The Christmas Album CD (2011)

[dani]

that is a shame as that may be his last solo.

yeah it is but im sure its not bad i mean i havent heard it but still :DDD[/quote]


It does sound good from the sound bite i heard but its a shame it will not be a fantastic solo. Whats Srefans White Xmas like? . That seems to be getting good reviews so far.

[natsumi]

that is a shame as that may be his last solo.

yeah it is but im sure its not bad i mean i havent heard it but still :DDD

It does sound good from the sound bite i heard but its a shame it will not be a fantastic solo. Whats Srefans White Xmas like? . That seems to be getting good reviews so far.[/quote]

aww well thats too bad but theyre all still greaqt ;D
ooo yeah i heard Stefan did a great job too i also like Carol of the Bells and The First Nowell i wonder what ppl thot of that one...

[phlibera]

No no. It's not bad at all. Not a bit. When I said unassuming I meant only to say that his solo didn't call attention to itself and it's because the song is just that kind of song. I love the song. It's very soothing, calming. And Daniel's solo is hauntingly beautiful. Maybe not like that of "Ave Virgo" or "Ave Maria", but only because the song doesn't call for something like the latter two for its solo. Calm, unassuming, but beautiful. I also like the way he enunciates the Latin words.

[dani]

aww well thats too bad but theyre all still greaqt ;D
ooo yeah i heard Stefan did a great job too i also like Carol of the Bells and The First Nowell i wonder what ppl thot of that one...

That is sooo freaky. My fav songs from the little i have heard was " Carol of The Bells" , The first Nowell and Veni Veni E . And you have named them as the ones you wanna hear

You must have great taste

[natsumi]

No no. It's not bad at all. Not a bit. When I said unassuming I meant only to say that his solo didn't call attention to itself and it's because the song is just that kind of song. I love the song. It's very soothing, calming. And Daniel's solo is hauntingly beautiful. Maybe not like that of "Ave Virgo" or "Ave Maria", but only because the song doesn't call for something like the latter two for its solo. Calm, unassuming, but beautiful. I also like the way he enunciates the Latin words.

OOO ok yeah i get what u mean. Veni Veni Emmanuel is a very classical song so it may not be the most eye catching song but i love hsi voice so eyah i cant wait ;D

[natsumi]

aww well thats too bad but theyre all still greaqt ;D
ooo yeah i heard Stefan did a great job too i also like Carol of the Bells and The First Nowell i wonder what ppl thot of that one...

That is sooo freaky. My fav songs from the little i have heard was " Carol of The Bells" , The first Nowell and Veni Veni E . And you have named them as the ones you wanna hear

You must have great taste

OOOOOO REALLY?? yeah i loved those three song from listening to the mini byte :DD yeah i love for the first Nowell the descant part and for veni veni E, i just love Daniel's voice so im so excited for tht and Stefan's white christmas just brought me into the xmas feeling
and yes i do have a wonderful taste ;D lol jk

[Lumi]

This turned out to be pretty long, sorry about that.

• Joy to the World Not a new song at this point of course, but I have to say that it makes a really good first track for the album. Still one of my favourites.
  
  Still, Still, Still A really nice choice after the very fast-paced first track. I almost started crying when I first heard Ralph singing, and really, I don’t do that. Also, while I was a bit skeptical before about the use of lower voices, I must say that they work in an exceptionally nice way together with the higher part – towards the end of the song they are singing the melody while the higher voices are doing a nice descant.
  
  Carol of the Bells Pleasant surprise, you definitely don’t get bored while listening. Love the part that starts around 1:05 and the one mentioned by dani at 2:25. And is that Freddie at the very end?
  
  Veni Veni Emmanuel I’m going to be honest here… I’m incredibly disappointed by the arrangement. Daniel is so great on the solo, and yet instead of starting with his part there is this plain weird “Gaude, gaude” thing in the beginning. The second part with the full choir and English lyrics also sounds really good, but again only to be ruined by the same “gaude” thingy at the end.
  
  Once in Royal David’s City I’m happy they stuck with the fairly traditional arrangement here! Eoghan has a wonderful, classical treble voice that is perfect for the solo. Really nice!
  
  O Holy Night A half a minute long, boring instrumental part in the beginning, but otherwise just great! I love how they have used the traditional arrangement, but in the latter half added some really great and definitely very Liberasque descants. And Ralph is, once again, amazing.
  
  White Christmas Stefan is of course brilliant, but otherwise not much to say… Well, it’s a nice song with some really nice harmonies.
  
  Corpus Christi Carol As I already mentioed I was expecting Ralph and James to be doing the opposite parts, but I guess it works even better this way. Also I like the fact that it’s just the two of them doing the whole song. Most of the tracks on the album have the same type of choruses with this cheerful and somehow very “full” sound, so it’s nice to have a few songs here and there without the same sound.
  
  In Dulci Jubilo Not a big fan of the carol itself, but the second half of the song does have some really nice harmonies together with the lower voices.
  
  Sing the Story A big positive surprise! I thought the previous version sung by the young Michael Horncastle would be very difficult to top, but Luke really does a brilliant job.
  
