What a pleasant Christmas CD!!!
I was always a quasi-fan of Jewel, but this CD cements my fanship! I never realized just how nice her voice really was, or how beautiful her folksy Christmas songs would truly be.
The pictures in the liner notes of the silvery, snow covered field really suit the whole mood of the album, too! It's beautiful! The kind of Christmas music that you just sit down and LISTEN to, if you know what I mean!
Winter Wonderland, Silent Night, Joy to the World, Hark the Hearald Angels Sing, and the Go Tell it on the Mountain medley are perfect for Christmas in the countryside (where I live)!
Oh Little Town of Bethlehem, I Wonder As I Wander and Hands capture that feeling of searching in the wind and the snow and then finding the true spirit of Christmas! And Oh Holy Night is the most beautiful thing I've ever heard from Jewel! I didn't know she could SING like that! It's wonderful!
Highly recommended for anyone who wants to relax and enjoy soft beautiful music this Christmas!
Possibly my favorite Christmas CD!
I was skeptical before buying this CD, I knew by Jewel's first album that she has an incredible range that would put most of her would-be revial's (Alanis, Fiona, etc...) to shame. Her second CD was a bit to mainstream sounding for me.With "Joy: A Holiday Collection" Jewel returns to her roots and produces a lovely, very moving Christmas album. Most of the songs are acoustic guitar ballads accompanied by other mountain string instruments (dulcimer) and occassionally lite keyboard synth. She gets a little upbeat on "Go Tell It On The Mountain" which is possibly the best cut of this song I've heard, blending in parts of "Life Uncommon" and Bet Midler's "From A Distance". I love this entire album, it never gets annoying and her selection of songs keep the focus on the birth of Christ.
My favorites so far are "O Holy Night" and "Ave Maria" (both reflect on her Opera background and will bring chill bumps, probably the best thing vocally she's ever released).
"Rodoplh The Red Noise Raindeer" is done mostly just vocal with no lead instruments by Jewel and her mother Nedra Carrol.
This is one of those albums that will help bring you in the spirit.
A great Christmas album
I got this CD for Christmas this year, and I loved it. Jewel's renditions of the Christmas classics, are amazing, and beautiful.
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Joy to the World ~ 5 stars
O Holy Night ~ 5 stars
Silent Night ~ 5 stars
Winter Wonderland ~ 5 stars
O Little Town of Bethlehem ~ 5 stars
Ave Maria ~ 5 stars
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing ~ 5 stars
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer ~ 5 stars
Face of Love ~ 5 stars
Medley:
a. Go Tell It on the Mountain
b. Life Uncommon
c. From a Distance ~ 5 stars
I Wonder As I Wander ~ 5 stars
Gloria ~ 5 stars
Hands (Christmas Version) ~ 5 stars
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This CD is very beautiful, and I recommend "Joy - A Holiday Collection" to all Jewel fans. A great Christmas CD to add to your collection. :)
Celine dion she's not!
she sounds dumb. she can't even sing. get Celine Dion's Christmas cd instead, now that's a legitimate singer!
A Must have
Her voice is just right. The mix has fun and religious. This is one of, if not my favorite christmas CD. Jewel hits all the notes just right. Her voice is pleasing. It is bound to become one of the Christmas classics with Nat King Cole ,Tthe Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The Vienna Boys Choir and Bing Crosby. And others....It captures all the emotions in Christmas. I love this.
Jewel has concocted an intriguing and at times beautifully inspired holiday album, playing it straight with a big orchestra and backing voices for the first half of the record with standards such as "Joy to the World," "Winter Wonderland," "Silent Night," as well as a lovely rendition of "Ave Maria." Things finally get sparkling in the last half where Jewel does a low-key, kid version of "Rudolph" and sings her own compositions. Her moving "Face of Love" and "Hands" are certain to become holiday standards, capable of being sung in a country, pop, gospel, or R&B vein and deserving of an audience as wide as the nation itself. The record's centerpiece, however, seems to be a six-minute-plus medley that mixes "Go Tell It on the Mountain" with the recent hit "From a Distance" and her own "Life Uncommon." Nonetheless, her stunning adaptation of "Gloria" inspired, in part, by Bach's B-Minor Mass, two tracks later is as powerful and lovely a Christmas vocal performance as you will find anywhere. Produced by the legendary Arif Mardin, Joy is destined to become a holiday classic. --Martin Keller
