Somebody asked me why Mariah has gone to the Christmas well a second time, and my flip answer was that maybe she had a balloon payment due on something she bought on time. More likely, it was the fact that her original holiday disc was on her former label Columbia; now that she's on Island, I would guess the suits there wanted a piece of the Christmas action. Turns out she's also got a network holiday special planned, so new music apparently was called for there. Of course, Elvis did two distinct Christmas albums back in the day, separated in time by about the same amount that this 2010 disc is separated from her first one. So what is there to say about this one? Well, Mariah is a known quantity after all these years, a well-liked soul singer with great pipes and a decent ear for good songs. The single from this collection, "Oh Santa," is a good example, a nice uptempo romp you'll be singing along with before you finish hearing it for the first time. Her original holiday hit, "All I Want For Christmas," is here as well, a new performance with a hammy orchestrated intro, and my guess is that its presence will help encourage buyers to grab this album instead of the 1994 disc where this song originated. She also recycles the first album's "O Holy Night," combining it with a live performance, medleys "Linus and Lucy" with "Christmas Time Is Here" from "A Charlie Brown Christmas," brings her opera-singing mom in for "O Come All Ye Faithful / Hallelujah Chorus," and brings in other originals like the slow jam "When Christmas Comes" and the ballad "Christmas Time Is In the Air Again." All told, it's what you'd expect, but in the style of the entertainment magazines, I have no problem recommending you download "Oh Santa" whether you're a Mariah fan or not.
Merry Christmas II You, Mariah Carey (Island)
Somebody asked me why Mariah has gone to the Christmas well a second time, and my flip answer was that maybe she had a balloon payment due on something she bought on time. More likely, it was the fact that her original holiday disc was on her former label Columbia; now that she's on Island, I would guess the suits there wanted a piece of the Christmas action. Turns out she's also got a network holiday special planned, so new music apparently was called for there. Of course, Elvis did two distinct Christmas albums back in the day, separated in time by about the same amount that this 2010 disc is separated from her first one. So what is there to say about this one? Well, Mariah is a known quantity after all these years, a well-liked soul singer with great pipes and a decent ear for good songs. The single from this collection, "Oh Santa," is a good example, a nice uptempo romp you'll be singing along with before you finish hearing it for the first time. Her original holiday hit, "All I Want For Christmas," is here as well, a new performance with a hammy orchestrated intro, and my guess is that its presence will help encourage buyers to grab this album instead of the 1994 disc where this song originated. She also recycles the first album's "O Holy Night," combining it with a live performance, medleys "Linus and Lucy" with "Christmas Time Is Here" from "A Charlie Brown Christmas," brings her opera-singing mom in for "O Come All Ye Faithful / Hallelujah Chorus," and brings in other originals like the slow jam "When Christmas Comes" and the ballad "Christmas Time Is In the Air Again." All told, it's what you'd expect, but in the style of the entertainment magazines, I have no problem recommending you download "Oh Santa" whether you're a Mariah fan or not.
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