  Coventry Carol Mmh… I honestly don’t know what to think about this song. It’s not necessarily a bad idea to have one lower solo too on the solo as it does contrast quite nicely against the other songs. But the bass part in that one stanza goes a bit too far with that, I think.
  
  The First Nowell Sounds like they only have younger boys singing at the beginning. In any case, a nice track. Freddie has a really good voice, he is still so young that his solo almost has a bit too much of the “aww” factor in it though. But then again it quite fits the song, and now that I think about it might be a part of the reason they did not have everyone singing in the beginning either.
  
  Jubilate Deo Amazing. Seriously, amazing. Jakob goes so high, so clean, with the hallelujas in the very beginning and everything is just simply brilliant in this song. And they wonder why choose Jubilate out of all the old tracks? Obviously that’s simply part of RP’s genius vision. Because this track is, did I mention, amazing?
  
  While Shepherds It’s a nice song and Cassius has a great voice. The thing is, Ben’s solo in the previous version is so brilliant that I kind of feel like having Cassius sing this now doesn’t make his voice justice as I can’t keep from comparing the two versions.
  
  Gaudete- Canticum Novum Wtf. Seriously. A super weird remix of Gaudete with Liam’s solo. It’s not a bad remix, but I still can’t stop laughing when I’m listening to it. The techno/disco/whatever sound would be pretty random on any Libera track, but on a Christmas carol album?

Lumi what was your fav track?

what was Veni Veni E like with Daniel?

At this point, I would say Still, Still, Still and Jubilate Deo. I guess the reason I’m so upset with the stupid gaudes in Veni Veni is that, based on the sample tracks, I was expecting it to me favourite without a doubt. However, luckily in iTunes it is possible to choose the starting and ending point of any track, so I simply cut the beginning and end parts away for now.

But I have to disagree with natsumi. The melody is simple yet stunningly beautiful, this particular arrangement being also particularly dramatic. And since Daniel's voice is doing the song more than justice as well as the other way around, I think it's just the perfect choice for his last solo.

[phlibera]

Whats Srefans White Xmas like? . That seems to be getting good reviews so far.

This has a little bit of broadway-like start, probably why they picked Stefan to sing the solo. But I would say the solo is not the biggest draw to this song if ever. It's when the whole choir sings. The song, like VVE of Daniel, also doesn't tax Stefan's voice as much as say, Libera, which he did the last time (which was really just last year in April) he was in the Philippines. It's a cool song. Bring hot choco.

[dani]

Lumi thank you for the review. Going to read it now. I just wanted to thank you for writing one up

[dani]

Its soo annoying that we have still not got it on Itunes. This makes me excitied to download some of the songs. I still doubt i will download the whole album but these reviews make me tempted

From the bit i have heard Stil Still Still sounded really slow and a bit dull so it will be intriguing to here it all.

How do the low voices sound over all i? as it seems they get a big role in this album. Does it work ? , is it Jarring at all in any songs?.

[natsumi]

Lumi what was your fav track?

what was Veni Veni E like with Daniel?

At this point, I would say Still, Still, Still and Jubilate Deo. I guess the reason I’m so upset with the stupid gaudes in Veni Veni is that, based on the sample tracks, I was expecting it to me favourite without a doubt. However, luckily in iTunes it is possible to choose the starting and ending point of any track, so I simply cut the beginning and end parts away for now.

But I have to disagree with natsumi. The melody is simple yet stunningly beautiful, this particular arrangement being also particularly dramatic. And since Daniel's voice is doing the song more than justice as well as the other way around, I think it's just the perfect choice for his last solo.[/quote]

i understand, i didnt mean it that way, and yeah i think Daniel's solo is amazing im not sure what u mean by the Gaudae part since i havent gotten my cd yet but in overall, im sure this cd would be great

[phlibera]

I personally thought the lower voices helped set this album apart from Angel Voices 3, helped make this CD more Libera-esque compared to AV3. In a another level, the lower voices can be thought as representing the congregation joining the singing of the choir. And put it another way since the lower voices didn't kill the songs, they made them stronger. The lower voices weren't overdone and in no way dominated a single track of the album. And they are really just present a few seconds here and there. Nobody will get confused that they might have bought a men's choir CD.

[dani]

Thanks for this. Just the Josh solo jarred a bit with me personally. I listen to Libera because of the boys voices and the way they soar the high notes. I dont mind the lower voices and a lot of the time they add something but i'm not a fan of them getting solo songs. All tho in " Time" it worked but Josh's voice was not that low at that stage. In Coventry Carol its very noticeable and feels alittle odd to me .

[Murkskis]

Wow, what a review, Lumi
Thanks for posting.
BTW, I believe the fans won't be the only ones who might be tempted to read this thread

Edit. Regarding 'Gaudete- Canticum Novum', can't wait to hear it as well, because I like most Libera's remixes that are 'released' on YT.

[Lauren]

This turned out to be pretty long, sorry about that.

No too long at all! Thank you for the review, Lumi! Can't wait to hear it all for myself!