The Gift

Susan Boyle | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 9, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Columbia
• ASIN: B003GAMPWM
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (443 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,743 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

She catapulted to international stardom overnight with 500 million YouTube hits, smashed music records around the world with her triumphant debut album and now Susan Boyle returns with her eagerly awaited second album, The Gift.

The Gift, sees Susan Boyle and world acclaimed producer Steve Mac reunited to present a breathtaking seasonal album. Featuring yule time favourites ‘The First Noel’ and ‘O Holy Night’, Susan also fearlessly takes on iconic pop songs including ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ and ‘Perfect Day’ giving them a new identity.

Also making her musical debut on The Gift is American medic and winner of the International Susan Search, Amber Stassi. Amber & Susan perform a stunning and inimitable rendition of ‘Do you Hear What I Hear’.

Now with a beautiful seasonal album she will, once again, defy critics and preconceptions.

Susan explained; "When making this album, I really wanted the songs to touch hearts. Music has always been a companion to me, particularly on special occasions. I wanted there to be a mix of songs that would flow with all our moods this holiday season. As much as the season is a time for reflection, it is also a time for fun and enjoyment with those closest to us."

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

204 of 228 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Feast For the Senses and the Soul November 9, 2010

By Xeno

Format:Audio CD

The Gift, Susan Boyle's sophomore album, presents the listener with another set of masterful performances by an artist who shows herself to be in complete command of her instrument. Every song is superbly crafted to showcase Boyle's satiny soprano to absolute perfection.

Once again, as with her blockbuster debut I Dreamed A Dream, a somewhat eclectic mix of songs has been assembled, offering Boyle the chance to transform unexpected selections with her unique interpretations. Each song is delivered with delicacy and emotion. Boyle always manages to find the emotional core of her material, whether it be a pop classic like Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah or an oft-recorded Christmas standard. She is a master at eliciting an emotional response from her listeners that mirrors the feelings she expresses in song. Steve Mac, who produced both albums, understands that her voice should be the focal point of every song, and as with her debut he gives her the ideal setting to showcase her skills. The result is an album replete with songs polished to gem-like perfection.

Boyle's version of Lou Reed's Perfect Day is another stunning reinterpretation along the lines of Wild Horses from her first album. Her sensitive and nuanced vocals elicit both the joy of remembered happiness and the melancholy longing for lost love. To the three pop songs offered - Perfect Day, Hallelujah and Don't Dream It's Over - she brings depth, subtle power and unexpected passion. The rich instrumental and choral accompaniment provide the base above which Boyle's sweet soprano soars. She builds to the climax of every song through intense yet controlled emotion. Boyle understands, as many do not, that the power of a performance can come as readily from a singer's expression of the complex emotions a song evokes as it can from the raw power of her voice.

Even on what must be the millionth cover of Cohen's Hallelujah, Boyle manages to bring a surprising freshness. It is another song of love and loss, and her vocals are suffused with a regret that is tinged with anger. The result is an achingly beautiful rendition, the equal of any who has gone before her. Don't Dream It's Over is a more hopeful song, delivered with sensitivity. It is worth remarking that at the end the line, "We know they won't win," is repeated several times, as if to emphasize the singer's own determination to triumph in spite of the bullies and the critics who at times have tormented her. Just as with her version of Madonna's You'll See, Don't Dream It's Over is an affirmation that she has proven her detractors wrong, but in place of the former's angry intensity there is quiet assurance.

The other songs in the collection are for the most part Christmas classics. All of them are sung with a lovely reverence. O Holy Night and Away In A Manger are a standouts. Boyle's crystalline voice soars to worshipful heights, sweet and pure without being cloying. A traditional Scottish version of Auld Lang Syne offers a beautiful new interpretation that reinvigorates the Hogmanay (New Year's Eve) standard. The album ends on a grace note with an utterly beautiful rendition of O Come All Ye Faithful. To sum up, in The Gift Susan Boyle offers us a captivating album that provides a feast for both the senses and the soul.

170 of 194 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Where is Susan? November 14, 2010

By J. D. Howe

Format:Audio CD

This newest album presents a triumph of managers and controllers. Susan is allowed to sing only slow, mournful songs in a strength barely above a whisper. Where she is allowed to expand a bit, the electronically-enhanced choir and the electronic accompaniment are elevated in volume to a level which all but eclipses Susan. This isn't fair to her. One has the impression that the handlers and managers are afraid of her breaking loose. I re-looked at her first performance on that stage in the talent show. She showed personal strength and character, and she put herself into that song. But even the same song professionally-reproduced in her first album simply has lost -- well -- Susan's own personality. She has power and personality. These should burst forth and bring goosebumps to us on such songs as "Hallalujah!" and "O Come All Ye Faithful". Instead, the latter song -- which should be the glorious wrapup to the album -- instead is a mournful dirge which ends, as one might say, not with a bang but a whimper. I don't think the producers have been fair to Susan, and I think their slick marketing of this album shows they're more interested in their suffocating production than in their showcasing of a fine performer. Just leave Susan to her own enormous talent on the next one. Remember, she stood alone on the stage when she gave the best performance of all.

76 of 86 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Her Gift Is Our Gift November 9, 2010

By Rudy Palma

Format:Audio CD

Susan Boyle's honeyed, fairy godmother-like vocal presence pours over the 35 minutes of "The Gift" with grace, restraint and high levels of listenability. It has all the effortless warmth of a loving embrace - an apt trait for a Christmas recording.

She has a talent only a select few vocalists have had - the seemingly effortless ability to sing with profound sincerity, depth and knowledge - not intellectual knowledge, but emotional knowledge - the kind Karen Carpenter had, for instance. There is not a trace of smugness or self-interest in the way she sings, which makes her stand out from the majority of recent young performers whose performances make them appear to be their own biggest fans.

While they sing for their own self-adulation and gain, Boyle is one of the rare ones who sing for the listener with earnestness. From phrase to phrase she gives of herself. It is not just for her sake.

The song selections are enough to set "The Gift" apart from other holiday albums. Boyle's reinterpretation of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" favors an optimistic reading of its ambiguous lyrics, bringing devotion - either of a religious or familial kind - to the forefront, with a gorgeous, powerful choir and superb musicians. She also injects Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" with subtle, delicate grace. The lyrics and their meanings ring clear. She sings like a painter paints, with care and attention to detail. Her love for the material shows.

This also shows in her unexpected, profoundly stirring take on Crowded House's career-hit "Don't Dream It's Over." The original was contemplative, moody and chilly, with Neil Finn's desperate, anguished delivery. He sounded like he was trying to stop someone on the brink of making a fatal mistake. Boyle, on the other hand, reimagines the song as one of strength, protection and affirmation - of renewed possibilities on a sunny horizon.

"Auld Lang Syne" benefits from its simple, unaffected arrangement that lets Boyle's voice take center stage. This stands in contrast to the pillowy, over-eager production values that both obscure her voice and reveal its limitations where they need not. However, this occurs on a limited basis, and her talent overcomes it.

"O Holy Night" suits Boyle's voice ideally, and she sings the song - which tempts many singers into hammy bombast - with class and generosity. "Make Me a Channel of Your Peace," which is more customary as a church hymn, is similarly soothing and restful. Boyle finds great strength from choosing simple truth over trite embellishment, making the title of the song especially apt.

Boyle has put her talent to fine use on "The Gift." The richness of her voice and her uncensored, heart-on-sleeve quality lend themselves to Christmas as naturally as cookies and milk, creating a comforting, elegant (albeit brief) album to enjoy for many holidays to come.