Customer Reviews

Now That's What I Call Christmas! 2

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As of now, there's no tracklisting listed here for this album, so here it is.

(1.) "Opera of the Bells" by Destiny's Child
(2.) "O Come All Ye Faithful" by Stacie Orrico
(3.) "I Don't Wanna Spend One More Christmas Without You" by 'N Sync
(4.) "Santa Baby" by Kylie Minogue
(5.) "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" by B2K
(6.) "Step Into Christmas" by Elton John
(7.) "Jingle Bells" by Jimmy Buffett
(8.) "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey
(9.) "Do You Hear What I Hear?" by Vince Gill
(10.) "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" by Aaron Neville
(11.) "Last Christmas" by Wham!
(12.) "Christmas Through Your Eyes" by Gloria Estefan
(13.) "Christmas Wrapping" by Waitresses
(14.) "Christmas to Remember" by Amy Grant
(15.) "Silent Night" by Charlotte Church
(16.) "Please Come Home for Christmas" by Luther Vandross
(17.) "O Holy Night" by Celine Dion
(18.) "Peace" by Norah Jones
(19.) "Winter Wonderland" by Louis Armstrong
(20.) "I'll Be Home for Christmas" by Barbra Streisand
(21.) "Silver Bells" by Johnny Mathis
(22.) "Little Drummer Boy" by Lou Rawls
(23.) "Happy Holiday" by Peggy Lee
(24.) "Christmas Blues" by Dean Martin
(25.) "Run, Rudolph Run" by Chuck Berry
(26.) "Baby, It's Cold Outside" by Cerys
(27.) "Feliz Navidad" by José Feliciano
(28.) "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" by Burl Ives
(29.) "First Noel" by Andy Williams

(30.) "I Know What I Want for Christmas" by George Strait
(31.) "O Little Town of Bethlehem" by Yolanda Adams
(32.) "Kentucky Homemade Christmas" by Kenny Rogers
(33.) "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by Andy Griffith
(34.) "Adeste Fideles" by London Voices
(35.) "There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays" by Barry Manilow
(36.) "Auld Lang Syne" by Guy Lombardo

These two Christmas music selections could be the only two you own and you'd have a terrific holiday party! NTWICC! and now NTWICC! The Signature Collection have captured the most popular and enduring pop Christmas songs of the last few decades for your listening pleasure.

On this newest edition, the first disc is called 'Now and Forever' featuring some of the newer pop artists like Stacie Orrico, N*Sync, and B2K. My favorites on disc 1 are Destiny's Child: Opera of the Bells, Norah Jones: Peace, and Celine Dion: O Holy Night. You also get the classics by Elton John: Step Into Christmas and Wham!: Last Christmas.

Disc 2 is called 'Then and Always' featuring classic artists such as Louis Armstrong: Winter Wonderland, Peggy Lee: Happy Holiday, Chuck Berry: Run, Rudolph, Run, and Dean Martin: The Christmas Blues. My favorites on this disc are Barbra Streisand: I'll Be Home For Christmas, the ever popular Burl Ives: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Yolanda Adams: O Little Town of Bethlehem.

There is something for everyone on this 36 track collection and you just can't go wrong with it!

Some of the songs are wonderful but I could do without Destiny's Child and B2K doing their renditions of some old classics. Good thing there is a fast forward button on the cd player. I LOVE the classic songs sung by Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, etc. It does have a good variety of music.

This is a 2 disc album full of nothing but Christmas songs. There are 36 songs total (Great price for so many great Christmas songs!)

The playlist:
1. Opera of the Bells by Destiny's Child
2. O Come All Ye Faithful by Stacie Orrico
3. I Don't Wanna Spend One More Christmas Without You by 'N Sync
4. Santa Baby by Kylie Minogue
5. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town by B2K
6. Step Into Christmas by Elton John
7. Jingle Bells by Jimmy Buffett
8. All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey
9. Do You Hear What I Hear? by Vince Gill
10. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear by Aaron Neville
11. Last Christmas by Wham!
12. Christmas Through Your Eye by Gloria Estefan
13. Christmas Wrapping by Waitresses
14. Christmas to Remember by Amy Grant
15. Silent Night by Charlotte Church
16. Please Come Home for Christmas by Luther Vandross
17. O Holy Night by Celine Dion
18. Peace by Norah Jones
19. Winter Wonderland by Louis Armstrong
20. I'll Be Home for Christmas by Barbra Streisand

21. Silver Bells by Johnny Mathis
22. Little Drummer Boy by Lou Rawls
23. Happy Holiday by Peggy Lee
24. Christmas Blues by Dean Martin
25. Run, Rudolph Run by Chuck Berry
26. Baby, It's Cold Outside by Cerys
27. Feliz Navidad by José Feliciano
28. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by Burl Ives
29. First Noel by Andy Williams
30. I Know What I Want for Christmas by George Strait
31. O Little Town of Bethlehem by Yolanda Adams
32. Kentucky Homemade Christmas by Kenny Rogers
33. Go Tell It on the Mountain by Andy Griffith
34. Adeste Fideles by London Voices
35. There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays by Barry Manilow
36. Auld Lang Syne by Guy Lombardo

This is a very good, eclectic mix of Christmas music to get you through the holidays. I was very glad to see that they added All I want For Christmas is You by Mariah Carey, which I think is one of the best original Christmas songs to come out in years - I was surprised to not see it on the first Now That's What I Call Christmas CD. If you are wondering why certain obvious classics aren't on here such as Bing Crosby singing White Christmas and Frank Sinatra singing Have Yourself A Merry little Christmas and Johnny Mathis singing The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, it's because they are all on the first Now That's What I Call Christmas CD, which is also a must have!
As one reviewer already stated, there is something for everyone on this CD!

