Merry Christmas

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
She's been hailed for her multi-octave vocal range--a tool that sometimes detracts from her pop recordings, but actually works quite beautifully in the context of this charming holiday collection. Fans will surely approve of Carey's renditions of slinky secular songs like "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)" and a nicely subdued "All I Want for Christmas Is You". But where she really surprises is in her unadorned delivery of traditional carols, highlighted by "Silent Night" (which she sings quietly, avoiding the temptation to wail those high notes) and "Jesus, Oh What a Wonderful Child". Merry Christmas is a must for die-hards and a pleasant surprise for the unconverted. --David Sprague

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Description
At this stage of her career Mariah Carey does not need to prove herself, but her voice is so powerful that with each new recording she, once again, reminds you: "Listen to what I can do". Vocal gymnastics and Christmas songs are not often thought of as a compatible combination, but on MERRY CHRISTMAS Mariah jumps, climbs, crawls, twirls and dashes her way through both traditional fare and original Christmas songs.
She shifts through styles, offering fans from all musical camps a gift of their own. Her "Silent Night" shows off a studied vocalisation where liquid phrasing is key. "Miss You Most (At Christmas Time)" shows off a dynamic voice that is hard to match. She has fun with the Phil Spector goodie "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)", a song straight out of '60s girl-group heaven. There is even a "Joy To The World" medleymixing the old and the new--the traditional Christmas song and the Three Dog Night hit. And, as usual, her gospel-voiced background singers are out in full force.
There are twoways to enjoy this album. One is to sit back and revel in Mariah Carey's vocal fireworks, and the other is to pour yourself a glass of egg-nog, get cozy by the tree and have yourself a MERRY CHRISTMAS.

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Customer reviews

review by: Ron date: 2008-08-10 rating:
This is novelty!
1. Silent Night. 7/10
2. All I Want For Christmas Is You. 10/10
3. O Holy Night. 6/10
4. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home). 10/10
5. Miss You Most (At Christmas Time). 10/10
6. Joy To The World. 5/10
7. Jesus Born On This Day. 10/10
8. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town. 10/10
9. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing/Gloria (In Excelsis Deo). 8/10
10. Jesus Oh What A Wonderful Child. 7/10
11. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. 9/10

OVERALL GRADE: 7/10
From perfect balladeeing we get the bland, dull "Merry Christmas". The songs which are good are the songs which AREN'T traditional. It contains the classic MC song, "All I Want For Christmas Is You" and other songs but the traditional ones are slow and boring, apart from "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen".

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review by: date: 2007-02-17 rating:
the full range and beauty of her voice
Most traditional christmas songs are sung in a traditional way and have survived for so long because they sound so good.For a pop star to come along and make many of them sound even better is quite a feat but that is what Mariah Carey has done here.The full range and beauty of her voice are on display on this cd - when you listen to O Holy Night and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen ask yourself this:is there anyone else in the world who could sing these this well? Only bettered by the christmas cd "christmas through your eyes" by gloria estefan.Christina Aguilera has a great voice but on her christmas cd the vocals are too jazzy and bluesy and she tends to show off her voice rather than show off the song.And celine dion's christmas cd lacks punch and the range of sound is not great.However the last five songs on celine's cd are worth hearing.

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review by: ultimatestarwarsfreak date: 2005-07-04 rating:
A Christmas Album That Works Outside The Festive Season Also
Festive albums seem like a time-stalling process, however not every artist that releases one can claim it sold 16 million copies. Merry Christmas was another success from the legendary Miss Mariah. Aside from the expected covers of classics, which she manages to do brilliantly, Carey creates some of her own Christmas masterpieces. The up-tempo plea of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" and beautiful portrayal of isolated emotions in "Miss You Most (At Christmas Time)" are enough to weigh up the various feelings of the holiday, but nothing compares to her own true Christmas signature song "All I Want For Christmas Is You", capturing the true energy of the festive spirit. Her vocals are not all shed for fun and games with her true range being explored on the hymn, "O Holy Night".

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review by: darkgenius date: 2005-02-01 rating:
An absolutely wonderful Christmas album
Few commercial Christmas albums really appeal to me - too many of them mangle the traditional classics I love, especially the hymns, with all sorts of fancy modern sounds that ring hollow to my ears, and, loving the traditional songs so much, few modern Christmas tunes manage to win me over. Ten years after its release, though, Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas CD remains a perennial Christmas favorite of mine. Mariah's vocal talent puts her head and shoulders above every female vocalist out there, and she injects true feeling and spirit into every song she sings. On this album, she combines the new with the old, making this a Christmas CD that almost everyone can love.

Like many, I was drawn to this CD after hearing the song All I Want For Christmas Is You; I believe it's the best secular Christmas song since Elvis' Blue Christmas. I had to buy the album for this one song alone, but I was also very anxious to hear what Mariah would do with traditional hymns such as Oh Holy Night - my pick for the greatest Christmas song ever written. Many a soprano shies away from truly hitting the high notes at the end of Oh Holy Night, and given Mariah's vocal range, I felt confident she would do the song justice. I was right, as this is one of the best versions of Oh Holy Night I've ever heard. Mariah's voice is equally angelic on Joy to the World, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and a properly subdued Silent Night. Jesus Oh What A Wonderful Child is a song I was less familiar with, but it makes for a stunning conclusion to an album that does pay real heed to the reason for the season.

Besides All I Want For Christmas Is You, Mariah co-wrote two other songs on the album: Miss You Most (At Christmas Time) and Jesus Born on This Day. The latter is an especially beautiful song that expresses the true meaning of Christmas. She also throws in an exceedingly fun version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town (and, thankfully, I can now think of Mariah rather than Bruce Springsteen whenever I hear this song). The perfect complement to All I Want For Christmas Is You, though, is Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).

Put it all together and you have a true modern Christmas classic featuring a wonderful mix of religious and secular songs that radiate both the fun as well as the serious aspects of the Christmas season. Anyone who loves Christmas - and Christmas music in particular - really should make this CD an annual part of his/her holiday celebration.


review by: date: 2004-11-28 rating:
Mariah wraps the album in gold!
Merry Christmas is the finest Christmas album ever to be released by any solo artist. Mariah Carey's vocals are truly stunning on this album and in my opinion I feel are the strongest on any of her albums. There's a gift for anyone, up beat catchy tunes like the huge hit 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' and 'Santa Claws in coming to town' will have you dancing around your room. There are traditional classics that have had the Carey magic worked on then, 'Silent Night', 'O Holy Night'.
In short Carey has created one of the strongest Christmas albums available. This is not a quick cash in like Destiny's Child's 'The eight days of Christmas', this is a solid, well produced album with traditional songs and new tracks that Mariah wrote and produced herself! Merry Christmas is the biggest selling Christmas album in history and I'm sure will impress anyone who listens to it! Well Done Mariah!

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