A Very Green Christmas [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED]

Various Artists - Miscellaneous - Holiday

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 14, 1997)
• Original Release Date: September 30, 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Label: Seventh Wave
• ASIN: B000003M35
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #280,796 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A Very Green Christmas is a special holiday album containing new age arrangements of traditional carols as well as new songs by artists who are stellar veterans of New Age, including Suzanne Ciani, Paul McCandless, Michael Hoppe, Kate Price, Teja Bell and Georgia Kelly. Dedicated to several environmental causes, especially the preservation of old growth redwoods, this is a holiday classic!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, music that enhances the Holiday Season, November 30, 1999

By	Larry Klug (Cincinnati, OH USA) - See all my reviews

I found this album to be a welcome departure from the traditionalcommercialized holiday music. A Very Green Christmas will take you to a peaceful environment for all to appreciate and to enhance the holiday spirit.

As an Advertiser for a major retail store, a lot of pressure is felt throughout the holiday shopping season. The popular holiday music that is heard every hour, every day can become very annoying. After a rough day, I look forward to an opportunity to {listen and} relax to an album filled with peaceful holiday music.

A Very Green Christmas features a large lineup of world renowned musicians known as "Artists for Earth." They are: Suzanne Ciani, Michael Manring, Paul McCandless, Alex de Grassi, Georgia Kelly, Matt Eakle, James Asher, Spencer Brewer, Ira Stein, Michael Pluznick, Joel Lindheimer, Jeremy Cohen, Teja Bell, Kate Price, Michael Hopp , Tim Wheater, and Roy Eaton.

Let's imagine that the album is a box of Christmas Cards. The musical arrangement of each song reminds me of a vivid illustration on a Christmas Card (s). Let me share some of my favorite songs with you.

James Asher's "Stargazer" reminds me of a ride through a large Christmas Light display in Cincinnati called "Festival of Lights." The Ira Stein Group arrangement on "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" paints a picture of an Old English Festival. Suzanne Ciani's "Oh Holy Night" fills my mind with flashbacks of Christmas past. Roy Eaton's "A Child's Christmas" express the excitement of Christmas morning from a child in all of us.

You may want to listen closely to Georgia Kelly's "What Child is This?". Something very unusual happened during her recording. It enhanced the song much better. I have many other favorite songs to share, but it would take too much room on this web page.

The graphic design and liner notes are very informative and appealing. Producer, Joe Anderson did an outstanding job on gathering a large group of talented, world-class musicians for a special cause.

Proceeds from this album benefit the Trees Foundation. It provides services for a variety of environmental organizations working to protect and restore the forests and rivers of California's North Coast.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars too new age, December 5, 2004

By	M. Irwin (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I purchased this CD last year with several other titles. The previous reviews made it seem promising. However, I was very dissapointed. The music is so "new agey" (almost John Tesh in style - no offense John, that's just not what I expected) that I have a hard time getting through the songs. I don't know how I missed that from the sound samples. I was looking for something fresh and different that still had a strong sentimental feeling that I expect from a Christmas CD. Green Christmas did not fit the bill. Bruce Cockburn's Christmas album is a much better buy for your money if that is what you seek.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars from Wind and Wire (edited), November 11, 2000

By	Kathy Parsons (Florence, OR United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

I listen to very few Christmas albums since I teach holiday (piano) music from mid-October to the week after Christmas, and am generally ready to kill if I hear "Jingle Bells" one more time! Be that as it may, I love this collection of some of the more spiritual and less-overdone songs of the season! All of the pieces sound fresh and revitalized, and I will probably be listening to this CD through the holidays. Bravo to Suzanne Ciani and Joe Anderson for putting this project together! Along with being an outstanding collection, proceeds of the album will go to The Trees Foundation, an environmental body which provides services to grassroots affiliate organizations working to protect and restore the forests and rivers of California's North Coast region.

Several members of The Wave, Suzanne Ciani's band, participated in the project, and several appear on each others cuts in supporting roles. Suzanne performs "Adeste Fideles" and "O Holy Night" with her own distinctive touches - both very beautiful and moving. The other artists are Alex deGrassi ("Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella"), Paul McCandless ("In Bethlehem City"), Michael Manring ("A Great and Mighty Wonder"), Michael Pluznick and Joel Lindheimer (a great arrangement of "The Little Drummer Boy"), Matt Eakle (an especially beautiful flute arrangement of Bach's "Sheep May Safely Graze") , James Asher (his original "Stargazer"), Georgia Kelly ("Greensleeves" on harp), Spencer Brewer (a wonderful and upbeat arrangement of "Angels We Have Heard on High"), Kate Price (a spectacular version of "Carol of the Bells" on hammered dulcimer), The Ira Stein Group (a rousing "16th-century street-party" playing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"), Teja Bell ("Villancico de Navidad" - wonderfully intimate guitar work), Michael Hoppe and Tim Wheater (possibly the most achingly beautiful arrangement I've ever heard of "Silent Night"), and Roy Eaton (his own "A Child's Christmas" on solo piano). Oddly, the only piece I don't really care for is the last one, Eaton's "A Child's Christmas". It is solo piano, which is my "thing", but it seems oddly out of place here. Everything else about the collection rates a major "WOW!", so I highly recommend it.