The Smiley Smile Message Board

Discuss, review and rate What I Really Want For Christmas, released October 2005.

(http://www.smileysmile.net/images/albums/bw-christmas.jpg)

As with any Christmas album (and, for that matter, BB-related album), there's a certain cheese factor. But the production is good, I think, and I like the new songs. Best of all, the band sings background vocals, thus avoiding another GIOMH tragedy.

Excellent Christmas effort, a notch below the original '64 album but miles ahead of the '77 effort.

I keep listening to this more and more. Surround sound, and headphones, sounds supurb in both. I'm not one for Christmas songs, I actually never heard some of these songs until I bought this album, and I love it. The a capella intro to "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" is so smooth. I love how Brian mixed a saxophone with the harmonies around it, while the sax becomes a "voice" following the falsesetto - my favorite bit on the album. My favorite tune on here is "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" I just enjoy the beat and of course the sax solo (the solo gets better as the song fades) sadly we don't get Jimmy Kimmel where I live so I wasn't able to watch Brian perform this on there live, but anyhow...I give this album a 4, not as good as the Beach Boys' Christmas album  but I do agree MUCH better than the '77 material. This will be playing on Sunday for sure. *This definately was played while I was opening my presents, along with the Beach Boys' Ultimate Christmas.

When the Christmas-album was announced, I expected something embaressing. What I got is the best Christmas-album ever!!!

You really feel the love and care Brian put into every single moment. He didn´t treat the tired old standards like, well, tired old standards, instead he treated them with the respect they originally deserved. And because of his passion for christmas he had a lot of joy during the recording. And imo that makes the difference to most of the other christmas-albums. The two new songs are among the best he has written for decades. Very touching and catchy at the same time. Great singing throughout the whole album. His new band may not be the Beach Boys vocally, but this time they came amazingly close. The sound is also fantastic, thanks to Mr. Linett.

"What I Really Want For Christmas" is in terms of arranging, producing and singing among the best records Brian has ever made.

My hat is off to Brian and the band.
Auld Lang Syne alone is worth the price of admission.
The band pulls off vocals the original boys could never.
Even the Freshmen themselves would/should be jelous.
Pete

On the Spector/Wilson Xmas album debate, I do think that Linett has gotten great, clearer sounds from the instruments without losing their power, which I prefer. As much as the wall of sound interests me, I can't listen to it for too long. Too muddy. That said, I do prefer Spector's overall.

Meaning my overall Christmas album rankings go:

1) Spector
2) BW
3) BB
4) God, I hate Christmas and its albums, so nothing else even counts as music to me.

... is a much better album.

Not sure why this has to be constantly compared to Spector's. Spector did all the secular tunes and Brian concentrated on the religious ones. Brian did not employ full orchestras. It's like comparing Beethoven to Gershwin. It's hard to get "The First Noel" grooving like "Frosty The Snowman" which is, by the way, the single greatest Christmas song ever. Ronnie Bennett Spector can melt glass with that voice.

This is a great album. Christmasey is truly a joy. A splendid track/arrangement. The end of We Wish You A Merry Christmas is vintage Brian/BB.

Great playing throughout, and Brian's voice is a TON better than GIOMH.

Solid 4.

I'll give it a 3, and while I think Brian and the band are in good voice and form, I still find I enjoy listening to the Beach Boys' Christmas offering more. Perhaps it's the five originals on the first side that I enjoy so much.

I do think 'Christmasey' is the best song on this album, or it's at least my favorite to listen to.

Like every BW-involved album since 15 Big Ones in 1976, this release falls into the would've, should've, could've category. There are a few highlights, much filler, and a few "why did he do that"s. These are some random thoughts; I apologize for going long...

-The artwork/packaging is terrible; it cheapens the product.

-The sequencing is questionable. I keep hearing "On Christmas Day" as the opener and "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" as the closer, with the little kids' voices and that bass harmonica tailing off. And why did they bunch all of the hymns together like that? It brings the album down.

