Jewel - Joy: A Holiday Collection

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Title: Joy: A Holiday Collection
Artist: Jewel
Audio CD (November 2, 1999)
Original Release Date: November 2, 1999
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Christmas
Format: Free Lossless Audio Codec


Track Listing:

01. Joy to the World
02. O Holy Night
03. Silent Night
04. Winter Wonderland
05. O Little Town of Bethlehem
06. Ave Maria
07. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
08. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
09. Face of Love
10. Medley: Go Tell It on the Mountain/Life Uncommon/From a Distance
11. I Wonder as I Wander
12. Gloria
13. Hands (Christmas Version)


Amazon Review:
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.

Allmusic Review:
Joy: A Holiday Collection may surprise some Jewel fans, since it isn't a warm, intimate acoustic album. Then again, it may not, since it arrives on the heels of the exquisitely produced, unabashedly pop Spirit, which had lush musical backdrops for her folk-pop tunes. Joy is a full-bodied expansion of Spirit, however -- an unashamed classicist Christmas album, featuring all of the usual carols delivered with strings and choirs. Because Jewel has a big, powerful, attractive voice, Joy works, even if it is a little too predictable for its own good -- the closing "Christmas Version" of "Hands" is the only true signal, musically at least, that this is a Jewel number. Surely, this holiday album isn't a major addition to her catalog, but for hardcore fans, it may be a nice stocking stuffer.