Customer Reviews

World Christmas

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is among the best Christmas music collections available-particularly for listeners who are tired of old conventional presentations. True to the World Christmas title, songs are sung in French, Spanish, African Portuguese, and English--some with exuberant West African rhythms. For example, "Navidad" by the Gypsy Kings is among the most celebratory Christmas songs I know. Other songs like "Boas Festas" and "Natal" are simply lovely and may become Christmas favorites for you. Even an overworked standard like "Twelve Days of Christmas" is presented with a novel sultry jazz sound that will exercise your subwoofer. Take a chance on this album. You will enjoy the rewards.

Tired of Christmas time schlock? This is one that you can sink your teeth into -- and besides, the money goes to a good cause (International Special Olympics). Standout cuts: John Scofield and the Wild Magnolias absolutely burning down "Go Tell it on a Mountain" and Angelique Kidjo's mountain 'o overdubs version of "O Holy Night" in which she not only sings the words but all the instrumental parts as well. Way cool.

I first heard Ave Maria(Deep Forest) a few weeks ago. Liking what I heard I searched for more on them. I was led to the World Christmas CD. When I had an opertunity to hear the entire CD I fell in love with every song there.
Most of these artists I had never heard before. Believe me they do the songs justice. I would recommend the CD to all my friends.Even though I had a hard time finding it, I kept up the search until I did. I put in my order right away for fear of the CD being sold out quickly. Now I eagerly anticipate the delivery so that I can start listening.

Quite possibly my favorite Christmas album ever. If you're open to a wide variety of musical styles -- and love Christmas music -- you can't miss with this one.

Each time I listen to this, I feel happy! I first heard this in a store, and I immediately asked what was playing! This cd is great for people who love to travel.

The pacing, music, and artistry on this album are all top-notch. While most of the tracks tend towards the slow paced and down-tempo, I find them lovely as holiday entertainment. It's just a fantastic work and one of the few Christmas records of my fairly large collection that I make sure to listen to all the way through each year.

Standouts on this compilation include:

* Vocal Sampling's "We Wish You A Merry Christmas / Rhumba Navidene", a super, Latinized, a cappella take on the holiday classic. (Though their heavily accented and possibly phonetically learned English is fairly funny.)

* Angelique Kidjo's "Zan Vevede (O Holy Night)", but is there anything that her powerhouse voice can't make awesome? The vocal arrangement (on the largely a cappella track) is especially inventive and effective. And the track is at just the right tempo to inflict relaxation at the hectic holiday time.

* The Gypsy Kings' "Navidad", a super up-tempo closeout to the album in the Kings' usual style. If you've liked their stuff before, you'll like this too. Fortunately for me, I like their stuff.


The samples that Amazon presents here aren't particularly good for helping to know the pleasures that this album holds. Since many of the tracks are slow-paced and the samples are brief you don't quite get the impact from the way many of the tracks grow and swell over time.

Still, great sentiment, great music and great whole album for the season.

I accidentally heard the 12th day of Christmas song on this CD on the public radio 91.7 FM and I loved it. I researched on line and got a list of the other songs and artists on this CD. I happened to be familiar with the works of other artists, so I purhased it. It is great CD and all the songs on it are great.

By this album - only the song Holy Night with Angelique Kidjo is worth it!