Intro Un Flambeau, Jeanette Issabella (ensemble) In The Bleak Midwinter (ensemble) ... check Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Victoria) (patter about Vic, weeping, getting out of parking tickets) * Wildwood Carol (Jane solo) I'll Be Home For Christmas (Rebecca) "You're screwed" Deck The Halls (Holly) A Holy Thing (Victoria) Are You Burning Little Candle? (Jane) Count Your Blessings (ensemble) Please Come Home For Christmas (Holly) Never, No (Mary Margaret) ... Here We Come A-Wassailing (ensemble) Silent Night (ensemble) LIV = Live in concert ACC = A Choral Christmas radio show CYB = Count Your Blessings CD release (Main Soloist) LIV ACC It Came Upon A Midnight Clear (ensemble) LIV Little Drummer Boy (Holly) LIV Everything I Wish For You (ensemble) LIV ACC CYB Un Flambeau, Jeanette Issabella (ensemble) 4 LIV ACC CYB In The Bleak Mid-Winter (ensemble) 13 LIV ACC CYB Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Victoria) 6 LIV ACC Wildwood Carol (Jane) LIV CYB White Christmas (Mary Margaret) 3 LIV CYB Carol Of The Bells (ensemble) 7 LIV ACC CYB I'll Be Home For Christmas (Rebecca) 9 LIV ACC CYB Deck The Halls (Holly) 11 LIV ACC CYB A Holy Thing (Victoria) 12 LIV Patapan (ensemble) LIV ACC CYB Are You Burning Little Candle? (Jane) 10 LIV ACC CYB Please Come Home For Christmas (Holly) 2 LIV ACC CYB Never, No (Mary Margaret) 8 LIV ACC CYB Count Your Blessings (ensemble) 1 LIV ACC Here We Come A-Wassailing (ensemble) LIV ACC CYB What Is This Fragrance Softly Stealing (Mary Margaret) 5 LIV ACC We Wish You A Merry Christmas (ensemble) LIV ACC CYB Silent Night (ensemble) 14 ============================================= From: vickie@pilot.njin.net (Vickie Mapes) Newsgroups: alt.music.ecto, rec.music.misc, alt.music.canada, alt.music.alternative.female, rec.music.christian, rec.music.tori-amos, alt.music.enya Organization: Rutgers University ^AMessage-ID: <3bes71$hjq@pilot.njin.net> ^ADate: 29 Nov 1994 04:28:01 -0500 (No direct Tori or Enya content, sorry. I just think that anyone who appreciates great female voices might be interested in this. Cross- posted to rec.music.christian because I know that there are major Victoria Williams fans there. Follow-ups set to alt.music.ecto) - -------------------------- From the back cover of the CD booklet: "In November 1993, Holly Cole, Rebecca Jenkins, Mary Margaret O'Hara, Jane Siberry and Victoria Williams gathered in Toronto to create a show of Christmas and seasonal songs. They invited piano player extraordinaire Tim Ray, best known for his live work with Lyle lovett, to join them. All five artists scoured music libraries and dug through old records to select the songs. The final list includes favourite traditional compositions as well as original songs "Never, No" by Mary Margaret O'Hara, "Are You Burning Little Candle" by Jane Siberry, written specifically for this occasion, and "A Holy Thing" by Victoria Williams, written only hours before the performance. After several days of rehearsals in a cramped living room, the songs were recorded before a live studio audience at the Glenn Gould Theatre in the new CBC Broadcast Centre. The recording, originally entitled "A Choral Christmas" was broadcast in Canada on the CBC radio network on Christmas day, and throughout the United States on National Public Radio. Listen, enjoy, and count your blessings." - --------------------------------------------------- This CD was just released by Alert Music in Canada (details later) and the latest information I have is that there are no plans to release it anywhere other than Canada. I've had this CD for 2 days, and I highly, highly, highly recommend it, if it can be found. Those in North America might try Ladyslipper at 1-800-634-6044 and if they don't have it, ask them to get it...give them the information wrt Alert Music's address and the CD's ordering number, which I'll provide shortly. Btw, Alert Music does *not* do