HDD just predicted 50K-60K. Wow I was right on the money. But more importantly, my really rushed review...
Mariah's latest holiday offering, Merry Christmas II You, is a wonderful sequel to what I regard as the best Christmas album of all time!
1. The album opens with a short instrumental of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town." She's already done two amazing renditions of the song (one off the 1994 classic and then another in 2005) so I guess no need to cover it third time...
2. Then this leads into the lead single and my favorite song off the album "Oh Santa!" This is song is like the younger sister of "All I Want for Christmas Is You," but amazing in its own way. I've already praised its epicness (vocals, production, and concept are superb here), so no more really needs to be said.
3-5. The next three songs are styled in the traditional pop carols of the '60s. The main highlights of these are the vocals... "Little Drummer Boy" has the best "rump-a-bump-bumps" I've ever heard, my jaw literally dropped from how she sounded on "Christmas Time Is In the Air Again."
5. On the third of these songs, "The First Noel," I love the transition into the more contemporary R&B-sounding "Born Is the King." This part deserved to be a full song, I really wish that part was much longer.
6. "When Christmas Comes" is where a soulful dimension is added, and it's definitely a highlight taking it back to the TEOM glory days musically. I really love it!
7. Y'ALL KNOW IT's CHRISTMAS! JD and crew just came out of nowhere and "Here Comes Santa Claus / Housetop Celebration" begins. I really love the juxtaposition of Mariah's angelic voice over the club atmospheric beat. That's genius! It has a "Last Night A DJ Saved My Life" vibe too.
8. "Charlie Brown Christmas" was quite unexpected with the classic intro, but her sweet honey angelic vocals are bliss to my ears!
9. Now for one of the big highlights! "Oh Come All Ye Faithful / Hallelujah Chorus" is phenomenal! By inviting her mother, who's a mezzo-soprano opera singer, I found the song has an underlying theme of "family" which is one of the most important things about Christmas. They both sound incredible here, and I especially love the high B♭6 Mariah sustained at the end!
10. "O Holy Night - Live etc. etc. lol" is actually as old as 2000, but ain't no rule saying you can't use vocals from 1812! I actually love how crisp this sounds compared to that low quality YouTube audio I downloaded like 5 years ago, so in the end I'm glad I got this great high quality version of it. To go off on a tangent, I always loved the music video to this song - that's just what Heaven looks like to me!
11. "One Child" is another great original song by her, and takes it back to the traditional pop styles. Very inspirational! This is like the sister of "Jesus Born On This Day" from the original especially with the young singers at the end.
12. As she said on her "All I Want for Christmas Is You" classic, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" and she certainly didn't with the extra festive version. The original was perfect as it is, so I'm glad she didn't tweek it a lot. Her harmonizations in major thirds near the end (i.e. the part where she sings "Yoooouuuuu" in head voice in a G5 note, she blends it with a B5 two full tonal steps above), along with various adlibs blended throughout, are a really nice touch!
13. Call me biased, but this is the best rendition of "Auld Lang Syne" I've ever heard. I love the dance beat that kicks in too. This WILL be the first song I play of 2011!
Overall, this actually put me into the holiday spirit and Christmas is *checks* 52 days away. This album gets a solid A just for the top-class superb vocals, warm and fuzzy vibe invoking the Christmas spirit on me the listener, and its musical diversity!
