Please Santa please

Reviewed December 2007

Her second holiday release, and first one done solo (her previous Christmas album was with Vince Gill), has 22 tracks on it – but former '70s pop bombshell Olivia Newton-John only sings on half of them. Each of the songs she sings is separated by a short instrumental take on a holiday classic. It's actually a nice format, and keeps you from overdosing on Newton-John's hopelessly urgent singing. Still having a gorgeous voice, she also still oversings a bit (not that it's ever hurt her popularity). Highlights are duets with Jon Secada and Barry Manilow, plus the inclusion of five new holiday songs written or co-written by Newton-John, which help balance out the standard take on the holiday standards.

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).