Rockapella Christmas

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Holiday music is a great tradition for vocal groups everywhere, so it seems a natural choice for a cappella quintet Rockapella. The rock-pop-jazz group that went from cult favorite to national Folgers Coffee phenomenon fills their first Christmas album with the standards you'd expect ("Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "The Christmas Song") as well as three originals by member Scott Leonard: "The Hope You Hold," "Christmas Without You," and "Hold Out for Christmas" (a lovely ballad that had been included on their J-Bird debut). While the album as a whole is somewhat conservatively tilted toward jazz and doo-wop sounds, they enjoy a bit of whimsy with "Glow Worm," and fans of big bass Barry Carl will especially enjoy his featured spot on the funkiest track, "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch." --David Horiuchi

Tracks:

Little Mary Snowflake
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Merry Christmas Darling
Love and The Lights
I'll Be Home For Christmas
This Christmas Day
Home For the Holidays
Please Come Home For Christmas
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
Snowstar
Peace on Earth
It's a Small World

Amazon.com

You might remember this flashy a cappella group from their five-year stint on the award-winning PBS program Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? or from their jazzy Folger's coffee commercials. This time, they apply their considerable talents to Christmas music, releasing their second album of holiday cheer. New bass singer George Baldi helps the group breathe new life into old favorites like "I'll Be Home for Christmas," "Home for the Holidays," and "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree"; the vocal arrangements are marked throughout by crisp rhythms, precise harmonies, and witty phrasing. Stretching out beyond doo-wop, they mimic a brass band and Elvis Presley on "Please Come Home for Christmas." And they have some fun with the boy-band movement on the gorgeous "Love and Lights." Although not associated with Christmas, their reggae version of Disney's "Small World" is a charming highlight. --Jaan Uhelszki

Album Description

Rockapella's Comfort & Joy, is a veritable history of beloved classics like "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree", "I'll Be Home For Christmas" and "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer;" and all new, all original celebrations like "Little Mary Snowflake," "Peace On Earth" and the instant classic "Snowstar." There is even a nod to The King, with a very Presley take on the classic "Please Come Home For Christmas" that is sure to please Elvis fans old and new. Rockapella has long been considered one of the finest vocal groups in the world. They hit the charts in 2000 with their first Christmas release which debuted on Billboard's Top Independent Albums Chart at #40 and peaked at #21. Additionally, it peaked at #36 on Billboard's Heatseekers Chart. The guys are ready to do it again! Rockapella has also been a part of millions of people's lives via the Folgers Coffee Best Part Of Waking Up ad campaign for which they wrote and performed the song featured in the ads. No doubt the unique sound of these 5 men is familiar to many of you already.

Customer Reviews:

From a true critical fans perspective..........2007-01-16

I feel like this cd is getting alot more less than stellar reviews than it deserves. While I will tend to agree that I don't think this cd is as good as their 1st Christmas cd, I think that this cd is musically just as good. I think that since many of these songs aren't classics that it has a bit of a new Christmas feel to it. However I will say coming from someone with a significant amount of experience in acapella vocal performance that this groups harmonies and lyrics are as tight and creative as ever. True Rockapella fans have no need to worry about the personnel changes the group has endured, while it provides a different feel than Barry the big bad bass, I think that the sound is still exceptional.

This cd is well worth the purchase, and I hope this group continues to grow and make superb music.

Possibly Better Than Their First Christmas CD?.......2004-12-26

Please ignore the Scrooge reviewing before me. This CD is fun and entertaining. They bring some new sound to some classics that tend to get older each year.

Pretty Good Christmas Music.......2003-11-18

This is the classic work of Rockapella for all those who know and love their music. However, it is not the best work that they done. I still prefer their album "Christmas" during the holidays. George Baldi's voice is very smooth and melodious, but I think that it will take more time for him to be truly integrated with their unique style. It does have a different sound than their previous work, but their origional songs such as "Little Mary Snowflake", "Love and the Lights" and "This Christmas Day" keeps with their tradition of wonderful music. It is fun to listen to and gets you in the Christmas spirit.

Another cheesefest.......2003-01-08

Stop it, please. Please stop making these albums so full of cheesy adlibs and little snips of kids gurgling. Yes, the kids are cute. Yes, it was neat to hear one of the group members' kids on Hope We Hold on the last Christmas album. But the same process was done in Smilin' and this latest disappointment, Comfort and Joy. The kiddies just begin to lose their charm and become annoying the sixth, seventh, and eighth song around.

Reader, if you are not a fan of the group, do not buy this album. If you are a fan of this group, just get recordings of the three good songs on the CD from someone else and add them as bonus tracks to the original Christmas album. These songs made me save the album from a direct deposit into the garbage can and saved this CD from getting a one-star review. They are: Little Mary Snowflake, This Christmas Day, and the incredible Merry Christmas Darling. These three songs were wonderful.

The other tracks put me in an anti-Christmas mood. George's solo on I'll Be Home for Christmas was not cool--too much scooping that is usually reserved for country singers. Blech. Love and the Lights made me embarrassed. Home for the Holidays? I almost laughed out loud when I heard the trombocal solo in the middle of the song. Never before have I heard something that seemed so out of place and poorly executed from a professional a cappella group. Please Come Home for Christmas has a terrible ad lib in the middle of it that prevents me from letting anyone listen to the song. Please save the Elvis impersonations for live shows. Rockin' Around the Christmas tree is as bad as some of the other reviewers have already mentioned. Snowstar had a chance to be great. But the background, "Sno-ow, Sno-ow, Sno-oh-ow" is very grating on the ears and is unfortunately repeated incessantly throughout the entire song. The middle of the song gets very cool again with the change of pace that has an ethereal quality to it; I especially liked the soft high tenor part in the background. Then the song goes back to its grating ways. Peace on Earth was not very good, and then we get to a song typical of the latest Rockapella style, It's a Small World--a song that is out of place, cheesy, and involves the repetitive usage of recorded bits from their children.

I miss the days of Don't Tell Me You Do, 2, and Christmas. The latest albums from the group have been an extreme disappointment, and I have a feeling the trend will not stop.

Not the best, but still good.......2003-01-07

I am such a HUGE Rockapella fan (going back to version 1.0 - Sean, Steve, El, and Barry), that I eagerly awaited both this album and Smilin'. Having seen the guys live with George in Barry's role (you can't say "taking Barry's place"), I really wanted to hear this CD. I will admit that I was a little disappointed overall. Too few classic tracks and some unnecessary adlibs or dubbing or something on a couple of the tracks left me feeling like it was in my collection just so that I could say it was complete.
Now that's not to say there isn't good music here. "Little Mary Snowflake" is truly awesome, and Scott and Jeff do masterful jobs at writing the original tracks. It just seems that something was missing from this one and I'm really not sure what it is.