-The bonus tracks should've been either re-recorded (how long would that take-2 days?) or integrated into the album, not tacked on the end. "Silent Night" (with dit-dits?) should've been left in the can.

-While "The Man With All The Toys" is surprisingly good, and "Auld Lang Syne" is exceptionally good, do we really need another version of "Little Saint Nick"? We already have 4-5 versions on the BB's Ultimate Christmas CD! And like it/him or not, Mike Love's lead on "Little Saint Nick" is so good and identifiable, Brian cannot not do it justice.

-The 2 new songs are good, but they're not great. WIRWFC is a re-working of "One For The Boys" and I hear a lot of "Fairy Tale" in "Christmasey". And those former songs weren't exactly classics.

-A big highlight is "The First Noel". When Brian hits that high note near the end, I get a special feeling, almost goosebumps. And the harmonies at the end of the song are the most impressive harmonies I have heard on a BW track in a long, long time. Seriously, I'm talking about going back to 1967!

-My biggest problem is with the rest of the hymns. While I have no problem with the choice of songs (I like them all), I don't feel that Brian has the kind of voice to do them justice. Brian's voice today is more suited to upbeat, pop/rock songs. On "Joy To The World", he sounds fairly spiritual and emotional. But on the rest of the hymns he's just belting them out, almost rushing them, as if he's just trying to get through them. Sometimes I feel that he's shouting at me. While some like that Brian sang all the verses, I find some of the hymns going too long.

-In my opinion, almost every song Brian recorded as a solo artist would've benefited by having The Beach Boys sing either the lead or backgroung vocals. This album is no exception. These songs did not reach their full potential. I can't help but think how this album would've sounded with contributions from Mike, Al, and Bruce.

-Some people have praised Brian's arranging on this album. I find him rehashing a lot of his old tricks.
Is there anything new or groundbreaking on this album? With Christmas music, there's so much you can do with it, although sometimes to the song's detriment. I just feel Brian played it too safe.

-There's plenty of music, a wide variety of songs, and the sound is great! Brian's vocals will keep it from being a perennial classic, and I'm not sure if any one song will emerge like "Hey Santa" or "Little Saint Nick".  I feel it was a quickie. I think Darian and Jeff had more to do with the recording than we will ever know. I wonder what Clive Davis really thinks? Is he rushing to sign-up Brian for his follow up rock & roll album? What does the general public think about this album? Did it crack the Top 200? Was there a single released?

-I give it 2 1/2 stars out of 5, mostly because of the quantity of the music, not quality.

Damn.

I liked the album until I read SJS's review.

It's a pretty darn good review. Bravo, SJS.

Interesting observations Pete. I've wondered how the earlier stuff would compare myself, so I took the time to compare some BBs versions vs. the versions on this CD. Here's a brief summary of my thoughts

The Man With All The Toys: The WIRWFC version has so much more energy and drive than the old BBs version. Jeffrey Foskett's falsetto is every bit as good or better than Brian's was on the BBs cut. The added sax/vocal section is wonderful, and completes the song in a way the old one never did for me. It's probably the best integrated sax work on any BW recording. So I much prefer the WIRWFC version.

Little St. Nick - I prefer the pace and rhythm of the vocals on the BBs recording, otherwise they are pretty much equal to me. So I give the edge to the 1964 recording - although what might be my favorite recording of LSN is Jeffrey Foskett's "Tributes and Rarities" cover. He does the old ML bass parts really well, and his leads are spot on.

Auld Lang Syne - two magnificent performances. The Ultimate Christmas version without Dennis' spoken word section is a killer. So is the new version. I can't make a choice here, it's not possible. a tie.

Overall - IMHO, the 1964 album has no tracks on it to compare with "Christmasey" or "What I Really Want For Christmas". Toss in the bonus of "On Christmas Day" too. The traditional carols/songs? Both recordings have nice performances of them. So on balance, I find WIRWFC to be my favorite. The proof is in the listening - I only listened to the Ultimate Christmas CD once this year, I must have listened to WIRWFC a hundred times.

