Ah, the wonders of modern technology! The RCA label has decided to release another Elvis Presley Christmas album, but rather than just repackaging some of his holiday hits, they decided to get a little creative. They gathered together a number of country music\u2019s biggest female stars to sing duets with Elvis on tape. Such artists as Martina McBride, Carrie Underwood, LeAnn Rimes, Wynonna Judd, Amy Grant, Gretchen Wilson, Anne Murray, and even Olivia Newton-John lend their voices to create duets on some of Elvis\u2019 classic Christmas songs.<\/p>\n
The original tracks have been remastered and more instrumentation added to create a fuller and different sound. Some of the background vocals have been changed or at least enhanced. The results add up to not only an interesting but an excellent album.<\/p>\n
Martina McBride does not overwhelm Elvis on \u201cBlue Christmas\u201d as she was capable of doing. She gives a subtle performance that matches the smoothness of his vocal. The drum track is turned up to give the song a little more punch than the original.<\/p>\n
Carrie Underwood plays it a little too conservative on the classic \u201cI\u2019ll Be Home For Christmas\u201d — plus there is just not enough of her on the track.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere Comes Santa Claus\u201d finds LeAnn Rimes giving a perky vocal that compliments Elvis well. The instrumental backing is turned down a bit in order to focus on the purity of their paired voices.<\/p>\n
\u201cSanta Claus Is Back In Town\u201d is probably the strongest track on the album. This is a blues rendition that fits Wynonna Judd well. She trades vocal runs with Elvis and more than holds her own. This is the track that I played over and over again.<\/p>\n
\u201cSilent Night\u201d is presented in traditional style. Sara Evans\u2019 vocal is excellent but I can\u2019t help think that she and Carrie Underwood should have traded songs. <\/p>\n
Amy Grant joins Elvis on \u201cWhite Christmas.\u201d The vocals are excellent but the tempo is faster than the original. <\/p>\n
\u201cMerry Christmas Baby\u201d is another blues outing and a second superior song. Piano and drums dominate the instrumental track with some clear harmonica added on the break. \u00a0Gretchen Wilson doesn\u2019t really duet with Elvis but rather, she adds vocal phasing that enhances his vocal. <\/p>\n
\u201cO Little Town Of Bethlehem\u201d is not a duet but a threesome. Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman bring their clear harmonies to this song and create a wonderful counterpoint. The three voices give this track a fuller sound than many of the others.<\/p>\n
Anne Murray has a lower vocal register than the other women on the album and as such creates a different sound when she combines it with Elvis\u2019. \u201cSleigh Bells\u201d is presented in traditional up-tempo form.<\/p>\n
The Christmas hymn \u201cO Come All Ye Faithful\u201d finds Olivia Newton-John providing half of the duet. Her voice is not a match for Elvis so she wisely stays in the background and manages to get by.<\/p>\n
Also included are three bonus tracks featuring Elvis singing alone. \u201cThe First Noel,\u201d If I Get Home On Christmas Day,\u201d and \u201cWinter Wonderland\u201d have all been issued a number of times over the years. Here we find them remastered with extra instruments added. The sound is so clear that you can actually hear the intake of Elvis\u2019 breath as he breathes.<\/p>\n
Christmas Duets <\/i>presents some classic Elvis in a new and creative way, and it\u2019s a good holiday listen. Merry Christmas to all fans of the true king of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll! \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":29629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6914],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-41227","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-elvis-presley","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41227"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41227"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}