The Sweetest Gift is a Christmas album by country singer Trisha Yearwood and is her fourth album overall.  Yearwood sings a mixture of familiar traditional and popular material, along with more recent compositions such as "It Wasn't His Child" and "There's a New Kid in Town". Two of its tracks managed to achieve positions near the lower end of the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart: "It Wasn't His Child" peaked at #60, and "Reindeer Boogie" at #63. The album rose to the #17 position in the Country Albums chart.

Original Release Date: November 3, 1998
Label: Sony

It's almost impossible to believe it didn't already exist, but now that it does, you can bet the sure-to-go-platinum These Are Special Times will turn up under many a Christmas tree this year (the perfect gift for the person who has everything?). The prolific princess of pop has thrown together a mixture of contemporary and traditional holiday favorites, bordering on too-cute and kitschy only on the intro to "Feliz Navidad." For many, Dion is an acquired taste, but even naysayers may enjoy her rare moments of restraint on a smoky version of "Blue Christmas." "The Prayer," a duet with Andrea Bocelli, is set to become this season's "Time to Say Goodbye," but it will have to battle it out with the R. Kelly duet, "I'm Your Angel," first. --Rebecca Wallwork

Artist: Leann Rimes
Album Title: What A Wonderful World
Record Label: Curb
Genre: Christmas/Country
Year: 2004

LeAnn Rimes began her career at a tender age as a country prodigy before propelling herself to pop superstardom by the late 1990s, still in her teens. Therefore, it's rather fitting for her to open her first Christmas record, WHAT A WONDERFUL ...    Full DescriptionWORLD, with "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," a song made famous by Brenda Lee, another singer beloved by fans of country and pop alike. Rimes takes a slightly jazzier, horn-fueled approach to the tune, while paying homage to Lee in her vocals.

Rimes follows this classic with a new carol she co-wrote, the sweet ballad "A Different Kind of Christmas," showing her oneness with the spirit of the holiday. In fact, Rimes adds three new offerings to the canons of Yuletide lore, all filled with the earnest joy of a child descending the stairs at dawn to the scent of chestnuts and holly. She also plays her hand ably on enduring classics, wrapping her voice in a country-tinged arrangement of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," while approaching "The Christmas Song" with appropriate subtlety. Rimes also knows when to rein in her voice, allowing the beauty of the title track to come through.

Mannheim Steamroller - Christmas Celebration

Ripped at VBR, average 199kbps
Date of Release: 12 October 2004
Genre: Christmas, Holiday 

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Charlotte Church - Dream a Dream
Original Release Date: October 17, 2000
Label: Sony

Everybody's favorite precocious sprite of a soprano comes out with her third album in Dream a Dream. It's only been two years since Charlotte Church's smash debut, Voice of an Angel, but that's a big chunk of the Welsh singer's life span so far. This latest is basically a Christmas album, so full of festive cheer you'd never guess it was recorded in the summer. Even the glummest of moods will disappear when you hear Charlotte's infectious take on chestnuts such as "Winter Wonderland" and "Little Drummer Boy" (and having the London Symphony Orchestra as your backup band doesn't hurt either). And on top of that is a really special treat: the title song (borrowing an unforgettable classical melody) which blends Church's soaring vocals with the tender voice of young country prodigy Billy Gilman. --Sarah Chin

ARTIST: Bette Midler
TITLE: Cool Yule
LABEL: Columbia
BITRATE: 180kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 37min total
RELEASE DATE: 2006-10-10

The holidays are just around the corner and Bette Midler delivers the ultimate present - Cool Yule, her first ever Christmas album.  Experience the excellence of Bette's vocals with delightfully lush rrangements that will sure help you get into that holiday spirit.  From standards like "Have Yourself A Very Merry Little Christmas" and "White Christmas" to the Hawaiian Christmas ditty "Mele Kaliki Maka" and a stunning duet with Johnny Mathis, "Winter Wonderland/Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" Revelers will be moved by the new holiday version of "From A Distance" with orchestration by Robbie Buchanan, with Noel-inspired lyrics by Bette, Robbie and Jay. This album is sure to become a new holiday favorite.

Various/Christmas | Mp3 VBR 233/256 kbps | Covers | 96 MB
Original Release Date: October 3, 2006
Label: Manhattan Records

O Come All Ye Faithful Celtic Woman fans to a Christmas Celebration! What a wonderful collection of songs for the holiday season. The girls have out done themselves in Angelic voices and perfect harmony to bring together all that will send your memories into overdrive. Who doesn't remember a warm fireplace and the smell of spiced apples or cookies being whipped up on a cold winter day? All these memories will come up to the surface with festive tunes of Christmas as Carol of the Bells or Ding Dong Merrily on High. Nothing can compare to Meav singing Silent Night or Lisa Kelly's The Christmas Song. The beautiful vocal arrangement of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas will simply warm your soul. Of course, the girls have to show you that they can sing any style song with the swing arrangement of Let It Snow! David Downes' masterful arranging and Celtic Woman's beautiful voices combine to give something for everyone on this Yule tide CD whether your tastes are traditional Irish, festive, religious, or swing!