So why does Brian need to be there, then? If Foskett IMITATING Brian is, nay just as good, BETTER than Brian himself, why not have the wonderful, earthshaking, heartbreaking Wondersplints rerecord ALL The BB records!!!!!!! The technology is so much better now, and Foskett is such a better singer than Brian was! And this band is so much better than those musicians Brian was FORCED to use in the 60's, because these Wonder-guys were too young at the time! Those were just TEMPORARY versions of the songs until the REAL versions could be waxed. Let's send our thoughts in to Melinda now and get this underway! Time's a-wastin'!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I strongly agree with this, Jim. I recently did the same, comparing old versions of those available to the new ones. I really disliked the Beach Boys version after having been listening to the new one so much recently. It isn't even close for me. In fact, I also prefer the new Little Saint Nick, with the exception of Brian's lead. He's into it, but he just doesn't enunciate enough for my taste. It gives me no pleasure to say I like Mike's lead better.

Oh, come on, Ian. He didn't say that everything the current band is better than everything the original band did. He was referring to one part on one song. Don't be such an antagonist...

Don't tell me what to do, man. Dig?
It was meant as a joke.

Dug.

Little Saint Nick is a 1963 recording.

The thing with Brian´s lead-vocal on "Little Saint Nick" is: IT ROCKS!!! Probably because he is almost out of breath during the whole song. Mike´s lead sounds too relaxed to me now. Weird, but true.

Brian has/had a magnificent falsetto, and rarely do you get a chance to hear it bettered. But Jeffrey also has a remarkable voice, and he did a remarkable job on TMWATT.

He wasn't "imitating" anybody. By that line of reasoning only the first performance of any work is not an imitation. However if you prefer to think of it as an imitation that's fine too. Whatever you call it, when he starts singing "He's the man with all the toys..." it's magic.

Okay, my error. I meant the original BBs recording, which I had in mind as 1964 for some reason...

I know what you mean, maybe it's the combo of the stronger rhythm section and the vocals that I'm describing. I agree with what you said about Mike's lead, but I'm not sure I like Brian's any better. I guess I really do prefer Jeffrey's cover to either of the others. It seems to strike a balance between a sense of rhythm and pace. Jeff's is somewhere between the old recording which can be a bit ponderous, and being a bit "in your face" which is what I hear in the new recording.

There's no bad recording in the trio, it's just a matter of preference I guess. And it sure is a fun song, a real classic.

OT - While you've got "Tributes and Rarities" in the player to hear LSN be sure and listen to FISH! Jeff's vocals are astounding.

I think it be better if it weren't double-tracked. The minute and a half we got to hear on the Jimmy Kimmel show proves that,

I was listening to some other Christmas CD, a really cheap one (both in price and quality) with an amateur choir backed by what sounds like a single synthesizer or MIDI track for most of the album. As each song went by, I was thinking to myself, "Something's missing.. what can it be?" Then it hit me.

Brian Wilson and co. I've only had WIRWFC for a month or so, and already the songs have become the definitive versions in my head.

Bummer!

Hardy har har har.

 ;D

This album completely blew it away.  I LOVE IT and I can't wait until next winter to start diggin' it again.  The title track "What I Really Want For Christmas" is gorgeous.  Wonderful lyrics and melody.  The best original Christmas song I've heard in years and years.  "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman" has a killer arrangement, as do the beautiful "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "The First Noel."  Blew me away!  It's #1 in my book.  Say goodbye, Phil Spector.

What's with you weirdos that only listen to Christmas CDs in December? Do you only listen to early Beach Boys CDs in the summer?

Music is music; look past your predetermined limits.

I don't think of Beach Boys music as summer music.  But Christmas music is Christmas music.
I can't really get into the mood in June to bust this one out.  Plus, the holidays depress me
and if I surround myself with it all year, I'll go mad.

Sorry bud - Blue Board's that way.

I remember one of those articles in 'The Guardian' were writers are invited to attack their favourite (or least favourite) sacred cows.  One guy was having a pop at 'Pet Sounds' and one of his criticisms was that Brian Wilson made songs about summer that sounded like Christmas records.  Well, it was one of those moments when I could see what someone meant even though I really didn't want to!

