of his work done by Rockapella. Forgive me, Scott Leonard fans, I love his voice and his arranging skills which is why I included several of his songs on the "must have" list, but his songs make no sense. Even Sean Altman's songs, which were on the bizarre side to begin with, had a point. I like the melodies Scott comes up with and I could listen to him sing the phone book, but he obviously didn't take Songwriting 101: If You're Going To Write Lyrics, Don't Confuse Your Listener.

I know it's hard to justify paying $$$ for a CD when you can only recommend 5 songs out of 12, but those make up for the other 7. And there's really nothing *wrong* with the other 7 songs, but I just don't like them enough to give them two thumbs up. My biggest disappointments were with "I'll Be Home For Christmas", "Home For The Holidays", and "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree". I disagree with people who say George Baldi isn't a good fit with Rockapella, because I think he is. He just doesn't show it on his solo song. It starts out very well, but it ends badly and went on a few chorus repeats too long. "Home For The Holidays" isn't bad, but it was already done on "Bash" (or was it "Out Cold"? I can't remember offhand.) and was done better. Besides, if you're going to try to imitate trombones, try to sound like trombones. Glenn Miller was turning over in his grave, guys. "Rockin'" has a rather odd tempo and while I adore Kevin, he just wasn't the right choice for this song. I'm not sure Scott would have been either, so I don't know who should have performed it.

"It's A Small World" is sweet and the addition of the PellaKids was great, and that's really all I can say about this one.

Like I said, this review was extremely hard to write, more so as I loved "Smilin'" from start to finish and was expecting to love "Comfort & Joy" even better. Oh well, you can't be perfect all the time, and expecting to be blown away by every new CD is unrealistic. I'll still play this CD, but I'm afraid "Christmas" will probably get more time on my CD player.

Ah, the first album with all bass comepletely done with George. Now that I've heard the album all the way through I have a few things to say. First, George isn't HORRIBLE. He's got potential, however I just feel his technique doesn't fit in with the group. The bass in most of the songs is just way too thumpy and distracting IMO. It just doesn't give the music the strong backbone that it needs, and once had with Barry. One song he does decently on is Peace on Earth. The rest, I just don't feel he blends with the group. He has muych more of a Boys 2 Men sound than he does a Rockapella sound. This all surprises me because I thought he blended very well on Here Comes the Sun and after hearing that, I had high hopes.
As for the rest of the CD, It has its high points and a couple low points.
Up until now, I've never actually disliked a Rockapella song so much that I couldn't bear to listen to it, and was embarassed to let others hear it. That's all changed with Kevin's rendition of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." First off, the arrangement is pure cheese. Secondly, Kevin doen NOT have the right voice for this song. Another low point is the "snowowowowow" repetitions in Snowstar. I feel this song could have been one of the strongest tracks on the album, if it weren't for those parts.
On "I'll be Home For Chrismas," bassist George almost sounds like a lounge singer or something. His voice is just too smooth and again, sounds better suited for Take 6 or B2M than he does Rockapella. His voice doesn't convey much personality on this song either, leaving the vocals sounding very stiff. However, the intro to this song is some of the most beautiful harmony the group has *ever* done.

I did enjoy Love and Lights, Peace on Earth, Merry Christmas Darling, and Please Come Home For Christmas the most. Kevin and Jeff did wonderful jobs on Love and Lights and Peace on Earth, respectively. Merry Christmas Darling is beautiful and rich, definitely one of brightest points of the disc. Same with Peace on Earth, Jeff's contribution. This Christmas Day is a decent song, as is Little Mary Snowflake (which has a part that bears a striking resemblence to the "Legends of my youth" line in their song "All That Comes to Mind.)
While their arrangement of the song sounds decent, "Its a Small World" has nothing to do with Christmas and doesn't fit with their rest of the album. They definitely could have stuck another track on the album in place of that one. Also, I didn't really see the point in recording "Home For the Holidays" again, especially since the arrangement is IDENTICAL to the BASH version, right down to the horn solo.
Overall, I'd give this CD three stars out of five, due to the bass work.

Quite simply, this is the best CD Rockapella has done. I have all of their music and they have outdone themselves! I was said to hear of Barry's departure but the group is still as great as ever. Thumbs up to all! You couldn't ask for a better Holiday recording. Thanks guys and a must have..

For the first time in my two-plus years as a Rockapella fan, I am disenchanted with one of their albums. I had anticipated "Comfort and Joy" for months; however, I find myself feeling indifferent toward most of the tracks. The album as a whole feels rushed, and most of the songs failed to grab me in any way. I question the inclusion of "It's a Small World," because to me that song is not a holiday tune in the least. "I'll Be Home for Christmas" feels WAY too Perry Cuomo-ish, and did we REALLY need a remake of "Home for the Holidays?" The album's biggest bomb, though, is "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree;" Kevin Wright is an extremely talented individual, but his voice is simply too soft and sweet to pull this song off effectively.

On the flip side, "Little Mary Snowflake" is very reminiscent of an earlier RP Christmas song, "Give," and the lyrics contain some very lovely imagery. Scott Leonard's vocals on "Please Come Home for Christmas" are sublime; his banter during the middle section of the song will have you in stitches. "Peace on Earth," a song co-written by Jeff Thacher, is terribly romantic and very moving, and reveals to the listener that songwriting is yet another of Jeff's many talents. Finally, RP's version of The Carpenters' classic "Merry Christmas Darling" is simply a melodious work of art; it's easily my favorite track on the album.

I continue to support and love Rockapella, but quite frankly, this album is a disappointment. At least there's "Bash!" and "Christmas," both of which will find more frequent playtime in my CD player than "Comfort and Joy." Sorry, guys, but dem's da breaks.

Our family is addicted. We listen to the album year-round and are all delighted by the upbeat, playful, renditions old favorites, blown away by the new favorites. It crosses all generations and genders. Brilliant.

I feel like this cd is getting alot more less than stellar reviews than it deserves. While I will tend to agree that I don't think this cd is as good as their 1st Christmas cd, I think that this cd is musically just as good. I think that since many of these songs aren't classics that it has a bit of a new Christmas feel to it. However I will say coming from someone with a significant amount of experience in acapella vocal performance that this groups harmonies and lyrics are as tight and creative as ever. True Rockapella fans have no need to worry about the personnel changes the group has endured, while it provides a different feel than Barry the big bad bass, I think that the sound is still exceptional.

This cd is well worth the purchase, and I hope this group continues to grow and make superb music.

Rockapella needs to get back to making really great CD's like "Dont Tell Me You Do" and "2". The original Christmas CD was great, but this one doesnt have the same feel, because it feels like its already been done. With the past four Rockapella releases being a concert, a "tribute to summer", and 2 Christmas CD's, Rockapella needs to go back into the studio and write some all original stuff so they can put out a great 5-star record again.