season's greetings delivered with sincerity

Now that Christmas is approaching I have been listening to Carly's Christmas album with renewed interest and appreciation. The lyrics on her own compositions are heartfelt especially "Forgive" which should set a humbling example to us all. Of the popular covers my favourite is "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" which is one of the best versions of this gorgeous song that I have ever listened to, the vocal arrangement is beautiful and Carly's voice soars in purity. Sadly, I won't be able to see Carly in New York later this month, but any of these songs will work wonders live. I can imagine what a gas seeing "Twelve Gates To The City" would be like performed live, especially if Billy Preston was on the keyboards. A considered album with something for everyone, spiritually and tradtionally as well as the more popular covers.

A Cozy Addition to the Collection

At first I was reluctant to buy this CD based on some of the tepid reviews here and the casual manner in which it reportedly was recorded. Boy am I glad I got it. It is very intimate and cozy. Just loved the informal feel to it. Like a good friend singing to you with spirit to spare. I would highly recommend this one.

Classy Christmas album - relaxing, warm and intimate

Carly's peak years were in the seventies, but she still sings as good as she ever did. This is a lovely album, with a mix of slow and mid-tempo songs, including some standards which everybody knows, together with some wonderful new songs.



Carly and Willie Nelson sing a duet - Pretty paper, which Willie wrote and Roy Orbison had a hit with back in the sixties.



Carly wrote The land of Christmas (Mary), while Heaven is a song originally written by Carly's daughter Lucy, which Carly and Lucy rewrote as a Christmas song.



Twelve gates to the city is apparently a very old song, but I don't ever remember hearing it before despite having a large Christmas music collection.



All these songs are brilliant, but perhaps the title track is the best of the lot - it certainly sets the mood of the album.



This is a masterpiece, as anybody familiar with Carly's music would expect. It's probably not one to play during the height of Christmas festivities (there are plenty of other, more upbeat, Christmas albums that serve that purpose well), but rather, this is one that you play when things have quietened down, and you can just relax.