Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album

Tony Bennett | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 11, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: SONY MUSIC SPECIAL PRODUCTS
• ASIN: B000QUEQCC
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #185,956 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Tony Bennett could probably sing the Homeland Security Act and make it sound like a majestic (and even cool) thing of beauty. His 1968 release, Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album, features wonderful takes on Christmas classics, with a syrupy yet playful orchestral backup, courtesy of Robert Fanon. The versions of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" emphasize the romantic elements to great effect, while Bennett's take on "My Favorite Things" is superlative. Where so many artists just re-make the same holiday album every other year, Bennett has opted to append new material to his sole original. And rather than crassly cluttering it up, these new additions help make this classic all the more, um, classic-er. This Legacy re-issue of the crooner's 1968 release includes not only the rousing take on "I'll Be Home for Christmas" from Jon Stewart's TV show, which was added to the 1994 re-issue, but an extra disc with six more tunes in the same vein. --Mike McGonigal --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Product Description

Talk about smooth! Tony Bennett is the very definition of the word. Snowfall practically renders every other version of the songs included here null and void. Even "White Christmas" sounds better in Tony's hands than it did in Bing's. It could be because Bennett's warmth extends not only from the quality of those pipes but his delivery. How many other grown men do you know who could get away with "My Favorite Things"? But it goes without saying that the collection's finest moments come when the crooner takes the romantic lead, with "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" and "I'll Be Home for Christmas." The real killer here, however, is "The Christmas Song," which practically becomes an aphrodisiac when Bennett sings it. And it's not all about amore, as there's a truly beautiful version of "Silent Night." --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tony Bennett Snowfall 2007, October 5, 2007

By 

Jeff Carter (Perry, Ga United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album (W/Dvd) (Audio CD)

UPDATED REVIEW

This is a 2 disc set and includes the same songs on disc 1 that have been on the previous snowfall cds however this one includes some songs not previously released on disc 2.Disc 2 is a dvd of a couple of songs off of Bennett's Family Christmas that was released on vhs in the 1980s but is now out of print.The dvd has 5 songs out of the 19 that was on the vhs tape.On my previous review I mentioned this was a 2 cd set but I was wrong I didn't know the second disc was a dvd.

How does the dvd look you might ask?

The 5 videos on this disc look much better then I have ever seen them.They look good and are sharp.The snow scene is just beautiful.I have the old vhs and it looks grainy compared to this dvd.Once again this is just beautiful looking with no grain.The disc is about 18 minutes long.On the dvd you can either pick the songs you want to play or use the play all feature.It also offers a resume feature.

How does it sound?The dvd is encoded in Dolby Digital and sounds great.The music sounds like it surrounds you.

Now for the bad news

Why wasn't the whole holiday show put on the dvd?This disc could have held all 19 songs.I would rather them have put all 19 songs on the dvd then just 5.I wonder why this whole show has never been released on a dvd.

The cd sounds the same as previous snowfall cds maybe a little better if you have surround sound.The disc says 360 degree sound.

I recommend this two disc set especially if you don't have A Family Christmas.I also recommend Johnny Mathis Home For Christmas dvd.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars My Christmas In July, August 6, 2005

By 

Gregor von Kallahann - See all my reviews

This review is from: Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album (Audio CD)

During the most recent heat wave, I actually thought it might help to drag out a few of my favorite Christmas recordings and, at least, chill out mentally. It was worth a try, I suppose--not that it actually worked. In fact, all it really did for me was load Christmas anxiety on top of my already burdensome heat exhaustion.

But then I figured, hey, before you know it, the clime will have shifted and we'll be hankering for chestnusts roasted on an open fire--instead of feeling like WE'RE being roasted on an open fire. And since, I never think to post reviews of actual Christmas product until, I dunno, maybe Christmas Eve, at least this year, I get a jump on the gun and maybe even garner a couple of "helpful" votes by Thanksgiving weekend.

Tony Bennett's SNOWFALL is arguably as much a "winter" record as a purely holiday one. It's always seemed something of a shame to me that all the joyful Christmas music gets put away well before winter has really set in. (At least the Russians are smart enough to celebrate it in January, which can help forestall the winter doldrums for a short while at least.) The fact that the title song on this seasonal album is "Snowfall" and not "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" at least gives you some kind of excuse to play it well into January, heck, maybe even February. Or as in my little experiment, in July.

And, of course, "Winter Wonderland" and "I've Got Our Love to Keep Me Warm" are good for the whole calendar season too. "My Favorite Things," is a canny choice for an opener too. It's seasonal the way its source film THE SOUND OF MUSIC is seasonal: it evokes familial warmth and good times, even if the packages are in brown paper and "tied up with string" rather than ribbons.

And then there's the almost bizarre medley of actual Christmas songs that concludes with a conventional romantic ballad ("Where Is Love?"). Musically, it fits just fine, but thematically, it's a bit strange--almost as if Tony's saying, "Hey, I'm down with the holiday stuff, but THIS is what I really do..."

As an interpretive singer, Bennett has the unique ability to be warm and a little breezy at the same time. When I read somewhere recently that "I'll Be Home For Christmas" was actually a WWII song, and meant to be sung with at least a hint of melancholy, I thought of the live version included here(from a JON STEWART SHOW broadcast), which is certainly more breezy than reverential. But, of course, by this point in that song's history, it has lost much of its sombreness, and, hey, it really does lend itself nicely to a little jazz pizzazz.

That track, by the way, is the album's closer, and it is really the only new entry on this collection, most of which is culled from material released in Bennett's 60s heyday. It's certainly interesting to hear how his voiced has changed and how he's learned to compensate in warmth and wit for what he may have lost in vocal technique.

Bennett was and is a singer for all seasons.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tony Bennett Snowfall Remastered, November 9, 2004

By 

Jeff Carter (Perry, Ga United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album (Audio CD)

This album has the same songs the original Snowfall had by Bennett but with different packaging and better sound.The music sounds crisper and cleaner now compared to the original one.This cd has been repackaged in a clear jewel spine case instead of the black one the other one come with.Also sony has added little snowflakes around the coverart which makes it look a lot better.I do wish they would have included Christmas in Harold Square on this cd.It is a bonus track on the playground cd by Bennett.I recommend this holiday cd by Bennett.I also recommend The Art Of Romance which is a brand new Bennett cd.