This CD is just as good as the first one.Here are the tracks I recommend:

1.Destiny's Child-Opera Of The Bells 5/5 This is a good song, but most of the song is sung by Beyonce.
2.Kylie Minogue-Santa Baby 5/5 This remake is good, but Madonna's version is better.
3.Mariah Carey-All I Want For Christmas Is You 5/5 The best song on the album.
4.Vince Gill-Do You Hear What I Hear? 5/5 A good song and remake by this country singer.
5.Wham!-Last Christmas 5/5 It is a good song, but it is too long: 6:34
6.Barbera Streisand-I'll Be Home For Christmas 4/5 A really good song.
7.Johnny Mathis-Silver Bells 5/5 The best version of Silver Bells ever.
8.Chuck Berry-Run,Rudolph Run 5/5 The 2nd best song on the album.
9.Jose Feliciano-Feliz Navidad (Live) 5/5 Good live version and this one is good as the original.
10.Burl Ives-Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer 5/5 Burl does a great job at Christmas songs especially this one.
11.Andy Williams-The First Noel 5/5 The third best song on here.
12.The Waitresses-Christmas Wrapping 4/5 A good song,but sometimes you can't understand what they are saying.
13.Barry Manilow-(There's No Place Like)Home For The Holidays 5/5 Good remake, but the original is better.

Overall, I love this CD, but stay away from one track:Santa Claus Is Coming To Town by B2K,the worst song ever.

Now That's What I Call Christmas Volume 1 is better. Volume 2 has offerings from current pop stars that lack the warmth and staying power of Christmas classics on Volume 1 from Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, Burl Ives, Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole, etc. Buy Volume 2 if you can't find Chuck Berry's "Run Rudolph Run" or Jose Feliciano's live version of "Feliz Navidad" anywhere else; otherwise skip this hackfest.

This is another great release of Christmas music by the Now! producers. I assume they had no original plans to release a second volume of "Now That's What I Call Christmas!", or didn't expect the phenomenal success they got with the first, because a lot of songs on each collection could have been omitted and/or combined to make THE definitive Christmas collection, without the filler.

The one song that is absolutely horrendous and almost single-handedly drags the album's rating all the way down to three stars, is B2K's "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". Matter of fact, I couldn't even finish listening to that track after about 6 "yo's", "hey's", "wassup's" and the like right at the beginning. Nothing against their style of music, I just personally wouldn't regularly listen to it, and it is certainly not Christmas-friendly in this case. If these guys just had to be used, like another reviewer said, it should have been at a point on the disc where you could skip past it. At the very least, they should have done an original instead of mangling a classic. I doubt they're that talented to come up with something new in terms of holiday music, though. Evidently, the Jackson 5 version, although beyond superior, wouldn't have been "appropriate" with the controversies currently surrounding Michael in the news. Manhattan Transfer does a great rendition that they could have gone with here and Bruce Springsteen has a stellar version available on the first volume also that could have been used again if necessary.

Notable omissions this time around include versions of "O Holy Night" by Josh Groban and/or John Berry, which could have replaced the Celine Dion version used, "Hey Santa!" by Carnie and Wendy Wilson along with "Jingle Bell Rock" by Hall and Oates, and Gayla Peevey's "Hippopotamus Song". Maybe for Volume 3!

Highlights: The classics such as "Step into Christmas" by Elton John, "Rudolph..." by Burl Ives, and tracks by Christmas mainstays like Andy Williams and Johnny Mathis speak for themselves, of course, and Kylie Minogue does such a brilliant rework of "Santa Baby", you barely think it's a remake. Nothing beats the original, but this is one "sequel" that comes close. Happy Holidays!

The only thing that makes "Now That's What I Call Christmas! 2" is the original collection, which was able to include the absolute classic Holiday songs of all time, such as Bing Crosby's "White Christmas." The first CD in that 2-CD set is far and away the ultimate Christmas hits disc; I have seen nothing that compares with the sheer number of classic songs on that one CD. However, compared to the other disc in that set or most other Holiday collections, these 36 songs more than hold their own, especially compared to all the other lesser collections that pop up this time of year.

We can begin with the songs that probably should have been included in the original: Elton John's "Step Into Christmas," Louis Armstrong's "Winter Wonderland," Peggy Lee's "Happy Holiday," Jose Feliciano's "Feliz Navidad," and Guy Lombardo's "Auld Lang Syne." Between this pair of 2-CD sets the only obvious song that is missing is "The Chipmunk Song," because all of the standards are here. The mix is a bit more towards contemporary artists from Destiny's Child and NSYYNC to Celine Dion and Norah Jones, this time around, which is where time has yet to tell on what will become perennial favorties. But you have to tip your stocking cap to any album that sandwiches Luciano Pavarotti belting out "Adeste Fideles" in between Andy Griffith and Barry Manilow.

This second collection also offers up more original songs that traditional numbers. You still get the latter--Charlotte Church singing "Silent Night," Andy Williams crooning "The First Noel," and Johnny Mathis doing "Silver Bells"--but there are lot more new holiday songs: Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You," the Waitresses' "Christmas Wrapping," and Norah Jones' "Peace." There is some repetition of songs and artists between the two collections, but that is not really a problem when you have 72 songs like this. I am not sure what you would pick for a fifth disc once you fill up fourth-fifths of your multi-CD player with these two sets, but you should have no problem adding a fifth favorite to the mix.

If you want a good christmas CD then buy the first now thats what I Call Christmas complition. They have country songsthat have nothing to do with christmas on here. Avoid this CD at all costs. Also, they chose a bad version of Feliz Navidad. It isn't the original.

If you're looking for a collection that's strictly contemporary or traditional, this is not for you. I like the variety and the mix of classics, but others may experience a disconnect with something old and new played back to back.