Editorial Review:

Album Description:
What if someone made a Christmas album for everybody else? That's exactly what Melissa Etheridge has done. Working alongside her producer David Cole, Melissa's songs celebrate a spiritual time of year where people can rejoice in their traditional, or non-traditional ways, and celebrate a winter solstice filled with love and peace. This ten song album has newly composed songs such as 'Ring The Bells,' 'Light A Light,' and 'It's Christmas Time' interspersed with traditional holiday standards such as 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas' and 'Blue Christmas.' This album begs the question, 'If we're all talking about peace on earth, what if we all concentrated on peace on earth and made it happen?'

Melissa Etheridge has been a core Island Records artist since the release of her critically-acclaimed eponymous debut, which led to an invitation to sing on the 1989 Grammy Awards broadcast. For several years, Melissa's popularity built around such memorable songs as 'Bring Me Some Water' (from her debut), 'No Souvenirs' (from 1989's Brave And Crazy) and 'Ain't It Heavy' (from 1992's Never Enough), for which she won her first Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal.

Melissa hit her commercial and artistic stride with her fourth album, 1993's Yes I Am, featuring the massive hits 'I'm the Only One' and 'Come to My Window,' a searing song of longing that brought her second Best Female Rock Grammy. The album went six times platinum and spent more than two and a half years on the album chart. In 1995, she issued her highest charting album, Your Little Secret (#6 on the Billboard Top 200), which included the hit single, 'I Want to Come Over.' Her astounding success led Melissa to receive the Songwriter of the Year honor at the ASCAP Pop Awards in 1996.

Melissa continued to write, record, and tour throughout the '90s and into the new millennium. In 2006, she was approached by Al Gore to write a song for his documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth. The result was 'I Need To Wake Up' and in February 2007, she won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Melissa's Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled was repackaged to include the OSCAR® winning song. In April 2007, Melissa Etheridge received the distinguished ASCAP Founders Award honoring the anthemic power, compassion, and generosity of spirit of her music, and her enduring status as one of the greatest all-time female rock icons. In September 2007, she released The Awakening, which was selected by Rolling Stone Magazine as #20 on its Top 50 albums of 2007.









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Disc 1:

1. Blue Christmas
2. Glorious
3. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
4. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
5. Ring The Bells
6. Merry Christmas Baby
7. Christmas In America
8. Light A Light
9. It's Christmas Time
10. O Night Divine

Rating: - * Merry Melissa ... I have wished and waited for what seemed like an eternity for Melissa to lend her commanding voice to a Holiday Album. She brings such power and depth to this album, and the strength of her voice electrifies my heart and stirs my spirit. Her vocal power is exhilarating and formidable, yet soft and reflective. I cannot stop from playing this album. You will want to play it weather it is Christmas or not. Rating: - * Finally a decent christmas album! ... There is a lot to like about this album. The sound is true Melissa, with her rock take on a few classics but the best part is her own songs. I like the way she writes, she really tells a story and you can feel the passion. I reckon there are a couple of contenders for a christmas number 1 here. So decorate the tree, whip up some eggnog, turn it up loud and enjoy a very happy winter solstice to you and your family. Rating: - * This has been a long time......... ... in the making. She said a long time ago she wanted to make a blues album and though not a blues album it is very bluesy. I think she has outdone herself. This is the tried and true Melissa. I have been a fan since 1992 and she can do no wrong. This album is Melissa in the beginning. She mellowed out a little here and there but I think she has reached back to the beginning and pulled out a beautiful CD. I have not heard it all yet but the bits I have heard make me want to put the CD in the car and just drive (as I did when I first heard "Nowhere To Go", another beauty). I think I will be listening to this all year long too!! Rating: - * Best Christmas album for 2008 ... Every year, I look for a new Christmas CD to add to the collection. I play it along with the classics as soon as I start playing the seasonal music. "A New Thought for Christmas" is so listenable, I may be playing it more than the old favorites. To be honest, you do have a mix of the old and new here. The CD opens up with solidly rocking "Blue Christmas" and also includes "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home"and "Merry Christmas, Baby." Melissa's covers of these songs are solid, rocking, and will definitely set your originals on their ears. What else have we got? "Glorious" talks about the traditions of Christmas, "windshields kissed with snow," etc. It's a lovely ballad extolling the virtues of love. "Ring the Bells" a poem to peace and coexistence. "Christmas in America" which is my top pick of the new ones, talking about sending the troops home. What a gorgeous dedication to the hardworking men and women serving our country. This is the one I hope we're rocking to for the whole season. Rebecca Kyle, November 2008 Rating: - * An absolute Christmas Cracker ... I thought this would be a cheesy album of Christmas standards but, being a longtime MLE fan had to have it. Well how wrong can a man be. This is one of the best Melissa albums ever. Superb bluesy numbers with some old standards given the Melissa treatment. Her voice is right on the money and her performance is full of passion and expression. Philip Sayce on guitar has brought so much to MLE's band and he excels on this album with some beautiful guitar work adding light and shade to the sound just where it is needed. This is almost as good as "The Awakening" where once again Philip and the band take Melissa's work to new and ever better places. Buy both of these albums and give your ears a treat.