Turbula
Online since August 2002
Music

Holiday comfort

Reviewed December 2007

In the Swing of Christmas
In the Swing of Christmas
By Barry Manilow

Hallmark: 2007

To hear sound clips or learn more about this release, Turbula recommends viewing its Amazon.com entry.

Available only from Hallmark retail outlets (although second-hand copies are already showing up on the Internet), Barry Manilow's third Christmas CD is haunted by the ghosts of Andy Williams TV specials and Perry Como sweater past. It's a charmingly old-fashioned holiday album, full of smoothly crooned carols plus an unexpected chestnut in "Violets for Your Furs." Given the relatively small pool of recognizable holidays songs from which to draw, there's surprisingly precious little if any overlap with his two previous holiday outings. His take on Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas Time Is Here" (from the Peanuts holiday TV special) is especially lovely in its quiet restraint.

Review by Jim Trageser. Jim is a writer and editor living in Escondido, Calif., and was a contributor to the "Grove Press Guide to Blues on CD" (1993) and "The Routledge Encyclopedia of the Blues" (2005).



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