Track Listing

1. Joy To The World
2. O Holy Night
3. Silent Night
4. Winter Wonderland
5. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
6. Ave Maria
7. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
8. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
9. Face Of Love
10. Medley: A. Go Tell It On The Mountain/B. Life Uncommon/C. From A Distance
11. I Wonder As I Wander
12. Gloria
13. Hands (Christmas Version)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12195 in Music
• Released on: 1999-11-02
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

From Amazon.com
Jewel has concocted an intriguing and at times beautifully inspired holiday album, playing it straight with a big orchestra and backing voices for the first half of the record with standards such as "Joy to the World," "Winter Wonderland," "Silent Night," as well as a lovely rendition of "Ave Maria." Things finally get sparkling in the last half where Jewel does a low-key, kid version of "Rudolph" and sings her own compositions. Her moving "Face of Love" and "Hands" are certain to become holiday standards, capable of being sung in a country, pop, gospel, or R&B vein and deserving of an audience as wide as the nation itself. The record's centerpiece, however, seems to be a six-minute-plus medley that mixes "Go Tell It on the Mountain" with the recent hit "From a Distance" and her own "Life Uncommon." Nonetheless, her stunning adaptation of "Gloria" inspired, in part, by Bach's B-Minor Mass, two tracks later is as powerful and lovely a Christmas vocal performance as you will find anywhere. Produced by the legendary Arif Mardin, Joy is destined to become a holiday classic. --Martin Keller