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
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
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
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.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
Interact With Your Music: Discover, listen to, and buy new music, all from the pages of SPIN's digital edition, free to Amazon customers.
