Track Listing

1. Adeste Fidelis
2. Early on One Christmas Morn
3. O Little Town of Bethlehem
4. Riu, Riu, Chiu
5. I Saw Three Ships
6. Down in Yon Forest
7. Anges Dans Nos Campagnes
8. Go Tell It on the Mountain
9. Shepheards
10. Silent Night
11. Jesus Ahatonnia
12. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
13. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
14. Mary Had a Baby
15. Joy to the World

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8174 in Music
• Released on: 2009-12-09
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
Christmas - Bruce Cockburn

This product is manufactured on demand using CD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

Amazon.com
Canadian Bruce Cockburn's understated musical and vocal strengths belie his more ardent political folk-pop in a career that never found a wider U.S. audience. Too bad, because Cockburn deftly mixes folk, rock, country, gospel, and international music without making it seem forced or found. On Christmas the singer takes artistic and poetic license to rearrange "Silent Night," "Adeste Fidelis," and other more reverent standards alongside "The Huron Carol," "Go Tell It on the Mountain," and "Mary Had a Baby," another beautiful gospel tune often overlooked by more mainstream singers. Cockburn's quiet intensity ignites most of these--and his liner notes are brief but poignant and informative. --Martin Keller

Customer Reviews

Wonderful, unique treatments of Christmas classics
This C.D. has been a staple of my Christmas gift list for friends and family for 3 years-- and here I am, ordering it again. If you don't know Bruce Cockburn, he is a Canadian, and this C.D. contains Christmas classics such as God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Joy to the World, but with guitar, drum-- even fiddle-- arrangements that make them somewhat primitive, native, and-- well, different. But very warm and wonderful. Bruce Cockburn sings, in addition to classics, some terrific arrangements of" Riu Riu Chiu" and" Les Anges Dans Nos Campagnes," so you can see, this C.D. takes Christmas music to a whole new level. This C.D. is great background music for Christmas parties. Ages 14 through 84 would love it (I promise.) I was turned on to it by a rock musician but I have given it to people in a folk church choir. That's how diverse and musical it is. This C.D. is a MUST for your Christmas music collection-- and a great Christmas gift as well.

A Little Gem
Bruce Cockburn doesn't have the most amazing voice but to be honest, that is one of the things that make this recording the standout it is. This collection of Christmas tunes (instrumental tracks and songs) is one of my favorite holiday albums. I have given it as a gift to several people--all with vastly different musical tastes because it transcends many of our musical prejudices.

The disc features songs ranging from the familiar "Go Tell it On The Mountain" (a jangly foot-tappin' banjo driven version) and a beautiful and all too brief instrumental solo acoustic guitar version of "Joy To the World" (no--not the Three Dog Night song) to the more esoteric "Les Anges Dans Nos Campagnes" a French carol from the 18th century.

What comes across in this disk is Cockburn's desire to create a collection of personal favorites that was a labor of love. Cockburn's sometimes strained yet passionate vocals only make this recording more homey. I could easily imagine this being the songs he would play to/with a group of friends and family. There are moments that sound like a bunch of friends jamming--celebrating the joy of the season.

In past years I've included many of the tracks on my personally mixed holiday tapes which I've sent to friends. I've shared this disc with several people--sending them their own copy so they would have the pleasure of experiencing this recording as one complete body of work.

SMALL BONUS--the cover photography is quite wonderful and will inspire you to make some hot chocolate!

Christmas with a twist
This is one CD you'll need to buy several of. For gifts? No. Why multiples? Because either you'll wear the CD out or friends will borrow and not return.

Of all of the Christmas CDs we have, this one tops the list. Unlike some artists who take Christmas/holiday standards and alter them to fit their style, Bruce recreates them with feeling. There are a few standards on here (O Little Town, Silent Night, Joy to the World, etc) there are several surprises, like Don in Yon Forest (very haunting, it has a heavy overtone) and Iesus Ahatonnia (Huron Carol).

The music is very Bruce - lots of his excellent string work and his ability to sing from the soul. The folks backing him up are amazing, this is one crafted CD.

If you haven't see him live, please do so. I saw him in a small setting (about 50 people) and he played with little to no amplification; he had more instruments on stage than people in the audience it seemed. Very talented, he had the crowd in awe the whole evening.

Nice CD, Bruce.