mail order themselves. For people who *can* get the CD easily, I'd put forward the suggestion to pick some up while you can, because it may very possibly go out of print after the holiday season. If you have the money, don't just pick up one for yourself. They'd make *wonderful* gifts for anyone who loves any of the artists involved, female voices in general and Chrismas songs. They'd also make *great* trading items for now and especially in the future when they're not available anymore. No, I don't work for Alert Music, I'm just a big fan of all these women. So much so, in fact, that we traveled to Toronto to attend the original concert. Listening to this CD brings far more pleasure than just the great memories it brings back. It truly is a wonderful CD. Every song is fantastic, and it's hard to single out highlights. If I *had* to, I'd give an extra nod to Victoria's rendition of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" and her tear-inducing original song "A Holy Thing," as well as Holly Cole's swinging "Deck The Halls", Jane's very beautiful "Are You Burning Little Candle", Rebecca's angelic "I'll Be Home For Christmas", Mary Margaret's jazzy "White Christmas" and the ensemble beauty of "Carol Of The Bells" and Silent Night". Btw, if you're a lucky Canadian who heard this concert, and may have taped it, don't think that you already "have" this, because there are songs that were performed live and *not* included in the radio broadcast that are included on this CD. At the same time, don't erase your tape, because there were songs on the radio show that aren't included on the CD. - ----------------------------------------------------------- Full credits for CD: Count Your Blessings (Alert Music Inc. Z2-81025) ( 0 6152-81025-2 2 ) (bar code #) A live recording of seasonal music by Holly Cole Rebecca Jenkins Mary Margaret O'Hara Jane Siberry Victoria Williams 1. Count Your Blessings (Ensemble) (Edith Temple, Richard Morgan) (C) Warner Chappell 2. Please Come Home For Christmas (Holly Cole lead) (Brown, Redd) (C) Fort Knox/BMI 3. White Christmas (Mary Margaret O'Hara lead) (Irving Berlin) (C) Irving Berlin Music Corp. c/o Warner Chappell 4. Un Flambeau Jeanette Issabella (Ensemble) (Traditional) 5. What Is This Fragrance (Mary Margaret O'Hara lead) (Traditional) 6. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Victoria Williams lead) (Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin) (C) EMI Music Publishing 7. Carol Of The Bells (Ensemble) (Traditional) 8. Never, No (Mary Margaret O'Hara lead) (Mary Margaret O'Hara) (C) Yet Courier Music/BMG Songs Inc. 9. I'll Be Home For Christmas (Rebecca Jenkins lead) (Kim Gannon, Walter Kent) (C) Edward B. Marks Music Co./Gannon and Kent Music Co. 10. Are You Burning Little Candle (Jane Siberry lead) (Jane Siberry) (C) Wing-It 11. Deck The Halls (Holly Cole lead) (Traditional) 12. A Holy Thing (Victoria Williams lead) (Victoria Williams) (C) Mabel Allbright Publishing/BMG (BMI) 13. In The Bleak Mid Winter (Jane Siberry lead)[sic] (Gustav Holst) 14. Silent Night (Ensemble) (Traditional) Recorded December 2 [sic], 1993 at the Glenn Gould Theater/Toronto This record was recorded and mixed digitally with no additional overdubs or editing. Executive Producer - Bob Blumer Producers - Kevin O'Leary and Danny Greenspoon Engineer - Todd Fraracci Mastered and Assembled at the Lacquer Channel by George Graves Art Direction - Bob Blumer Package Design - Rodney Bowes Photography - Patrick Nichols Hand Lettering - Debbie Jow Vocals Holly Cole Rebecca Jenkins Mary Margaret O'Hara Jane Siberry Victoria Williams Piano Tim Ray Special thanks to Kevin O'Leary and Karen Gordon who helped transform this recording from an idea to a reality Thanks to Tom Berry, Kathy Meisler, Danny Greenspoon, Hot Ticket, CBC Radio, Danny Heaps, Joy Ferris, Lucie Bourgouin, Scott Murley Holly Cole appears courtesy of Alert Music Inc. Her most