Customer Reviews

Silent Night

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I remember hearing about Mahalia Jackson from my father. He always talked about how powerful her voice was. I don't recall hearing her recordings, but one Christmas I found this CD in a budget holiday music display at K-Mart. I had the perfect gift for Dad. He played the CD shortly after opening it, and I was stunned. My father had been right! After finally accepting that fact, I enjoyed listening to the music.

It isn't uncommon for me to call my parents and hear this recording playing (whether it is Christmas time or not) in the background. In an age where the term "music" is sometimes questionable, this is such a gem of real musical talent and holiday spirit. You can forget that you are listening to gospel Christmas songs, and just enjoy the swelling music and the lush soaring and and calm interludes in her music.

Very good recording of her holiday songs. Powerful stuff, especially A Star Stood Still. You can not get much better in all of music.

Mahalia Jackson's rendition of "Silent Night" on this album is the most incredibly beautiful and stirring that I have ever heard in my life! I've seen and heard Mahalia do this song in other places and recordings but never with the power conveyed here. The recording itself captures her voice in a splendid moment frozen in time. She paces the song according to that mysterious inner cadence governed apparently from above, according to Mahalia Jackson. It is slow, passionate and almost gut-wrenching. Three other magnificent performances on here are "A Star Stood Still, Sweet Little Jesus Boy, and What Can I Give?" These four jewels round out the holiday season, transporting the listener out of the grotesque orgy of commercialism and fake sentimentality of the Christmas season. She "restores our souls," heals broken hearts and magnifies the good within humanity. Her singing really is a "balm in Gilead. . . "

HI , my name is MARVIN, i would like to say, " If you truly love gospel music, Mahalia's voice will take you to such a level in your heart, that you might not knew was there". The powerful strenght that GOD, has anointed her with to sing," HER songs' " TO HIM",will no dout, "MOVE YOU", in your soul. Think about this, GOD lives in our hearts' right, OPEN UP your heart to Mahalia's SONGS", and you will share that same joy she felt as she sung ,as "I", and many others who have truly listen to the singing of Mahalia Jackson.Then you'll agree, Mahalia Jackson sung her " HEART", out.

I first heard this performance of Silent Night while half falling asleep listening to the pre-Christmas MIDNIGHT SPECIAL on WFMT in Chicago. After it was over I thought, "My God, what did I just hear if not the perfect definitive version of Silent Night?" The next day I looked online at WFMT's playlist and found out what CD it was on and bought it immediately. It never fails to bring tears to my eyes when I listen to it. It conjures up an image of a white old-fashioned country church with a huge wreath and a red bow set in amongst the trees on Christmas Eve with gentle fresh-falling snow renewing the whiteness of the previous blanket. It is just magic listening to this SILENT NIGHT.

Beware, I previewed some of the other SILENT NIGHTS by Ms. Jackson on other CDs sold here. They are no where near as good. And I notice this CD has been discontinued by the manufacturer. Hurry, don't miss out on a truly moving experience.

Like another reviewer, I remember how much my dad liked Mahalia's Christmas. He was pretty cool, he liked Sinatra and Shearing and Peggy Lee and Tina Turner. But Mahalia was something special. And now that I'm grown, I know why.

Personally, I think this is Mahalia's best Christmas album, maybe her best of all, because the selections are Jesus-themed and so most in keeping with her gospel roots. No one treats Christmas carols like Mahalia. This is why, so long after their deaths, Mahalia and Nat King Cole, whose wonderful Chistmas songs complement hers, live on, like old friends.

This project starts off with a Remade/Re-Fined Version of "Sweet Little Jesus Boy". Standout Tracks are: "A Star Stood Still", "What Can I Give", and a Never-Can-Go-Wrong Version of: "Silent Night, Holy Night". When you really look at the scoop of Mahalia's work...Was there EVER a bad Mahalia Jackson Album???

This has been one of my favorite Christmas recordings which I first puchased years ago on vynal. I finally obtained it on CD and consider it to be an essentail part of any Christmas collection. Mahalia Jackson brings the Gospel feeling to Christmas; touching upon the whole history of African-American suffering and triumph.

My mother used to like "Go Tell It On the Mountain", which of course, is Ms. Jackson's most outstanding Christmas song. Her version of that song is still the best (Only rivaled, in my mind, by a rockin' version by Jim Nabors).

My favorite though, is a song that I have only heard on this record: "What Can I Give". While neither a bouncy Christmas jingle, nor a stain-glassed carol; it is rather a deeply moving narrative that brings forth the comfort that the love of Christ brings to those who suffer the sorrow of oppression and poverty.

What an vocie.I cant say it enough this women has an powerful voice that you yourself can even feel when you listen to her.What an gift for God she has too!Never has one woman made you feel exactly what you are supposed to feel for Gods music.She puts her Heart and Soul into every song which you can tell just by listening to her.This is an classic cd with Mahalia Jackson best Christmas songs;Here are the tracks;

1.Sweet Little Jesus Boy
2.A Star Stood Still(A Song of the Nativity)
3.Hark!The Herald Angles Sing
4.Christmas Comes to Us All Once A Year
5.Joy!To the World
6.O Come All Ye Faithful(Adeste Fideles)
7.O Little Town of Bethleham
8.What Can I Give
9.Go Tell It On the Mountain
10.Silent Night,Holy Night

What an vocie.I cant say it enough this women has an powerful voice that you yourself can even feel when you listen to her.What an gift for God she has too!Never has one woman made you feel exactly what you are supposed to feel for Gods music.She puts her Heart and Soul into every song which you can tell just by listening to her.This is an classic cd with Mahalia Jackson best Christmas songs;Here are the tracks;

1.Sweet Little Jesus Boy
2.A Star Stood Still(A Song of the Nativity)
3.Hark!The Herald Angles Sing
4.Christmas Comes to Us All Once A Year
5.Joy!To the World
6.O Come All Ye Faithful(Adeste Fideles)
7.O Little Town of Bethleham
8.What Can I Give
9.Go Tell It On the Mountain
10.Silent Night,Holy Night