I have never been a fan of Glee, but I love Christmas music. In fact I absolutely love Christmas, so when the review copy of Glee's newest Christmas album arrived, I got excited at the chance to review another Christmas album. Almost a year to the day after Volume One was released, Glee will release Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album Volume 2
on Tuesday, November 15, 2011. This year's Glee holiday album contains the cast’s festive renditions of such Christmas staples as “Little Drummer Boy," “Let It Snow,” and “All I Want For Christmas Is You." New cast members Lindsay Pearce, Alex Newell, and Damian McGinty--from the popular show The Glee Project--are featured on “Do You Hear What I Hear?” and “Blue Christmas," along with fellow discovery Samuel Larson accompanying the Glee cast on “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town." Among the 12 tracks on Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album Volume 2 are two original songs: “Extraordinary Merry Christmas” and “Christmas Eve With You," both written by Adam Anders, Peer Astrom and Shelly Peiken.
The full track listing is as follows (along with my thoughts on each):
- All I Want For Christmas Is You This song features Amber Riley (Mercedes) singing this popular Christmas love song written by Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff. The original Carey version was released in Nov. 194 and has since became the best-selling holiday ringtone in the U.S. Call me an old fogy if you want, but I prefer the old classics. Still with no money for Christmas this year, this may be the song I give my wife this Christmas day.
- Extraordinary Merry Christmas This was one of two original songs on this album. The song featuring Darrin Criss (Blaine) and Lea Michele (Rachel) was written by Adam Anders, Peer Astrom and Shelly Peiken. While the song was easy to listen to, I don't see it as becoming a favorite around my home, still when it comes to music I tend to be out of the loop, so who knows.
- Santa Baby Here is a song we have all heard of, this 1953 Christmas song written by Joan Javits, Philip Springer and Tony Springer. The song is a tongue-in-cheek look at a Christmas list sung by some woman who wants extravagant gifts such as sables, yachts, and decorations from Tiffany's. Originally recorded by Eartha Kitt with Henri René and his orchestra in New York City on October 6, 1953, this rendition features Naya Rivera (Santana).
- Christmas Eve With You The only other original title on this album is another Christmas love song, again written by Adam Anders, Peer Åström, and Shelly Peiken. The song features Jayma Mays (Emma). Love songs, aren't my particular forte, but like all the other tracts on this CD it was an easy listen.
- Little Drummer Boy A popular Christmas favorite of mine and many others throughout the world, this song was originally written in 1941 by Katherine K. Davis and has been recorded by a number of different artists over the years starting with the Trapp Family Singers in 1955. This rendition features Kevin McHale (Artie).
- River Okay, so this was a song I had never heard of before. The song written by Joni Mitchell (1971), where she ruminates on a recent romantic relationship breakup. This rendition features Lea Michele (Rachel).
- Do You Hear What I Hear? This is a Christmas song written in 1962 with lyrics by Noël Regney and music by Gloria Shayne Baker. On this album the song features Lindsey Pearce and Alex Newell.
- Let It Snow I hate snow, but have often loved hearing this song over the years. It is one of the best-selling songs of all time, and has been recorded countless times by a wide array of artists. Due to its seasonal lyrics, it is commonly regarded as a Christmas song. However, despite the song's cheery, holiday feel, it is a really a love song that never mentions Christmas. This rendition features Darren Criss (Blaine) and Chris Colfer (Kurt).
- Santa Claus Is Coming To Town One of my favorite childhood songs from when I was a kid, is redone on this album. This rendition features Mark Sailing (Puck), Cory Monteith (Finn), and Samuel Larsen. It was written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie. When it was first sung on Eddie Cantor's radio show in November 1934, it became an instant hit, with 100,000 copies of the sheet music being sold the next day and over 400,000 by Christmas of the same year.
- Christmas Wrapping Written by Chris Butler in 1981 this rendition features Heather Morris (Brittany). While this rendition is one of the more upbeat songs on the album, I would not call it a song that my wife or I would listen to regularly.
- Blue Christmas We have all heard this song sung by Elvis countless times. The song written by Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson was very interesting and enjoyable. When my wife and I heard this rendition featuring Damian McGinty (Rory) we had a little dispute. While I thought Elvis' version was better, she actually thought this rendition was better.
- Do They Know It's Christmas The final tract on the album features Cory Monteith (Finn), Amber Riley (Mercedes), Lea Michele (Rachel), Chris Colfer (Kurt), Kevin McHale (Artie), Heather Morris )Brittany), Mark Sallings (Puck), Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina) and Naya Rivera (Santana) redoing the song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 for Band Aid on 29 November 1984. Band Aid was a single-song album to raise money for relief of the 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia.
is available now for pre-order at a number online music sellers.My wife and I listened to this CD together. My wife thought on a scale of one to ten this CD would be a seven. I asked her what she didn't like about it. Her response was that she thought it could be more upbeat. Perhaps she has a point, after all this is the most joyous time of the year the music should reflect that. Besides Christmas music has been done so much it is hard to do it in a new way. Either you are going to like it or you aren't. My thought in this regard is that I have heard many different styles of Christmas music except for perhaps in one of my favorite music styles, Black Gospel (Choir). I'm sure it has been done, I just haven't heard it. Still over-all I personally liked the album. Not because it was so spectacularly different but because I enjoy Christmas music. If you like Christmas music like I do then I encourage you to checkout this album at your favorite music retailer.
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My name is Kevin, and that's what I think. What do you think? Agree? Disagree?
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