Haha, I love the jingle bells in Beach Boys songs.. they make a good song even better. I Can Hear Music is a wonderful example of how great they can fit in with pop music.

Okay, it's almost mid-March, and I still can't stop listening to this disc. Sorry Andrew, your comment to TV Forces above seems very inappropriate to to me.

Yes, some of the traditional carols are just worn out in my head, but I just put in the disc and the minute Jeffrey started singing I couldn't stop smiling. What a great fun arrangement that is, great falsetto, great sax and guitar work, it really rocks! But more surprising, when WIRWFC started up with those amazing acapella vocals I simply couldn't help but tear up a bit. That song just slays me, it's been stuck in my head for months. All the vocals are breathtaking, and Brian's lead is so expressive - I can feel the emotion of the lyrics as he sings.

The lyrics are so poignant. As a person who travels a lot and is away from home too much, the line "lucky to be home when some are all alone" is very meaningful to me.

I think it may be the best Brian Wilson song in the last 20 years. Christmasey, On Christmas Day, Auld Lang Syne - I can't get enough of these cuts.

So point me to the Blueboard too Andrew - because I think this is the best Christmas album I've ever heard. And it sounds wonderful in March too.

I definetely second that post, especially about the title song. I honestly think it´s one of the best songs Brian has EVER written.

Very emotional, catchy as hell, incredible intro. The production is also interesting, because it´s very minimalistic, compared to most of his other work. The verses are mostly Brian and a piano, almost "unplugged". I also noticed that his voice is somehow less "polished", compared to the other tracks on the album. And these facts, as cheesy as it sounds, give me the feeling that I´m at his home, sitting next to him, when he is playing the song on his piano.

I give this one a 3.  I think the vocal arrangements are fantastic on this one and it is played very well but personally, I just dont really like Christmas music that much!  I do think the new origianls are lovely and I hope Brian can continue with great productions like them.

Thank you Jim and JRauch.  And to think I was sad that Andrew Doe left us! 
God forbid I talk about how much I love what Brian has done on the Smiley
Smile boards! 

I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking "What I Really Want For Christmas" is
Brian's best original song in years.  It's absolutely great melodically,
lyrically, and production wise.  It really blows me away.  Blueboard or no.

You know, WIRWFC (the song) really is unique in a lot of ways. It's really in many ways the first song written and arranged for the current band to sing. And it's interesting to ponder that the debate between the "BBs sing better than the BW band" or vice-versa discussion takes an ironic twist in WIRWFC. For me at least - I can't imagine the old BBs singing WIRWFC. Especially the last verse in the higher key - the "peace is more than just a sentimental card" line is the BW band at its finest vocally IMHO. The airiness, the angelic overtones, the "lighter" tonal balance - it's perfect for that melody and that lyric. And the result is staggeringly beautiful.

Yeah, they did really nice on that song. I think it's the highlight of the album.

I think Brian's backup singers, especially on WIRWFC, sound like a community choir or some such (that's not a bad thing). I think it's because he has a woman or two in the mix. Perfect for the Christmas atmosphere.

Well, obviously Taylor Mills is there, and her voice is very much present in the mix.

I never heard a community group choir sound like that though!  :)

I wish he'd covered Snowflakes, Morning Christmas, New York is a Lonely Town (Why not?),Child of Winter (minus the spoken word bit!!!), Alone on Christmas Day and Winter Symphony and ditched some of the traditional Christmas songs, although not O Holy Night, which I think is a superb version.

Actually, I would've loved it if he would've tried the spoken bit on CoW these days....  :lol

 I like this Album very much! I bought it on Vinyl.
I think I will listen to this Album on every christmas time!

The titel track is - imo - one of the best new songs that Brian wrote... in the last 20 years!
And Bernie´s Lyrics are wonderful too!

I'm still listening to this album, popped it in... AGAIN, yesterday in May.  Great album.

