'Tis the Season

The Friday after Thanksgiving not only kicks off the busiest shopping weekend of the year, but it also kicks off the sounds of the season. No, no, not cash registers opening and closing. It's that sound you hear everywhere you turn your radio dial-- Christmas music. Every year you see new CDs with the classics and new classics with some of the more famous modern classics like Newsong's "Christmas Shoes" (which is now also a movie featuring Rob Lowe.) With every new artist that comes out to the main stream you'll hear them take on a classic song into their style of music.


But there are a couple artists I would like to recommend to those who, like me, love the classics but with the same feeling and sound. Last year jazz singer Michael Buble (boo-blay) released his first Christmas CD "Let it Show!" A five song compilation of classics like "Let it Snow!" (obviously) "Grown-Up Christmas List," White Christmas," I'll Be Home for Christmas" and "The Christmas Song." All of these songs stay true to the songs of yore that gained the title of "classic" while Buble still throws in his own jazz stylings into the mix.

What makes Buble's CD a must buy is his piano accompaniment. The piano is just as prominent as Buble's presence in all the songs. The piano gives each song a classic feel to it, like someone just sat down at your living room piano (if you have one) and just started to play and sing.

And Josh Groban released his long awaited Christmas CD "Noel" this November. This full length Christmas album features guitarist Andy McKee in "Little Drummer Boy." Faith Hill offers her talents in a duet on the song "The First Noel." Other classics featured are "Angels We Have Heard on High (with Brian McKnight,)" "I'll Be Home for Christmas," Groban's single released last Christmas season "Ave Maria," Groban's own version of "The Christmas Song," "What Child is This," and "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear." Other songs inclued David Fosters "Thankful," "Panis Angelicus," "Petit Papa Noel," and the climax of the album "O Come All Ye Faithful" featuring the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Groban's "Noel" is a guaranteed hit in any home. His classical operatic voice along with the orchestra and guest artists flows from song to song giving you the "warm fuzzies" during the cold winter months.

Both CDs offer something for everyone's Christmas spirit while being able to allow the listeners to call each version their generations own classic song.