8 Days Of Christmas
Label: Columbia Records / Sony Music Entertainment
Release Date: October 30th 2001 (Amazon mp3/iTunes)
Track Listing:
- Home For The Holidays
- Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (Single Version)
- 8 Days Of Christmas
- Winter Paradise
- A “DC” Christmas Medley
- Silent Night (feat. Beyonce)
- Little Drummer Boy (feat. Solange)
- Do You Hear What I Hear (feat. Kelly Rowland)
- White Christmas
- Platinum Bells
- O Holy Night (feat. Michelle Williams)
- Spread A Little Love On Christmas Day
- This Christmas
- Carol Of The Bells aka Opera Of The Bells
Initial thoughts: A Christmas R&B/gospel album by one of the most popular girl groups of the 2000’s? Yes please! Beyonce, Kelly and Michelle sing together so, so, so, good… and I wish these girls had released maybe one or two more albums together before they split. The ‘mainstream’ version of dcTalk? Quite possibly.
Reason to listen: There’s not really a Christmas ‘sound’ here, but boy is this album energetic, passionate, poignant, emotional, and spirited. These girls know how to throw a party, and they definitely threw a party for Jesus and His birth.
Reason to buy: See above. Are you a fan of all of these individual artists as well as this band? Then go buy, no questions asked!
Reason to skip: No reason at all. Even if you don’t love R&B, 8 Days Of Christmas will still resonate with you- I guarantee it.
No. of carols/holiday songs: 9
No. of originals/covers: 5 (Home For The Holidays, 8 Days Of Christmas, Winter Paradise, Platinum Bells, Spread A Little Love On Christmas Day)
No of guest artists: Solange (Beyonce’s sister) on “Little Drummer Boy”, and all three vocalists sing one song solo on the track list. But other than that, there are no other guest vocalists. But Beyonce, Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland are incredible singers in their own right- and so this album is still pretty strong vocally all around.
Does it have heart?: Immensely so. Beyonce, Kelly and Michelle are all superb and sublime vocalists, and their R&B sound and their passion for the season makes this record a timeless classic, no matter which way you slice it.
Does it have a Christmas-y atmosphere?: There’s hardly any Christmas atmosphere- but that doesn’t mean that this project isn’t meaningful nor inspiring. In fact, this album is full of solid biblical truth as well as fun holiday songs. It’s a win, win, win for everyone, and I’d take that deep message of Jesus, love and family any day of the week over a ‘superfluous Christmas atmosphere’!
Uniqueness?: Incredibly unique. It’s an R&B Christmas album. Do I need to expand or say more?
Christmas message: There are numerous worship songs to Jesus (Silent Night, Little Drummer Boy, Do You Hear What I Hear?, O Holy Night), so that’s a great big plus. The story of Jesus is interwoven throughout, and even the original songs reference Jesus and God extremely. This may be a ‘mainstream’ album, but 8 Days Of Christmas is a gospel album as well.
Closing thoughts: 8 Days Of Christmas makes you nostalgic for Destiny’s Child and makes you look back on that era with fondness and gratitude. We may be blessed to hear three brilliant careers now- but oh how we all long for at least one more album from Destiny’s Child.
3 songs to listen to: Winter Paradise, Spread A Little Love On Christmas Day, This Christmas
Overall rating: 4.5/5
Yes/no; why/why not?: 8 Days Of Christmas surprised me- and if the album was available in Australia, I would buy it in a heartbeat. What you all would do… well, I can’t predict that. I will suggest that you buy the album- because it does glorify Jesus and it does highlight the Christmas story. But the rest is up to you.