Track Listing

1. Snowfall
2. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
3. Santa Clause Is Coming to Town/Santa Man (Medley) [Medley]
4. Christmas Song - Cynthia Kaay Bennett, Manhattan Transfer
5. Silent Night, Holy Night
6. Caroling, Caroling
7. Happy Holiday/The Holiday Season (Medley) [Medley]
8. Christmas Love Song
9. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
10. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
11. Good Night
12. Silent Night
13. Snowfall
14. Christmas Song
15. Holiday Season

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36734 in Music
• Released on: 1992-11-17
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
With pleasing vocal holiday trimmings from the popular singing quartet, Manhattan Transfer's The Christmas Album seems designed for fans only. Its decidedly safe arrangements and harmony singing yield few surprises, only "Snowfall," the record's first track, and, oddly enough, John Lennon and Paul McCartney's "Goodnight," the album closer (and the very song that finished the Beatles' "White Album"). "Snowfall" acts as a romantic table setter for the cuddly fare that follows across The Christmas Album. "Goodbye," which always threatened to fall apart under the weight of its own brand of lovable Beatles schmaltziness, adds a bit more Christmas color to the instrumentation while letting the vocals lull and caress until a cute kid explains why they should go to sleep and wake up to get presents. Lovable schmaltz alert. --Martin Keller

Customer Reviews

Very Nice Holiday Music, But Not Usual Manhattan Transfer
Here it is in a nutshell: This is a beautifully performed and arranged, but very slow and relaxed Christmas album. It is great background music, and perfect when you want to sit and relax and be swept away after battling the holiday rush. I wouldn't recommend it for getting your Christmas party hopping. Although I like this album, I was a little disappointed with it, because I know what the Manhattan Transfer is capable of, and I feel that on this album they did not push the musical envelope like they usually do. I supect the record company that released the album is mostly at fault for that, trying for a safe, marketable record. The Manhattan Transfer seems relieved on subsequent albums to be back with Atlantic Records. As another reviewer recommended, listen to the samples before buying to make sure this is what you want. As always with Manhattan Transfer records, check the liner notes for some surprise guest appearances.

Absolutely FABULOUS!
If you love Christmas music, and if you love the jazzy style of Manhattan Transfer, then you are sure to love The Christmas Album. I just bought the CD a few days ago, and have already listened to it a dozen times. Each song is creatively arranged, and each evokes warm and cozy feelings and sentiments associated with Christmastime. The dreamy song "Snowfall" makes me wish it were actually snowing outside so I could sit by the fire and watch the flakes float lazily down! The clear articulation of each vocalist and the marvelous arrangements make this CD a real treasure. I highly recommend it.

Smoooooooth and wonderful
Once again, The Manhattan Transfer triumphs. Their "Christmas Album" is a wonderland of smooooooth harmonies, disciplined singing, and lush orchestral backing. The album opens with the almost eerily beautiful "Snowfall," which beautifully evokes the mesmerizing sight of snowflakes falling down from the sky. They tame the usually buoyant "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" into a lush come-hither invitation for a Christmas snuggle, and it's beautiful.

Things start popping and bopping on the third tune, with a combination of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and "Santa Man." It's amazing how The Manhattan Transfer can turn expectations on their heads--a child's tune that's clearly geared now towards adults instead--but still do it successfully and with such musical confidence and rigor. I'm amazed, but ten years after first having bought this album, I still occasionally hear new nuances that I never noticed before. On Mel Torme's perennial "The Christmas Song," the quartet teams with Tony Bennett and the result is sumptuous. Bennett conveys the longing and sweetness of the song, while beautifully bolstered by The Manhattan Transfer singing back-up.

Two classics you don't hear much of anymore--"Caroling, Caroling" and "Happy Holiday" are both given loving attention here. "Caroling, Caroling" is a cornucopia of rich harmonies, and "Happy Holiday" is the sort of blazing, gloriously boppy arms-wide-open tune the Transfer does to perfection.

The album closes with two songs which feature Cheryl Bentyne's butterscotchy smooth voice: "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and the Beatles' lullaby "Good Night"--odd when you first think about it, but such a sweet, hope-filled song that it ends up seeming just right for a Christmas album. I highly recommend the entire album--it'll surely become a holiday favorite in your household as it has in ours.