"the Man with all the toys" not my favorite, but definately competant and I like the 'bop bop' backup vocals.  Jeff's falsetto IS impressive on this.

"What I Really Want For Christmas" is a spectacular song.  The harmonies in the acapella intro are a great testament to Brian's brilliance as an arranger.  If you're trying to point at Brian still 'having it', this song is a perfect way to showcase that.  Some of the high notes that the band reaches to behind him are beautiful, and Brian's voice sounds incredible to me.  For him to come from where he was vocally in the late 70's all the way back to the shimmer you hear in "sooooooOOOO be goood...." really does strike me as unbelievable.  He confidently handles the lead... then breaks it up another key towards the end.  Beautiful.

"It came upon a midnight clear" is alright, I like the guitars but the harmonies sound a bit strained in the refrain of the song.

"Hark The Herald" is a flat-out wonderful arrangement.  One of Brian's attractions has always been his youthful outlook or point of view of things, and only a child would come up with "Hark The Herald, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! OOH, OOOH OOOH OOOH, MERRY CHRISTMAS!" when you first hear that, you think 'uh... that's silly'... then he sings this beautiful classic Christmas song with a greatttt lead vocal, then as the song breaks all the way down to a bassline... it suddenly rolls back in with a full band, full string section, and a full Brian led band harmonizing "HARK, THE HERALD!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! OOOH, oooh OOOH OOH!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!" the result is extremely powerful emotionally in my opinion.  Just so f*cking beautiful.

"The First Noel", this is my favorite version of my favorite christmas song.  His lead is dead on, so beautiful in my opinion.  The melody of this song has always been beautiful to me, sounds like something Mozart would write or something, certainly a treasured standard... and Brian totally delivers with the production, the harmonies, and of course his lead.  Towards the end, there's an incredible moment where the band comes in harmonizing about twice as strong as the rest of the track "AAAAAHHHH, AHHHHH, ahhhhhh AHHHHH!!!" and Brian takes the opportunity to once again slide up into his legendary falsetto, "Noel, Noel.... NOELLLLL, NOELLLLL!!!~!" and it just blows me away every time. "Triumphant"

"Little St. Nick" rocks a little harder than the original, but I think I prefer the original because of the cool vibe of it.  I actually like Mike's laid back vocal, I think it adds to the song because it's a bunch of cool cats from school singing to the children or something.  How cool is this lyric, Mike, Brian?  "And haulin' through the snow at a frightnin' speed, with a half a dozen deer and a Rudy to lead".  Come on.  That's brilliant. 

"Deck The Halls" I love the instrumental parts.  Especially the breakdown before the sax solo (I think it's a sax).  When Brian performed at Disneyworld on television for those children at Night, they edited the video package together to show all the children running around playing in the dark with the Disney electric parade going on during this part, and it was just shot after shot of the kids totally elated to be at Disneyworld, the song served that part well, nice solid cover.

Medicore with a capital M




Okay I wasn't expecting Pet Sounds but he kind of let me down on this one. Sorry Brian.



I give it a 3 because I'm nice   ;D

Finished up the prototype of my new passive preamp yesterday, and was looking in the CD drawer for some music to audition it with. I picked Gershwin's An American In Paris, Chet Baker's "Chet", and once again, out came WIRWFC.

It still kills. It's just beautiful, there's so much great music on it...

BTW, the passive turned out great! (shameless plug) I should have it on the market in 60-90 days.

My point (made with tongue firmly in cheek) is that entirely uncritical gushing over Brian's released output has its place. I was merely indicating the direction of said location.  8)

Parts of the album are very nice. The rest of it... really doesn't matter. I'd possibly be happier if Brian had more control over the proceedings, but as that's an entirely moot point, I'll not belabor it. It's not that good - dammit, Pet Sounds itself isn't that good.

And anyway, criticizing a Christmas album is like voting against world peace, isn't it ? 
:woot
[I have no idea what this means, but it amuses the hell out of me]

With time having passed and me having had a good chance to listen over and over, here's what I think of this album.

