Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Soulful Set, December 21, 2001
One of my favorite Christmas CDs. I got the two album set over 20 years ago. Now they've added a Marvin Gaye bonus track. Too bad they didn't include his uptempo "Purple Snowflakes" as well.What I like best about this CD is its variety of musical styles. Stevie Wonder shines on a couple of originals that are now Christmas standards: the thought provoking Someday At Christmas and the festive What Christmas Means To Me. Everyone's favorite Jehovah's Witnesses, The Jackson 5, (who didn't celebrate Christmas but apparently recorded whatever Motown asked them to) add youthful exhuberance with Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Frosty The Snowman, and I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. The Temptations show off their versatility, their tracks among the strongest cuts, be they fun (Rudolph) or poignant (My Christmas Tree, Silent Night). The Supremes' stuff is okay. Their best Christmas tune, the haunting Born Of Mary, isn't on this set. Their take on The Children's Song though will have you ding-donging for days. BY the way: all the kids mentioned in this song belong to Diana's main squeeze at the time, Berry Gordy. My favorite Motown Christmas recording is one nobody ever talks about: The Miracles' It's Christmas Time. A truly magnificent, goosebump creating, retelling of the Nativity. One of Smokey's greatest vocal performances ever, this recording could convert an atheist!
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Back in the Day Christmas, November 29, 1999
My first recollection of this album was in the 70's, when I was about 5 or 6 years old. It was introduced to me by my parents, and I'm glad it was. I grew up listening to this ablum year after year. Once I was married and separated from my family at the holidays, I was unable to hear the music; Christmas wasn't the same then. About 4 years ago, I found the album in cassette. Last year, I was lucky enough to find a CD, and bought two. I'm carrying on my parent's tradition by introducing the wonderful sounds of Mowtown to my children. Christmas wouldn't be the same without it.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Christmas Album Ever!, November 9, 2001
I'm biased, but I can remember this record (and I mean record, large black discs, look like giant black CDs) being played from the day after Thanksgiving until January 1st. We had the double record set, so it was like two hours of continuous Christmas style jammin' a la Motown. I can remember cutting a rug in the kitchen to Stevie singing "What Christmas Means To Me," and singing off-key with my mother to the Jackson 5 (who were ironically Jehovah Witnesses back then) belting out about how "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town." My favorite were Stevie's "One Little Christmas Tree" and Michael singing "All Alone On Christmas," as I grew older. The only song I didn't get when I was little was "My Favorite Things" by Diana Ross, but eventually I would grow to love every song on this album. And you just can't beat the Temptations singing "Frosty the Snowman" and "Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer." Everyone just sounds like they're having so much fun. Whether they all enjoyed recording this album or not, there so much love and joy felt through every song, even the slow ones, you can't help but smile and do the bump with your sisters. It's not Christmas if I don't hear this album. I've been searching for one that has all of the original tracks on the original two-album set, so if anyone knows where I can get a copy in a good condition (other than jacking my mother's set) please, hook a sister up!
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