Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole
2. Bing Crosby - White Christmas
3. Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley
4. Have Yourself A Merry Little Xmas - Frank Sinatra
5. Winter Wonderland - Tony Bennett
6. Sleigh Ride - Ella Fitzgerald
7. Let It Snow - Dean Martin
8. Home For The Holidays - Perry Como
9. It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year - Johnny Mathis
10. Have A Holly Jolly Christmas - Burl Ives
11. Rudolph The Rednosed Reindeer - Gene Autry
12. Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer - Elmo & Patsy
13. Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee
14. Jingle Bell Rock - Bobby Helms
15. Little Saint Nick - The Beach Boys
16. Merry Christmas Darling - Carpenters
17. Christmas Collage - Kathy Mattea
18. Little Drummer Boy - David Bowie/Bing Crosby

Disc 2:

1. Happy Christmas (War Is Over) - John Lennon
2. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Bruce Springsteen
3. Do They Know It's Christmas - Band Aid
4. Wonderful Christmastime - Paul McCartney
5. Love Is A Holiday - Michael Bolton
6. It Must Have Been Old Santa - Harry Connick Jr.
7. Jingle Bells - Diana Krall
8. Away In A Manger - Mannheim Steamroller
9. Deck The Halls - Ottmar Liebert
10. Love On Layaway - Gloria Estefan
11. Don't Save It All For Christmas Day - Celine Dion
12. This Christmas - Joe
13. Special Gift - Isley Brothers
14. Christmas In The Yard - Shaggy
15. My Only Wish (This Year) - Britney Spears
16. You Don't Have To Be Alone - 'N Sync
17. O Come All Ye Faithful - Luther Vandross
18. Silent Night - Boyz II Men

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #243 in Music
• Released on: 2001-10-23
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.com
The title doesn't lie, even if it does sounds like a hyperbolic pitch from an old late-night cable TV ad. With 36 tracks of various genres spread over two discs, Now That's What I Call Christmas might be the best, most eclectic "value-plus" holiday record ever released, assuming your tastes embrace crooners such as Cole, Crosby, and Como, plus contemporary boy bands such as Boyz II Men, as well as the ubiquitous Britney Spears.

In between there are the sumptuous classics by Bobby Helms, Brenda Lee, the Beach Boys, Elvis, and Burl Ives on disc one, balanced on disc two by more recent standards, including Bruce Springsteen's live version of "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" and John and Yoko's "Happy Xmas (War is Over)." You're not obligated to like everything here, but that's why Santa invented the forward button on your CD player. --Martin Keller

Customer Reviews

Great mixture of old, new and somewhat rare
This CD is one of the best Christmas compilations I have found, as it collects an assortment of older and contemporary Christmas tunes, separated into two discs.

The song selection and disc split is pretty good. If you're entertaining the grandparents, put on the first disc; if you're trying to be hip and cool, put on the second disc. The first disc is primarily older classic Christmas songs, many of which are found on other compilations. The second disc contains contemporary Christmas songs, including instant classics.

Nearly all of the 36 songs have been previously released and are available elsewhere, but some of the songs are rather hard to find on CD. For instance, the Band Aid "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is on Midge Ure's Greatest Hits and an Import Christmas CD. It is otherwise difficult to obtain, as is Springsteen's classic version of "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town."

The main style of music missing from these CDs, however, is the classic Motown sound - Christmas songs by Stevie Wonder, the Jackson 5, the Temptations, etc. (There are also some 80's Christmas classics not inlcuded, such as Bryan Adams' "Christmastime" and Hall & Oates version of "Jingle Bell Rock" - it would be difficult to have everything included, and those songs can be found elsewhere.)

The liner notes provide a brief explanation of each song, which is somewhat interesting but not always accurate. (For instance, the notes indicate that the Beach Boys have never recorded a Christmas album in their 40 year career - a search at Amazon reveals the 1964 Christmas Album, which has been repackaged and rereleased with extra tracks.)

Notwithstanding missing the classic Motown tracks, for the price of this CD (dollar amount), it can't be beat - there's a little something for everyone, young and old alike. If you're going to buy only one Christmas compilation, this is highly recommended.

Perfect Stocking Stuffer
A remarkably low-priced two CD-set chock full of Christmas classics, "Now That's What I Call Christmas" is simply too good to pass up. The names read like a Who's Who of 20th Century Pop: Sinatra, Ella, Bing Crosby, Elvis, Lennon, Springsteen, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, the Beach Boys, Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett and a host of others. The songs run the gamut from classic (Crosby's "White Christmas") to novelty (Elmo & Patsy's "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer") to flat-out fun (Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree"). Disc One, loaded with classics, is the stronger of the two. However Disc Two, filled with more modern material, has its moments as well. Most notable are Springsteen's wonderfully gruff "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and Lennon's 1970 classic "Happy Christmas(War is Over)". Overall, you'd be hard pressed to find a better selection of Christmas music anywhere. It's all here -- from the crooners to the rockers. Truly a perfect stocking stuffer, I only wish this collection had been available years ago.

The Who's Who in the Holiday Season...Then & Now!
Now where else can you find all this talent on just 36 tracks and 2-CD-Set that covers five decades of "Christmas Music"...from the popular "NOW" series from Universal Music, a decision was made to release some lesser known selections from top talent from the past and present...and you know what, it works!

To clarify my above statement, many artist/musicians have released Christmas albums, but no one has ever heard as many of them on one CD..."NOW" gives you this and more...36 artists from 36 different genres such as Country, R&B, Alternative Rock, New Age, Folk, Jazz, Comedy, Reggae, Easy Listening and of course "Classic Christmas" standards.

Must make mention of the stand outs ~ "MERRY CHRISTMAS DARLING"(Carpenters)..."LITTLE DRUMMER BOY/PEACE ON EARTH"(Bing Crosby/David Bowie)..."HAPPY CHRISTMAS(WAR IS OVER)"(John&Yoko)..."IT MUST HAVE BEEN OL' SANTA CLAUS"(Harry Connick Jr.)..."JINGLE BELLS"(Diana Krall)...and my personal favorite "AWAY IN THE MANAGER"(Mannheim Steamroller), you'll never come up with a better compilation for this time of the year.

Entire album will make your Holiday's a time to cherish...excellent opportunity to introduce the youngsters to some of the standard Christmas classics, and never a better time to familarize the older generation with the NOW generation!

Total 2-CD-Set ~ Universal Music 314-585-620-2 ~ (2001)