It's nice. Some parts are really good, others less. None of it is brilliant. Less of it sucks than any other Brian album since Love You (not counting BWPS, of which I love all). It isn't in any way cool, and it doesn't matter--Brian's fucking old. Who cares if he's cool? He wasn't even cool when he was young, as far as I can tell. He made a nice, easy-going Christmas album and it has some moments of Brian. Good enough for me. I'd rather have him keep putting out one album of this quality every year or two than to disappear: I can always take the tracks I like and make mix discs, after all.

I said I was pretty tired of many of the traditional carols. But I am thrilled to have the two new songs, I think WIRWFC is absolutely amazing and Christmasey isn't too far behind. I think this disc has the ultimate version of "The Man With All The Toys", and I like the "Auld Lang Syne" on it as much as any in the BBs catalog - which says a lot. I like Jeffrey Foskett's solo (& maybe the BBs) "Little Saint Nick" versions better, although this one is good. I like having a good quality recording of "On Christmas Day". Some sections of some of the traditional carols are nice, the "surprise" at the end of WWYAMC for one, and I like all of "O Holy Night" - probably because it doesn't get played to death and I'm not sick of it. I never listen to "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen".

That hardly qualifies as "gushing", eh? 

My opinion now is pretty much as it was then - about 1/3 of the CD is fantastic, another 1/3 is good and fun for an occasional listen, and the last 1/3 - I'm just so tired of hearing those songs...

Pretty damn good for a Christmas album, if you ask me. In fact, I think I'll go listen to some cuts from it right now.

I think that's the best way to describe it--for me, anyway. I HATE Christmas albums and music, with the exception of Spector's and some of the Motown Christmas stuff. I am OK with the BBs, and this album has music as good as or better than various bits of the aforementioned. Anything that can make me listen to Christmas music can't be all bad.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas is awesome. I love the end part, Jeff's insane backing vocals especially. OoooOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOooooOoooO! And listen to that flute, it's wild. The very end with those children and then that weird sound, hillarious.

That is cool, with Brian's young kids and their greeting followed by Paul von Mertens "laughing" harmonica. Pretty clever production! :thumbsup

I'm so glad Brian didn't try to do this CD on his own. Without the band's singing and playing (how about PVM's sax in "Man With All The Toys"?) and their obvious influence on production this could have gone down in flames quite easily.

I listened to this the other night. It was only my 4th time listening to it.

I give it a 2.  Brian sings better on this album but he actually manages to make a worse CD than GIOMH. Hell, Imagination might be better than the Xmas disc.

Sorely disappointed. 

Wow, I strongly disagree with that penultimate sentence. Two of the last three, in fact. What is it that you find worse than those two discs? To me, the one thing I could see as worse would be the song selection--as I've said, I don't like Christmas songs much, so there is only so much you can do to perform and produce a song that I don't like to my satisfaction. But other than that, I think the performances, arrangements and production are all far, far better than either of the two aforementioned. Everyone has his own taste, but I'm curious to hear the logic that led to yours.

First of all, there are too damn many hymns on the CD.  Those songs aren't conducive to Brian's style - they felt too long to me.

Secondly, there were instances where I thought "is he kidding?" Turning God Rest Ye Merry gentleman into a TV western theme song doesn't work for me, sorry! Deck the Halls as a limbo????? Good God!!!  The arramngements, both vocal and track seem perfunctory to me. Nothing offensive, but nothing that really stands out. It's just... there.  The 2 new originals, nice songs but the guy can do better.

Where he does score is on the remake of MWATT. The BB version always sounded incomplete to me, so I actually think he improved on that one. Plus I love that bit of Joy To The World at the end of MWATT - that sounds like Pure Pied Piper from the Faraway Land of Night and it's great! THAT is what is missing from this CD and that is what's been missing from Brian's music since he married Melinda - that goofy eccentricity.

But if others dig this disc, I'm not going to rain on their parade. I'll let Ian do that.  ;)

Fair enough, although I really think that there isn't a lot you can do when you're working with Christmas songs. You said it yourself, too many hymns.

