Beautiful, thoughtful Christmas album - Recommended- By: joc66, 19 Nov 2008 I haven't been a particular fan of Mary Chapin Carpenter in the past but this album of Christmas songs is a real gem. It is reallly different to your usual "Jingle Bells" & "White Christmas" festive fare, although there are traditional songs in this collection such as the lovely "Once in Royal David's City" which opens the album, & the absolutely gorgeous performance of "Children Go Where I Send Thee". The rest of the material is new (at least to me, although I understand that a couple of tracks were included on an earlier Mary Chapin Carpenter album)and it is wonderful. The lyrics are thoughtful & reallly do get to the heart of what Christmas is like (and what it should be about) in 2008. Some of these reflect the spiritual side of Christmas, and, cleverly at the same time, also mirror the hustle & bustle of a modern Christmas in a western industrialised nation ("Christmas Time in the City" is wonderful!) & there is a touch of Christmas romance too. The performances by Chapin Carpenter are reallly superb, that wonderful deep alto voice reallly putting meaning & wonderful expression into every note. The musical accompaniment is quite simple country fare, nothing techno here, & it suits the material perfectly. If you are looking for some Christmas music but want something a bit more reflective, & just a bit different, then you reallly should buy this album straight away. There is proper Christmas feeling here but it is done with real class & subtlety. I haven't been able to stop playing it since I got it & I have a feeling it will be revisted regularly throughout the year & not just at Christmas.
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