Customer Reviews

Joy to the World

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

 

 

Well, this is an interesting compilation... make no mistake this CD was NOT a project. This is strictly a Sony compilation from Sony's vault... Actually the Christmas songs on this CD can be had on many other CD's that are currently out there. However, Aretha & Mavis Staple singing "Oh Happy Day" together is worth the price of admission!!! That's the gem on this compilation. AFter listening to that, I mailed my church my tithes!!!Also, "Over the Rainbow" sounds like a young Patti Labelle singing instead of Aretha. Aretha may be playing the piano, but it's DEFINITELY Patti vocals... Why Patti wasn't credit in the insert is befuddling... Patti, Sony just may owe you a check!!

As an Aretha aficionado, I enjoy 99.9% of everything she does. Girlfriend could sing the phone book to me and I'd be thrilled. This Holiday collection is nice...not all songs are related to the Season. Her duet with Mavis Staples is excellent and of course her Winter Wonderland is a classic. If anyone wants something a little different for the Holidays, this could be a nice CD as an alternative to what's on your normal playlist.

Aretha's take on "Joy to the world" is one of the best I've heard. It is exactly what you would expect from her. I can never understand what makes her tick, but I guess that is what genius is. I've collected all these songs over the years on separate issues, but it's very nice to finally have them all on one disc.

What can you say, but simply fantastic! Can't imagine a holiday without her music.

Every once in a while you will come across a book, a cd, a picture, that just makes you thrilled to be alive to experience it. Cut No. 2 - "Oh, Happy Day" performed on this cd by Aretha Franklin and Mavis Staples - is one of those songs. This emotional, soulful, joyful rendition of Edwin Hawkins' 70's song will have you on your feet, hand in the air, palm up, singing and rejoicing in being alive to hear it. What an experience! The cd would be worth twice the money just for that one song; however, the other songs on the cd are also very worthwhile. It is really not a Xmas cd despite a few old standbys. It is more a compilation of some unusual cuts by Aretha, who was in her glory days - voice rich, full of soul and talent. The Queen at her best. Don't miss it.

Aretha, is just the best. I love her vocal inflections. She just breathes and the magic is there.

This is a very strange album. I've always been a very big fan of Aretha's work on Columbia Records. If they had kept this album to her early '60s input for the lable, I would have probably cherished the compliation for the best you could get from the era.

But half of the album is from her '70s and '90s gospel albums for Arista (since those masters are now owned by Sony/Columbia). What we're left with is a curious mash-up of two distinctly different styles. I don't think fans of her early '60s material OR her Gospel period would find this disc satisfying at all. Maybe someone should've released two differen EPs and allowed the fans to pick up the CD from the era they like best.

As it stands, to my ears nothing comes together. It therefore makes her newest "This Christmas" album (even though it sure doesn't have THESE vocals) the preferable choice.

Despite the neat photos of a young (and slim) Aretha, this is not exactly a compilation of Christmas songs from Columbia, her pre-Atlantic label. Instead, as the liner information reveals, it only contains three (3) holiday tunes cut for her first label - the ubiquitious Winter Wonderland (1964), the Christmas Song (1961), and the jazzy "Kissin' By The Mistletoe (1961). Four other songs were licensed from Arista,and cut many, many years later, while the three remaining tracks (which do come from Columbia's vaults) bear little connection to the holiday - "Over The Rainbow" (1961), "Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive" (1962), and "God Bless The Child" (1962). The CD is also a bit brief, with only ten tracks, although the longer nature of her more recent material brings the length into the range of respectability.

Ultimately, the value rises or falls on Aretha's vocal talents, and, thankfully, those remain abundant, particularly as noted by other reviewers. So this will be of interest to casual fans, but others already in possession of the pre-Atlantic trifecta of holiday tunes may wish to look elsewhere for her Arista tracks.

Hey, this is Aretha Franklin! Therefore, I was expecting to hear better musical arrangements on a few of the ordinary songs so she could 'belt it out'! Not so on this cd. Unfortunately, this was a let down. Other than the beautiful spiritual hymns, Aretha's delivery is just ordinary.

Sorry Ree, but it's the truth in my opinon.