Holiday shopping time is here!

This & Edge of Christmas are CDs that are my top picks for modern holiday fare. AVSC3 is best re-ordered, with a few tracks omitted & a few on repeat. Here's my song x song review:



1/Sting: Perky opener, bubby upbeat vocals. Not bad.



2/Pumpkins: Love this great original, on it's way to being a modern day classic. Corgan's nasal voice works well here.



3/Merchant: Mellow, nice tone. Lilting spiritual-like quality.



4/Mase: Ick. Santa Baby=ultimate XMas song for non-singers. There've been better bad versions of this. Skip this mess.



5/No Doubt: I like Gwen & the gang, but half the time I skip this. Kind of a mosh-pit like energy, you really have to be in the mood. Placement on the CD stinks, too.



6/Crow: I usually like her, not so much here with another over-roasted holiday chestnut, nothing new's been added. Wouldn't an original been nicer?



7/Blues Traveler: All you've read about this track is correct. Gorgeous "round" singing, superb lonely lyrics. One of the best.



8/Enya: Not bad, but on the wrong CD.



9/Hootie-Blow: Hooterized version clearly only here due to the popularity of the band at the time. Can you say treacle? Stick to Mel Torme.



10/Cornell: Soundgarden/Audioslave's lead wailer seem like an odd fit? Nope, its a marriage made in heaven. Worth the $ just for this...the man can suuuure sing.



11/Blige: I don't think this fits here-what a letdown after Ave Maria. It would be best on a CD w/more urban or jazzy tracks.



12/Lang: Why? Cuz he was hot at the time. Skip & go right from Chris to Dave.



13/DMB: Oft played original is a new holiday faves. Hushed, reverant vocals, lush lyrics. Bet other artists cover this one...but like the Torme's Christmas Song, the 1st will always be the best.



14/Winwood: This'll sneak up on you. It's become my favorite song of the entire SERIES. Winwood is renowned for his "white soul boy" voice, and no where is it finer than on this glorious old melancholy carol. Heartbreaking. A must own tune.



15/Chapman: Great version of a religious classic; she does it proud.



16/Smith: Odd, & kind of dirgelike. Off placement-I'd not have chosen this for the finale of AVSC3.



Overall, this is a must-own due to superb #s 2,7,10,13,14,& 15; decent #s 1,3,6,16; & tolerable #s 5,8,11,12. Only 4 & 9 are skip at all costs misfires, but better than the average mix. Happy Holidays!

Not the strongest in the series

I was very impressed by the first two volumes in the series but this volume, while it has some great tracks, does not match those two although I like this set better now than when I first bought it some years ago.



The highlights for me are I saw three ships (Sting), Blue Christmas (Sheryl Crow), Christmas (Blues traveller), a Gallic version of Silent night (Enya), Santa Claus is back in town (Jonny Lang), Christmas is now drawing near at hand (Steve Winwood) and O holy night (Tracy Chapman). Most of the other tracks are OK but the version of Santa baby included here is definitely not my kind of music. I much prefer Madonna's version, to be found on the first volume in the series, or the original Eartha Kitt version from the fifties.



If you are a big fan of nineties pop and rock music, you may enjoy this more than I do - you may even enjoy it more than I do, as my taste in pop and rock is rooted in an earlier era. Otherwise, you are likely to feel (as I do) that this is not an essential purchase. You can contribute to the Special Olympics by purchasing the first two volumes (also filled mostly with pop and rock music) or the more recent Very special acoustic Christmas (filled with country and bluegrass music), all of which I reviewed long ago.

The best of the bunch, perfectly balanced

The third edition of the "A Very Special Christmas" series is for me the most significant. It's definitely very '90's just as the first version was very '80's, but that shouldn't be interpreted as a negative criticism. True, the first instinct of any contemporary rock/pop music fan is likely going to be "Blues Traveller/Hootie & The Blowfish/Tracy Champman? Who listens to those people anymore?"

...but recording original (or even standard) Christmas songs isn't about being current or cutting edge; it's about "making a joyful noise" and, in this case, raising some money for a particularly good cause.



The highlights are, in order, Sting's "I Saw Three Ships", which can't help but get anyone into a jovial mood (my daughter, age 7, particularly loves it...for her it's the title track for the whole CD), Natalie Merchant's "Children Go Where I Send Thee", brilliantly executed yet a bit tedious to listen to as it is a variation on the "Twelve Days Of Christmas" theme (repititious, repititious, repititious...you get the idea), No Doubt's hyperska cover of "Oi! To The World" (although this did take some time to grow on me...once I was able to deduce Gwen's lyrics -no easy task, they come fast and furious- I was able to enjoy the lighter side of the song), Sheryl Crow's breathy reinterpretation of "Blue Christmas" was particularly sultry...reminds me of Marilyn singing "Happy Birthday" to JFK, Blues Traveler's "Christmas" has to appeal to the inner cynic in everyone (it spoke specifically to me before my daughter was born), and Hootie & the Blowfish, whom I never particularly cared for durng their Huey-Lewis-&-The-News-esque run in the mid-'90's, have in fact done a version of "Christmas Song" sufficient to add extra warmth to any home and hearth. Chris Cornell's absolutely EPIC rendition of "Ave Maria" comes from out of nowhere and was an instant favorite, still is my favorite track off this album, Jonny Lang's version of "Santa Claus Is Back In Town" could never rival Elvis Presley's version (perhaps an unfair standard by which to compare anyone), but for someone hearingthe song for the first time, they are treated to a real potboiler. This guy can sing his @$$ off and can play a bit of guitar as well. And he was SIXTEEN when this was recorded? Not too bad at all, sunny Jim. "Christmas Is Now Drawing Near At Hand" is terrific in the hands of Steve Winwood (an odd choice for this compilation; we wasn't exactly riding the crest of his popularity by this time)

...it is a fitting "for shame, ye sinners" approach that he delivers asthough from the pulpit itself. And Tracy Chapman has never sounded better than in her version of "O Holy Night". It's never been my favorite Christmas Carol, but after listening to her sing it it plays in my head for hours afterward. Quite possibly the best song on the entire CD.



Now...the other songs I don't find fault with...I can listen to them without feeling the need to skip through them. "Christmas Time" is a lovely original, well-written and arranged, but I've never enjoyed listen to Billy Corgan sing; he may well be alt-rock's version of Bob Dylan in that he can write a song as well as anyone, but listening to that midwestern whingy twang is a discipline unto itself. The Reverend Run All-Stars and friends have seemed to meld "Santa Baby and "Christmas In Hollis" from the first "A Very Special Christmas" album from 1987 and have made both songs poorer in this effort. Still the more I listen to it, the better it gets. "Christmas In The City" by Mary J. Blige is nicely done, it conveys the vibe it seeks well enough and I definitely appreciate its jazzier aspects; it should be the soundtrack to any Christmas special directed by Martin Scorsese. Patti Smith and Enya's respective renditions of "We Three Kings" and "Silent Night" are interesting, but more atmospheric in nature and seem more new age than pop-influenced, and closing the CD with the gothic gloom that Smith gives her song is at best a questionable call.



I still find this to be the most consistent edition of the series, and as such it is the only one I own, even though generationally speaking the original album probably hits closer to home for me. Well-recommended mix of contemporary and classic songs given a current treatment that lasts long beyong the post-grunge/alternative music era from whence it came. Merry Christmas!