I think some of the loss of eccentricity might be more than his marriage...I think it's time. You don't find many 60-somethings who are breaking boundaries. I mean no offense by it, but I think he's settled into the role of really good, professional composer and arranger, and all-around pop legend. I don't think it is fair to expect much new ground to be broken at this point, though.


As for "just there, nothing offensive," I think you are mostly right. But I think there were moments of Imagination (production) and GIOMH (bg vox) where they WERE offensive. So it's an improvement to me.

I though that was a bit of a James Watt moment, given the considerable superiority of the Wilson/Thomas version.

You're joking, right? The Thomas versionis offensively bland, to me.

Nope - best vocals on the album.

To each their own, I guess.

That version puts me sleep.

I have to agree with AGD (hey that sounds cool ;D). The vocals on the Thomas-version of "Joy to the world" are the best on the album and it also sounds very moody and not that much "joyful". I alos like that they put a part of JTW at the end of TMWATT, because it gives the record some kind of togetherness, know what I mean?

My favorite x-mas album:

THE MAN WITH ALL THE TOYS by Brian Gari!

I am, out of nowhere, listening to this again now. And I am a bit, uh, in the holiday spirit, so to speak. And I can't help but say I think this is a really nice album. And the new songs are good. Nothing crazy, nothing about "the best songs ever" or anything. But it is a good little Christmas album. And I HATE Christmas albums.

I took it out a week ago and played it - every time I hear the acapella opening of WIRWFC I get goosebumps. To me, that one has made it into the "best songs ever" category. A lot of credit has to go to Bernie Taupin - those lyrics are fantastic. And the band... hearing them sing "Peace is more than just a sentimental card"... wow... Magnificent.

Listening to this album again, since next month is Christmas. I love it.  One thing I must mention is that this version of "Man with all the toys" IMHO is far superior to the original, as the original to these ears sounded unfinished.

I love Brian's vocals on this too.

Love the arrangements, love the group vocals, Brian's voice is in good form, and WIRWFC is his best song in years (I even got the 7 inch vinyl). I can listen to this album any time of year, but it is especially good at Christmas. Really puts a Scrooge like me in the holiday spirit. A fresh take on the old carols and spirituals, and a couple BB's remakes, and some new songs. "Bah! Humbug!"?? More like "hallelujah!"

I enjoyed this collection from the first listen, and my appreciation of it grows with each subsequent hearing. brian sounds sincerely engaged and the arrangements are great. fits nicely among his best work as a producer. love the title track.

Luther. I must have a word with you here. Now, I know that you mostly write in slightly drunk. But that is no excuse for looking down on these:

(http://www.concordmusicgroup.com/albums/images/TAKCD/188x188/TAKCD-8912-2.jpg)

and:

(http://www.terryrobb.com/images/john_fahey_christmas_album.jpg)

Overrated by the Blueboarders and underrated by almost everyone else. Not the best Christmas album, but close. Many good tunes and some duds. "Silent Night" sucks, plain and simple; "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" was never a great song; "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" isn't very strong...

Great ones include the title track with beautiful harmonies, the excellent remake of "The Man with all the Toys," "The First Noel" with an excellent Brian vocal, "Christmassey" which is BWPS meets SMiLE," a moving "O Holy Night" and "On Christmas Day," which might be the best Christmas song of the last 10 years and Brian's best seasonal offering from 1999-2008. Why wasn't that the starter for this LP??!!  "Joy to the World" is also very good, moody and atmospheric, but Joe Thomas deserves a credit?!

The TdHabib mix of WIRWFC is this:
Side One-uptempo
1. On Christmas Day
2. The Man With all the Toys
3. Little Saint Nick
4. Hark
5. Deck the Halls
6. Christmassey

Side two-downtempo
7. WIRWFC
8. Joy to the World
9. O Holy Night
10. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
11. The First Noel
12. Auld Lang Syne

That makes for a truly special holiday offering...

