A  TREASURE TROVE  OF CHRISTMAS  SOUNDS

MANILA, NOVEMBER 4, 2009 (STAR) SOUNDS FAMILIAR By Baby A. Gil - I thought of writing something about departed celebrities, but I had already done This Is It so I figured that should take care of All Saints Day. So I thought that since it is that time of year when all the big guns come out with their new CDs, I might take a look at the new releases.

Admittedly, I have a lot of these waiting to get listened to. There are wonderful soundtracks from (500) Days Of Summer and New Moon or the latest in local pop sounds like Hale’s Kundiman or also to watch as in the case of the DVD edition of Madonna’s Celebration. That means the chance to watch all those landmark videos one after another.

But suddenly there were these Christmas albums. I have always been a sucker for Christmas music. It is like nothing adds more glitz to the merrymaking than hearing beautiful carols around you. Whether it is neighborhood kids with Pasko Na Naman or the Ray Conniff Singers for the umpteenth time, carols will still warm the heart. And this new harvest is the richest ever.

Christmas In The Heart by Bob Dylan. Dylan singing Christmas songs? Better yet, make that an exclamation point! If there is one artist whom I thought would never record a Christmas album, it would have to be Dylan. I have always thought of him as a guitar-toting musician on the street or in a dark, smoky dive. Besides, I didn’t think he has the voice.

But he has something better, feeling. Dylan’s singing in Christmas In The Heart makes you feel warm all over. Here is a man who has done it all and Dylan really has. But he has now removed his boots and is nestled in front of the fire ready to enjoy, a quiet holiday. Listen and you can almost smell roasting chestnuts.

He sings Here Comes Santa Claus, Do You Hear What I Hear? Hark The Herald Angels Sing, I’ll Be Home For Christmas, Little Drummer Boy, The Christmas Blues, O Come All Ye Faithful, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, The First Noel, The Christmas Song and O Little Town Of Bethlehem.

My Christmas by Andrea Bocelli. I put Sacred Arias on the player when I want to listen to Bocelli during Christmastime. The CD has some Ave Marias and the Panis Angelicus and a Silent Night and Adeste Fidelis. It is a Christmas album, sacred and beautiful. I am afraid though that it will now have to divide time spent on the machine with My Christmas, which is Bocelli’s first, honest to goodness Christmas album.

Bocelli and Christmas songs already make a powerful combination but this album has something else besides, arrangements and production by David Foster. You know Foster. He is the guy now recording Charice Pempengco. Most of the time though he works with Celine, Groban, Bublé, etc. That is how big he is. I do believe that some of the best Christmas CDs in existence today came from Foster.

Check out the David Foster Christmas Album for a sampling then go to My Christmas for the full treat. White Christmas, Bianco Natale, Angels We Have Heard On High, The Christmas Song with Natalie Cole, The Lord’s Prayer with The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, What Child Is This with Mary J. Blige, Jingle Bells feat. The Muppets, Blue Christmas with Reba McEntire, Cantique De Noel, Caro Gesu Bambino, I Believe with Katherine Jenkins and God Bless Us Everyone.

If On A Winter’s Night by Sting. I do not recall if Sting ever released a Christmas album. I remember him singing Gabriel’s Message in A Very Special Christmas, one of those albums to benefit the Special Olympics, but I never heard a full-length CD until now. So this one should make up for all those wasted holidays of long ago. As usual with his work, the CD is well-produced and with its selection of old English carols, lovingly put together.

I love old carols, those that blend the pagan rituals with Christian tradition like The Holly and The Ivy and The Coventry Carol. Sting ups the ante in this area by including some rarely heard ones, Balulalow and even a take off from Schubert’s Winterreise. Why he even has Soul Cake. This is from the British counterpart of our pangangaluluwa and the origin of Trick Or Treat. The poor people from the old days would go begging from house to house on All Souls Day and would be given soul cakes.

Just realized that Sting has taken me back to Halloween with his Soul Cake. But that is over and I now look forward to Christmas armed with new great sounds.

If On A Winter’s Night also includes There Is No Rose Of Such Virtue, The Snow It Melts The Soonest, Christmas At Sea, Lo How A Rose E’er Blooming, Cold Song, The Burning Babe, Now Winter Comes Slowly, The Hounds Of Winter, and You Only Cross My Mind In Winter.