Track Listing

1. Do You Hear What I Hear?
2. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
3. One Bright Star (This Christmas Night)
4. What Child Is This?
5. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
6. I'll Be Home for Christmas
7. Let There Be Peace on Earth
8. White Christmas
9. Til the Season Comes Around Again
10. It Won't Be the Same This Year

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48379 in Music
• Released on: 1999-10-05
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Vince Gill's first holiday effort is split between secular favorites and Christian carols, but whether he's dreaming of a "White Christmas" or asking "What Child Is This," the performances and arrangements are consistently careful, quiet, and slow. Sometimes, this effect is nearly magical--on "I'll Be Home For Christmas," the hushed and hesitant piano and Gill's high tenor sound as yearning as a dream unfulfilled. But, excepting a couple of Chet Atkinslike instrumentals, the more common result is that what should sound peaceful and humble comes off merely solemn and emotionally detached. The closing "It Won't Be the Same This Year," however, makes up for these disappointments when the formerly restrained Gill cuts loose, for once, and cries sweetly in memory of a departed older brother. --David Cantwell

Customer Reviews

A voice made for Christmas...
As a Deaf person who can only listen to music in the confines of my car at this point in my life, and still know that I am missing some tones...I tend to pick my music carefully. I've had this particular album by Vince Gill for the last three Christmases. This is one of my favorite albums, because he has a strong clear voice that I can easily understand. Unlike some singers whose voices are drowned by the band, or whose voices are so high pitched (Michael Crawford, the Church girl from Wales) that I cannot tell where their voices begin, Gill is still one that I can enjoy. With Christmas music I know most of the words, and so what my hearing cannot make out, my memories fill in.

The first time I heard Gill and his daughter sing "Let There Be Peace on Earth" it thrilled me. It continues to do so. I will probably wear out the tape and have to buy another one soon. It is well worth the money. Karen Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh

The Vince Gill holiday CD to get...
On Gill's 2nd holiday release, "Breath of Heaven", he sounds sadly out of his element, surrounded by pop arrangements, as though he is just walking through the exercise, and his unique tenor is lost in the mix. Just compare it to this 1993 release where his voice is very much up front and center. Here from even the first number, "Do You Hear What I Hear?", Gill provides sensitive, heart felt vocal performances. Indeed there is a certain melancholy to the entire outing. It's present in numbers such as "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", "I'll Be Home for Christmas", "Till the Season Comes Round Again", and especially the Gill-penned "It Won't Be the Same This Year", a tribute to his brother who had passed away shortly before the album's release. Even on "White Christmas", one of the two tracks where Gill exhibits his formidable guitar skills, the guitar almost seems to sigh. The other guitar instrumental comes in the form of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" which is the only upbeat number on the CD and brings Chet Atkins. But even on this track the guitar doesn't so much "rock" as gently "swing".

Definitely a CD for quiet holiday evenings before the fire.

Excellent--worth buying for the first cut alone.
This is a nice collection of mostly traditional Christmas songs. Gill's voice is perfect for these, and his arrangement of Do You Hear What I Hear? (my favorite Christmas song) is gorgeous. Also excellent are Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, I'll Be Home For Christmas, and his own song, the sadly beautiful It Won't Be The Same This Year. Unfortunately, his second Christmas album, Breath of Heaven, I would probably give only two stars. Let There Be Peace On Earth is top-notch, however, and should be enjoyed for many Christmas seasons to come.