Just listened for the first time since last December. The two new songs have worn well... "JTTW" is still the best track by a country mile... otherwise, disposable. Brian's vocals are by and large, oddly strident. Eh.

Have to say AGD -- I love ya, but your affection for the JT-helmed JTTW always bemuses me. It's just so -- eh. A bland synth wash backing, slurry autotuned Brian vocals, and a general air of slapped-together-in-an-afternoon laziness. I mean, no one could bother to look up the second verse of the song? Really?

I hated the JT/Brian version of Joy To The World. Sleepy, sleazy listening. It's inoffensiveness is offensive. Now the snippet on the tag of the Man With All The Toys screams Quirky Brian. Quirky Brian, if it were up to him, would have farted all over the Joe Thomas track. Might have actually improved it, in fact.

Hey... what can I say ? I can picture Brian singing it to his kids when they were babies. I can't visualise him shouting the 2005 tag at them (OK, actually I can, but you get my point). World would be very boring iffn we agreed on everything.  :)

Actually, that's pretty sweet AGD. Maybe I had ya all wrong ...  ;D

I will say, I dig the little wordless vocal part in it (which subsequently popped up as a new flute part in the remade DLHKSAA), and the couple of times the song transitions to that are cool.

But I always find myself trying to correct Brian on the second verse -- "He rules the world / with truth and grace" Come on! Doesn't everyone know that? Actually, it just strikes me -- maybe JT just pasted the first-verse vocals on a second time to make the song longer ... ?

Have to say, they sound pretty identical to me. Wouldn't be the first time, nor the last. Intro to "HCWSBD" is nothing more than the vocal tracks from the middle of the song isolated out and stitched on the front of the song. And, of course, Wild Honey.  ;D

I finally bought this album in October. The new originals are pretty good-even very good, and yes, The Man with all the toys is better than the undercooked original. That said, it does not bring the X-mas spirit to me, overall. the song that moves me the most is, well, JTTW. I simply LOVE Brian's vocal on that, I think it is by far his best(on this album). It's not shouty, it sounds natural and tender, like he was really trying.

I know it's a commonly voiced sentiment, but hearing Brian's band harmonizing...it's just not a particularly nice sound compared to the Beach Boys. I was sort of shocked. I think they did a pretty good job on SMiLE and TLOS, on this one there's something very brash and messy about the harmonies. Still prefer it to Wall of Brian treatment ala GIOMH.

Overall a bit disappointing. I give it a 3, but if I weren't a fan it would have had to have been a 2.

Hi all,

I have What I Really Want For Christmas.  It is magnificent!!!  What talent Brian has!!1  It wouldn't be Christmas without listening to this CD. 

Listening to this album a few more times this Christmas season, it has really grown on me. 

I rated the album a four.  To me, it's not quite the Christmas classic that is TBB Christmas Album, but it's got some great moments. 

I like the extended Man With All the Toys.  But, the new version of Little Saint Nick seemed a little unnecessary.  Same with Auld Lang Syne. 

Much like TBB Christmas, I like the originals the best - the title track, Christmasy, and On Christmas Day are my favorites. 

I also like the arrangement of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.  A lot of the standards are pleasant, but this one really stands out to me. 

I'm not really familiar with Carnie and Wendy's Christmas album.  I've only heard Dear Santa, and while the song isn't bad, it just doesn't do a lot for me. 

I've heard Carnie and Wendy's album, it's pretty nice. Carnie has a nice, warm, lower voice, Wendy has the more girly voice - I think they sound great together. Haven't listened to either album in awhile, though. The title cut of WIRWFC is one of my favorite BW tracks, though - if I was to make a CDR of his best solo stuff, that would be on it.

I give it a four. I get a warm feeling whenever I listen to it and when it comes (unexpectedly) on the radio it makes whatever preceded it sound crap and phony.

It's 97 degrees outside, so I put this album on. No, it didn't cool me down. The 2 original songs standout for me. I would put them both on a solo best of BW comp.

I really love the remakes of Little Saint Nick and The Man With All The Toys. Even though, they sound a bit different from the original.