Customer Reviews

Roomful of Christmas

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

 

 

Played this CD as part of our office Christmas music for 1997. Everone raved about it and wanted to know where to get it. I have since transfered to another office but stopped in the old place last week to wish everyone a Merry Christmas; what was playing "Roomful of Christmas".

For not being nationally known these guys have sustained for a very long time. You won't hear me complain about their longevity. If you just want to stick this disk in your machine and listen intently, or turn it down and have it as background music, it's just good to hear. When it's Roomful of Blues, you can count on some great sounds.

This is the CD I dust off every year and play as long as I possibly can! Sugar Ray Norcia and band are just fabulous! You'll be wishin' Christmas lasted longer too! Buy it, play it and you'll enjoy the holiday shopping and stress much more! And don't forget the champagne and egg nog! Cozy up by the fireplace with this hot CD and it'll be the best blues Christmas ever!

This is a fantasic holiday album by Roomful Of Blues-you'll never tire of hearing it even long after the Christmas season. Whether they are playing their own versions of classics like The Christmas Song; White Christmas; etc. or their own tunes such as Christmas Celebration & I Want To Spend Christmas With You; this cd rocks!

Roomful of Christmas is Roomful of Blues at their best---full of soul, full of horns, full of sound--and the incomparable Sugar Ray Norcia is singing lead!!! How good can it get? Just start with "The Christmas Song", quiet and ever so soulful, the famous horns giving Sugar Ray and his silken vocals all the room they need. Fabulous!! Chuck Berry's "Run Rudolph Run" is given a fresh, new workout, while "Christmas Celebration" features the classic Roomful arrangements and sounds as if it's been taken straight from their classic 1994 release Turn It On! Turn It Up!! Outstanding! "Let It Snow..." finds Sugar Ray and Co. at their most romantic and funloving, while "White Christmas" is given a New Orleans style treatment and a falsetto intro. (The falsetto is unnecessary; I think the song works better without it.) Best of all is Roomful's cover of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas," first sung by Judy Garland in the movie Meet Me in St. Louis and featuring Sugar Ray crooning with all his might (and considerable polish, to boot!). Wonderful, simply wonderful!!! So, get Roomful of Christmas quickly before the holidays end, and fill up your rooms with their soulful yuletide sound!!!

What a great Christmas cd. Sugar Ray never sounded better. Great fun

An enjoyable collection of blues-based Christmas tunes, done by one of the premier "big band" jump blues acts playing today. For those that really enjoy this, want more, and are not on Santa's "naughty" list, try adding "Santa Claus, Do You Ever Get The Blues" by the band, from a later Alligator label sampler of blues Christmas tunes, and "Please Come Home For Christmas," a blue-based version by Pat Benatar (sans eighties-style trappings), but which features, uncredited, Roomful of Blues (it can be found on The Edge of Christmas, Pat's True Love CD, and other places). (If you do that, I suggest adding them at the end, following one of the slow songs, such as "I Want You With Me Christmas," and moving a more uptempo song to follow, such as "I Want To Spend Christmas With You," for programming purposes.)

The best of Christmas cds are so very good that one might just want to listen to these cds at anytime during the year! This "listen to it anytime" quality is certainly one that is true of Roomful of Blues' Roomful of Christmas. Roomful of Blues is a terrific jazz blues band, and at least on Run, Rudolph, Run a rock blues band as well, when they include the outstanding vocals of Sugar Ray Norcia! Sugar Ray Norcia is one of the top four vocalists in all of recent BLUES music; other recent blues vocalists that share this high distinction are Kim Wilson, Susan Tedeschi, and Robert Cray. Sugar Ray's voice is in its very best form on Roomful of Christmas! Christmas songs have never sounded any better, nor have they been more joyful than they sound on Roomful of Christmas. I have quite a number of outstanding Christmas cds. However, Roomful of Christmas is the most swinging Christmas cd that I own! (The only Christmas cd that I own that compares well to the swinging nature of Roomful of Christmas is Ray Charles' Spirit of Christmas.) Sugar Ray Norcia's very smooth and flowing voice blends so perfectly with the outstanding rhythm of the Roomful of Blues band. I am very, very thankful that I have received Roomful of Christmas to include among my other outstanding Christmas cds! I will enjoy Roomful of Christmas any time I choose, but especially when the Christmas season comes upon us. I can hardly wait to have friends over next Christmas season so that I can play them this fabulous cd and thus celebrate a swinging and joyous Christmas. If you love a joyful Christmas season, then increase your joy and listening pleasure by purchasing and highly enjoying Roomful of Christmas; it is a MUST BUY cd.

John

Room Full of Blues, one the great roadhouse bands, serves up a sampling of Christmas tunes R&B style. While I have enjoyed this album and found it a nice addition to my collection I was a bit disappointed with how safe they played it. Most of the tunes are very close to the originals, which we have all heard too many times. Also, a few of the songs are over sung given it a bot of a lounge act feel. Horns are excellent on the album however. Check out Alligator's great Christimas album instead if you are looking for a blue Christmas with some unique style.

The previous reviews are certainly better than mine in giving you the various technical & artistic reasons as to why you should purchase or not purchase this CD. IMHO, I recommend purchasing this CD. While I don't give out 5 stars to anything, because I view it as a theorectical limit that can only be approached but never achieved, this CD is, without reservation, a 4.5 star CD.

Hello Marketing People .... read this... downloaded both of the free "Roomful of Blues" Christmas MP3s *and* decided to buy the CD! I was just going to purchase the CD single. But I took the dive and purchased the "Roomful of Christmas" CD, absolutely no regrets. I have been playing it every morning since I received it 2 days ago. I have been playing the free MP3 tracks longer than that.

Just good, solid, & pleasant...just wanted I wanted in a Christmas but not sugar-cuteness. Good music is timeless and worthy to be played and sung by different artists. For whatever reason, I love their spin on "White Christmas".

They are excellent muscians. The vocals are greats and love the brass! Can't wait to share with my son the budding trombone player!

I can't wait to buy another "Roomful of Blues" CD, but which one....

Marketing People Read : Free MP3 downloads work.