Bob Dylan - Christmas in the Heart

Artist: Bob Dylan
Title Of Album: Christmas in the Heart
Year Of Release: 2009
Type: CD
Label: Columbia
Genre: Folk Rock, Oldies, Christmas
Quality: mp3
Bitrate: 320 kbps
Total Time: 0:42:20
Total Size: 92 mb

TRACKLIST
01. Here Comes Santa Claus – 2:35
02. Do You Hear What I Hear? – 3:02
03. Winter Wonderland – 1:52
04. Hark The Herald Angels Sing – 2:30
05. I'll Be Home For Christmas – 2:54
06. Little Drummer Boy – 2:52
07. The Christmas Blues" – 2:54
08. O' Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles) – 2:48
09. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – 4:06
10. Must Be Santa – 2:48
11. Silver Bells – 2:35
12. The First Noel – 2:30
13. Christmas Island – 2:27
14. The Christmas Song – 3:56
15. O Little Town of Bethlehem – 2:17

Christmas in the Heart is Bob Dylan's 34th studio album and first Christmas album, released on October 13, 2009 on Columbia. The album comprises a collection of hymns, carols, and popular Christmas songs. All Dylan's royalties from the sale of this album will benefit the charities Feeding America in the USA, Crisis in the UK, and the World Food Programme

Personnel:
Bob Dylan (vocals, guitar, harmonica, electric piano);
Robert Joyce, Walt Harrah, Randy Crenshaw, Abby DeWald, Amanda Barrett (vocals);
David Hidalgo (guitar, mandolin, violin, accordion);
Phil Upchurch (guitar);
Donnie Herron (steel guitar, mandolin, violin, trumpet);
Patrick Warren (piano, celesta, organ);
George Recile (drums, percussion).

I really, really wanted to write this one off. Especially after TTL, which for a long time I thought was a total disaster - and still think is a triple bogey at best. But sure enough, I found myself at 9:03 P.M California time downloading CITH off iTunes within the first three minutes of its release.
My first impression? So warm, so comforting, so nostalgic. And not just in a "it's getting to be late Fall, so let's get in the mood for Christmas" way. No, in a pure Americana kind of way. This is a Rockwell painting come to life, it is not some kind of ironic commentary on the past... it is a memorial to the past. Dylan does this perfectly. It baffles me, but I really think this will turn out to be one of his most memorable records.
Let me venture to say that this is also a vocal masterpiece. Forget those low-quality clips on amazon.com.. when you hear this the way Bob Frost intended it, you will curse yourself for ever cursing it.
And surprisingly, there are no real low points. It is just raw and perfect from "Here Comes Santa Claus" to "Little Town of Bethlehem." It makes you think of a bright, white, hopeful day. Logs on the fire, ancestors passed on, old dusty pictures that were never digitized. This feels like something old that turned up in a cross-country move. A brilliant, sharp, autumn feeling like those old first days of school.
"Amen."
This review is from: Christmas In the Heart (Audio CD)
amazon.com

That creepy guy from the Victoria’s Secret commercial has a Christmas present for you
With visions of dollar signs dancing in their heads, record companies greet the holiday season with a stocking stuffed with cheery, cheesy Christmas music that rehashes the same old chestnuts with the same old sense of obligation. Bob Dylan is the last person you’d expect to jump Santa’s bandwagon, what with his old-coot voice and ornery disposition, but here he comes with his first holiday album. Musically, it’s wonderfully bad; conceptually, it’s just wonderful. Singing like he’s clearing his throat, Dylan adds a cornpone hick accent to the Latin lyrics of “Adeste Fidelis” and gets especially froggy on the closing amen on “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” He sounds so out place on songs like “Silver Bells” and “Little Drummer Boy,” especially with the super-chipper backing vocals right out a Norman Rockwell painting. That lump-of-coal contrast is usually hilarious, which makes Christmas in the Heart a gift that keeps on giving.
pastemagazine.com