Lifetime Intimate Portraits: Christmas Belles

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 3, 2000)
• Original Release Date: October 3, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B00004XSZA
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #238,276 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Sleigh Ride

2. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

3. Warm December

4. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

5. Christmas Time Is Here

6. Jingle Bells Cha-Cha-Cha

7. Christmas Carousel

8. That's What I Want for Christmas

9. Papa Noel

10. Ole Santa

11. Silver Bells

12. Love Turns Winter to Spring

13. Snowbound

14. Santa Baby

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Christmas Belles" CD-It's a wonderful silk stocking stuffer, December 27, 2002

By 

Richard Vitaliano (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lifetime Intimate Portraits: Christmas Belles (Audio CD)

Wow, catch this one. Ella. Sarah. Eartha. Julie. Dinah. Pearl. Rosemary. Peggy. Nancy. Lena. June. Brenda. Judy. See? They're such famous female pop/jazz vocalists,you don't even need their last names to know you they are. Most of the Holiday tunes are perennial hits. But others are obscure treasures. For example, Julie London's "Warm December" and Sassy's "Snowbound" and Peggy Lee's "Christmas Carousel."

By the way, I was really annoyed by the revue written by one Raymond Hughes, of New Castle upon Tyne, Great Britain-- a self-proclaimed professional music critic. Raymond didn't like Rosemary Clooney's rendition of "Christmas Time is Here," the sensitive Vince Guaraldi jazz composition from The Charlie Brown Xmas special.
He said that Rosemary was over the hill when she made the recording, and that it was an embarrassment. Tsk, tsk, Raymond. Did the fact that Rosemary was singing in a lower register bother you? Her sensitivity to the lyrics was beautiful. Yet you didn't like the cut? I'll bet you were also perturbed when Frank Sinatra's voice matured and his voice dropped down to make him a great "saloon singer." Was he then over the hill too?

As a matter of fact, I was in a gift store and heard Rosemary singing the tune. I bought the CD because of her rendition!
Dear readers,"Christmas Belles", is a lovely Holiday CD.

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy it for Nancy Wilson's "That's What I Want For Christmas", December 4, 2004

By 

Elizabeth Kearns (Rhode Island) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lifetime Intimate Portraits: Christmas Belles (Audio CD)

I had heard this wonderful, romantic tune "That's What I Want For Christmas" a while back and could only find it on this collection. The piece is so well crafted, and Nancy Wilson sings it with such heartfelt longing, it's just beautiful. This song speaks to what we all truly want in our lives, not just for Christmas (a hint: it's not sugar plums).
I bought the disc solely for this one song, but I have to admit that the rest of the selections are great, too. Highlights for me are "Sleigh Ride", made fresh again for me by this distinctively 'Ella' rendition, Judy Garland's deliciously rich "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" and the cute, campy "Jingle Bells Cha Cha Cha" by Pearl Bailey.
Yes, this disc is definitely worth buying- a great find!

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding collection, wonderful choices, December 13, 2000

By 

Elizabeth (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lifetime Intimate Portraits: Christmas Belles (Audio CD)

Despite the somewhat cheesy "Lifetime Intimate Portraits" branding, this collection of Christmas songs sung by various female vocalists is outstanding. The pacing is wonderful, moving smoothly from more upbest to slower and back again, and some of the choices (e.g., Papa Noel, sung by Brenda Lee) are refreshingly unusual without causing "What the heck is THAT?" shock. My only gripe would be the choice of the ubiquitous "Santa Baby" done by Eartha Kitt - it seems to go on forever, and haven't we heard it enough yet? The liner notes are great, also. I keep this one in my desktop computer at work, and never grow tired of listening to it. Merry Christmas!