Sarah McLachlan Wintersong CD

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 The best Christmas record ever!
I honestly think this is the best record Sarah has made since Fumbling. Really! I know that's a big call seeing there's only one original song on here but what she does with the traditional Christmas songs is truly amazing. From the Persian string arrangements of the First Noel/Mary Mary to the Vienna Strings of O Little Town Of Bethlehem, this album is original and beautiful. PS: The version of Silent Night is probably the most gorgeous cover I've ever heard of that carol. Bravo Sarah!
Submitted by Wayne (North Queensland, Australia)
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 Thanks Sarah!!!
Sarah in all her glory. Her voice expresses Christmas so well. A well rounded song list and instrumentation makes for a warm journey into the snowy solstice season. A special favorite of mine is "The First Noel", amidst sounds of the Holy City I can see her (the Snow Goddess she is) watching over the birth of Jesus Christ.
Submitted by ptsmithy (Waterbury, CT, USA) 
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 BEAUTIFULL !!!!!
This album is out of the park compared to all the other christmas albums that other artists have,or will come out with!!!!! The best thing about it is no matter what mood your in it will suit the moment. If your happy,sad,missing someone at christmas,mello,or if your all wound up,this will sooth you like a baby. By far the best christmas album I've heard in years !!!!! 10 STARS
Submitted by Jesse (Ontario,Canada)
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 Simply Beautiful......
With all the the Christmas music out there to purchase today, I am always very cautious when selecting a new title to add to my Holiday collection. I enjoy Sarah's music very much so I purchased this CD knowing full well that 9 times out of 10 Christmas CD's are usually just fillers. Her arrangements on these songs and beautiful voice make this Holiday CD a MUST for any McLachlan fan. From the start (Happy Xmas/War is over) to the end of this CD (Christmastime is here), Sarah brings each song new meaning and beauty making this CD a "JOY" to add to anyone's Holiday collection!
Submitted by Lou (Lou1760 (Boston, MA, USA)
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 Wintersong: An appreciation
I am a music lover and a semi-retired Lutheran pastor. My wife and I are helping our daughter nurture her two toddlers as her soldier husband is away preparing for military service in Iraq. The music I listen to inspires my prayer and challenges my trust in God during times of personal and family stress and national uncertainty. Sarah McLachlan released Wintersong in 2006 but I only discovered it in October 2008 while searching for a contemporary Christmas album which would enhance my appreciation of the holy season as much as Joan Baez’ Noël and Kathy Mattea’s Good News continue to do after many years. I chanced upon Wintersong in a CD store where I was buying Joan’s superb Day After Tomorrow, which I have also reviewed with excitement. If you desire inspiring and spiritually challenging music, you will appreciate both of these 21st-century treasures. Sarah proclaims the universal message of traditional Christmas carols by transfiguring them into a variety of the world’s musical styles: Spirituals, Celtic meditations (very appropriate for someone named McLachlan), Hildegard von Bingen-like medieval chants, Native American dance rhythms, jazz, country and 1960s American folk songs. Sarah’s carols depart from the familiar versions just enough to make me contemplate the actual meaning of the words in way that I never seem to do when I sing them or hear them sung in the usual way. Although I have never been a lover of “secular” Christmas standards, Sarah’s way of singing “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” reminds me that there is a deep, sometimes sad but sometimes peaceful yearning in the hearts of those who wish they could be with their loved ones at this time of year. As with the carols, I find myself actually hearing the words of these songs for the first time as Sarah sings them. I took the liberty of e-mailing President-Elect Obama and his family to tell them that my Christmas greeting for them is the text of John Lennon’s and Yoko Ono’s “Happy Christmas (Was Is Over)” as Sarah sings it at the beginning of Wintersong. The song expresses my prayer for what our new leader may accomplish during his time of service. I am intrigued by the songs which are completely new or new to me. Joni Mitchell’s “River” expresses the guilt which many of us experience when we have hurt a loved one. That kind of guilt hits me harder at Christmas time than at any other time and I know others who feel the same. Gordon Lightfoot’s “Song For A Winter’s Night” is pure loneliness, but the words leave me wondering whether the beloved is away in the military as my daughter’s husband will be or is estranged from the singer or maybe even is dead. So many levels to be lonely on. Sarah’s own “Wintersong” appears at first to be sung to a loved one in heaven: “Love and happiness surround you as you throw your arms up to the sky.” And the singer looks up and sees the loved one’s star. But then I realize that the singer is only looking up at a star on the Christmas tree, not at a star in the sky. And I wonder where the beloved is, in heaven or still on this earth. Wherever he may be, the separation is more painful at Christmas than at other seasons. There is a melancholy feeling about the album, but Sarah transfigures it into a genuine Christmas spirit. It seems that the birth of the Savior gives the singer enough Christmas joy and spiritual strength to overcome her feelings of guilt and separation and loneliness and to share in the peace which the season is intended to give. Many of us celebrate Christmas, at least in some years, in the midst of troubled lives and troubled loves in a troubled world. But we can celebrate anyway, even if in a restrained and sometimes bittersweet manner. We celebrate because HE makes a difference in our world and gives meaning to our lives. Sarah approaches the songs in a celebrating yet restrained and sometimes bittersweet way. The final song, Vince Guaraldi’s and Lee Mendelson’s “Christmas Time Is Here,” says it well. It begins, “Christmas time is here, happiness and cheer,” and ends, “Oh that we could always see such spirit through the year.” Yes, Sarah, we can see it, thanks to you.
Submitted by Roger (Philadelphia, PA, USA)
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