recent recording is "Don't Smoke In Bed" Rebecca Jenkins' most recent recording is the soundtrack to the film "Bye Bye Blues" available on WEA Canada Mary Margaret O'Hara's most recent recording is "Miss America" available on Virgin Records Jane Siberry appears courtesy of WEA Canada Her most recent recording is "When I Was A Boy" Victoria Williams appears coutesy of Mammoth Records Her most recent recording is "Loose", available in Canada on WEA Canada CBC SRC (C) Canadian Broadcasting Corporation 1994 (P) 1994 Alert Music Inc. Manufactured in Canada for/fabrique au Canada pour Alert Records, a division of Alert Music Inc. 41 Britain St., Ste. 305, Toronto, Ontario M5A 1R7. Printed in Canada - -------------------------------------------------------------------- Vickie again...I typed the credits in exactly as they appeared in the liner notes. I wanted to explain the two [sic]s. The first concerned the song "In The Bleak Mid Winter" where it states that Jane Siberry sang lead. Their idea of "lead" is very different from mine, because it's definitely an ensemble song. The second one concerns the date. It was not recorded December 2, it was recorded December 3, 1993. We were there. I'm not just relying on my memory and ticket stub. I'm also sitting here looking at the Events book for the Glenn Gould Theater. If it had been Thursday, Dec. 2, Bruce Cockburn would have sung with the women, because his live concert was at the Glenn Gould Theater that night. Maybe he wouldn't have minded sharing the stage, but... The date would seem to be a too easily checkable item for Bowes to get it wrong, but nitpicky or not, the concert was at 8:00pm, Friday night, December 3, 1993. Btw, I never heard from anyone who heard "A Choral Christmas" broadcast anywhere in the United States on NPR or APR radio. The following is a list of the songs sung live in concert, in the order that they were sung. I set this up to get an at-a-glance idea of what was left out of the radio show, what was added to the CD, and what was left off the CD. A quick study of the song order on the CYB CD shows that the order was drastically re-arranged. An additional (and sad, IMHO) change made was that all the between song patter that was broadcast on A Choral Christmas has been completely, 100%, deleted on Count Your Blessings. LIV = Live in concert ACC = A Choral Christmas radio show CYB = Count Your Blessings CD release (Main Soloist) LIV ACC It Came Upon A Midnight Clear (ensemble) LIV Little Drummer Boy (Holly) LIV Everything I Wish For You (ensemble) LIV ACC CYB Un Flambeau, Jeanette Issabella (ensemble) 4 LIV ACC CYB In The Bleak Mid-Winter (ensemble) 13 LIV ACC CYB Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Victoria) 6 LIV ACC Wildwood Carol (Jane) LIV CYB White Christmas (Mary Margaret) 3 LIV CYB Carol Of The Bells (ensemble) 7 LIV ACC CYB I'll Be Home For Christmas (Rebecca) 9 LIV ACC CYB Deck The Halls (Holly) 11 LIV ACC CYB A Holy Thing (Victoria) 12 LIV Patapan (ensemble) LIV ACC CYB Are You Burning Little Candle? (Jane) 10 LIV ACC CYB Please Come Home For Christmas (Holly) 2 LIV CYB Never, No (Mary Margaret) 8 LIV ACC CYB Count Your Blessings (ensemble) 1 LIV ACC Here We Come A-Wassailing (ensemble) LIV ACC CYB What Is This Fragrance Softly Stealing (Mary Margaret) 5 LIV ACC We Wish You A Merry Christmas (ensemble) LIV ACC CYB Silent Night (ensemble) 14 ^ song ordering on "Count Your Blessings" CD _______| Vickie - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Vickie Mapes irc ---> #ecto "My ears are lucky to hear vickie@pilot.njin.net alt.music.ecto these glorious songs" HR _________ "Imagination sets in, then |_ _ | _ The Happy Rhodes mailing list all the voices begin" KB |__|_ ||_| ecto-request@ns1.rutgers.edu - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Searching for Happy Rhodes reviews, articles, interviews, mentions - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-