 |
Check out our new blog! We'll be posting great discounts and deals there often.
 A New Thought For ChristmasSales Rank:456List Price: $13.98 Lowest New Price: $8.76 Lowest Used Price: $8.65 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 Total Reviews: 31 Customer Reviews:Rating: 5 How can you not love Melissa singing Christmas Music I'm not one who listens to Christmas music after Dec 25, but I can't put this CD away. I truly love it. It's all I listen to driving to and from work. Rating: 5 Another great album by Melissa! I wasn't sure what to expect but I just love this cd! I recommend it for anyone who loves the old traditional songs that have a new age twist. She is amazing as always. I love it!! Rating: 3 Great covers, originals apparently for faithful followers I am not a big Etheridge fan, I just picked this up a week or so ago because I noticed this when looking for a bluesy Christmas album. I love her covers of some of the classics like "Blue Christmas" and the guitar work is sweet, but sorry the originals don't seem memorable to me. They are not bad, but seem sort of bland to me. I think one problem (for me at least) was the attempt to mine a deep spiritual meaning from Christmas with only a veiled nod of disdain to traditional Christian spirituality. You can have a lot of fun with a totally secular recording if you don't like Christianity and I own and enjoy many recordings in that vein, but those recordings focus on tradition, fun, romance, and family. Christmas already has a rich spiritual context, one that is as complex and multifaceted as anyone could imagine, and if you don't go for that, it has be pretty good to avoid losing in comparison. Sorry, but reflecting on farmer's almanac facts like the relative length of days and nights is not a message that will bring hope to brighten the lives of those who are oppressed. The traditional Christmas tree defeats the trendy Festivus pole for me. So this is a new thought for Christmas, an original one for sure, just not a great one. Rating: 4 A New Voice For Christmas It is so great to hear some NEW Christmas tunes...especially when they are sung so passionately by the great Melissa Etheridge. I really enjoyed her versions of some of the classics, as well as her original songs. She's written some great lyrics and the message is clear...let's remember that Christmas is a time for peace. Loved this one! Rating: 5 Step Out from the Dark Melissa Etheridge's Christmas record is perfectly conceived. She combines mostly new originals with a few classic songs and balances the softer sounds with her trademark rock. The blues guitar on "Blue Christmas" builds to a thundering storm for those who are sad for the holidays. My favorite track is "Glorious" with Paul Trudeau's keyboards tinkling joyfully as Melissa's lovely vocals caress the lyrics gently, "I have heard the angels sweetly singing o'er the plains & I heard the mountain echoing their sweet refrain." Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich & Phil Spector's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" rocks thunderously with Melissa pulling out all the stops on this rock & roll Christmas song, "They're singing deck the halls, but it's not like Christmas at all; I remember when you were here & all the fun we had last year." I thought I would never like another version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" more than the one James Taylor did on James Taylor At Christmas. However, whereas James has a sadness that makes you feel he could break into tears, Etheridge draws strength from holiday joys with that incredible lead guitar milking the blues from the track. What a delight! The six-minute "Ring the Bells" may be the perfect Christmas song as the Obama era starts in America, "We've all been called to wake from sleep, to feel our power, to create the dream, to step out from the dark, past our father's fear." The lovely hopeful song speaks to the best of us. "Merry Christmas Baby" is an amorous Christmas love song with Etheridge's smoking guitar weeping the feel-good blues. "Christmas in America" hinges on a girl missing her loved one that veils a peace message, "What happened to peace on earth? All the goodwill toward men? Ah, come on all ye faithful, it's time to think again." It's a powerful track with Etheridge's vocals filled with equal parts anger and longing. "Light a Light" melds a beautiful melody with a hopeful lyric and Melissa's earth-mother vocals, "Heaven is inside, it's all around, not just above; Choose only love." "It's Christmas Time" rocks joyfully, "What if we all stopped believing the lie that happiness comes from a store." As on many of the tracks here, Melissa references other well-known Christmas carols as a departure point taking "O Holy Night" to create the CD closer "O Night Divine." "A New Thought for Christmas" is a lovely holiday album that rocks & bleeds, loves & hopes. It's an excellent effort from this master musician. Bravo! |