Martina McBride - White Christmas
Rate: VBR
Released: 2007

The multi platinum country music star, Martina McBride, continues to amaze the masses with her incredible talent and undeniable talent and undeniable talent and undeniable presence.  Martina McBride's White
Christmas features the singer's countrified versions of holiday classics like the title track, "The Christmas Song," "Silver Bells," "I'll Be Home for Christmas," and "Silent Night."

Cast In Broze - The Bells of Christmas
Released: 2002

The only musical act in history to combine the haunting sound of a 35 bell carillon with other instruments in rhythmic new age-style compositions.

Amy Grant's Home for Christmas showcases her mellifluent vocal chops in a variety of settings and succeeds mightily. There's a sophisticated touch of Streisand in Grant's clear and bright timbre, but there's also a young tenderness and innocence there, as well, that captures peoples' hearts. Grant puts a batch of standards, more recent works by Carly Simon and David Foster, and her own songs through big but tasty orchestral swells, rock & roll reveries, acoustic pieces, and mild pop surroundings. Most surprising are Grant's two contributions (cowritten with Chris Eaton and Robert Marshal, respectively,) "Breath of Heaven/Mary's Song" and the powerful and humbling "Emmanuel, God with Us." Exquisitely produced and arranged, Home for Christmas is a highly rewarding mainstream Christmas masterpiece without flaw or pretense. --Martin Keller

Eminently photogenic pop vocalist Amy Grant's holiday album A CHRISTMAS TO REMEMBER is a pleasant collection that mixes Christmas standards, stirring instrumentals, and some of Grant's own late-winter compositions. Throughout, the singer receives generous backing support from the Patrick Williams Orchestra and Choir, as well as the Nashville Studio Orchestra.

Originals include the album-opening title track as well as the delicate "Christmas Lullaby," on which Grant shares the spotlight with child vocalist Grace Stumb. The strains of bagpipes introduce the orchestral instrumental "Highland Cathedral." Grant's treatments of Christmas vocal
standards are impressive, as her "Silent Night" and "Jingle Bell Rock" work the transporting magic that these Christmas chestnuts are known for.

Josh Groban - Noel [2007]

Bringing Josh Groban’s majestic yet intimate voice to Christmas music is truly a gift this holiday season. The young Adult Contemporary star’s fourth studio album brings together the traditional such as Silent Night with the contemporary such as I’ll Be Home For Christmas and the new, Thankful. Featuring duets with Country’s Faith Hill and R&B’s Brian McKnight, and inspirational music’s master choir, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and produced by the illustrious David Foster the album’s wide appeal promises that a timeless Christmas music classic will be beneath the tree this year.

2007 holiday treat from Chip Davis and Mannheim Steamroller, their first new Christmas album in six years! Features guest vocals from Johnny Mathis (no stranger to great holiday recordings) plus Olivia Newton-John. 12 tracks including 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas', 'Frosty The Snowman' and many others.

Mannheim Steamroller - Christmas Extraordinaire [2001] New Age

Chip Davis's Mannheim Steamroller hasn't lost any ground in the six years since their last Yuletide offering. Christmas Extraordinare is another innovative and heartfelt collection of seasonal treasures played on a combination of 18th-century instruments and modern-day synthesizers, drums, and electric guitars. While not the first to marry different ages of musical instruments, Davis and his cohorts use them with imagination and an intensity that gives new life and drama to this rather inert genre. For material, Mannheim Steamroller asked their fans to choose their favorite holiday selections and vote on their Web site. The results of the poll are a fine mix of old and new--with slightly more emphasis on the modern--ranging from the bracing "Fum, Fum, Fum," a traditional Catalan carol, to Tchaikovsky's "Faeries" from The Nutcracker. Mannheim Steamroller imbues this beloved song with an almost militaristic edge, grounding it with an ominous tuba that gives the usually fey "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies" an edgy tension. "Winter Wonderland" is a spectacular work, bordering on prog rock, as if Emerson, Lake & Palmer had re-formed to whip up a winter blizzard gone amok. While most of the Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas albums are largely instrumental, Davis has employed the considerable talents of University of Michigan's Glee Club to sing on "O Tannenbaum," respectfully fading their elegant, full vocals around the pristine voice of Johnny Mathis, elevating this German carol to a cinematic peak. Don't miss out on the clever liner notes, which give the reader a whimsical, anecdotal history of the 12 songs.