Emma: *
Charlie: *
Emma: This would be the most soporific album ever IF it was properly mastered, but, since it jumps wildly in dynamic from one track to the next, and between the tracks and the patched-on-fake-live-applause after them, what it actually is is sleepy then annoying then sleepy then annoying... A little bit of well-produced crooner is lovely. A whole lot of badly scraped together ones is barely tolerable.
Charlie: This lugubrious set of tracks should come with a warning label: Do not listen to this while driving a car, operating heavy machinery, or in any other situation where drowsiness would be hazardous. It's interesting enough as an overview of the cultural phenomenon of 'crooners'— enabled by the then-new condenser mic technology in the 1940s and '50s, which allowed a singer to sing quietly and still project over an ensemble. However, the CD is extremely sloppily produced: uneven volume levels and weird between-track edits point to a rush job and shoddy mastering, and the inexplicable inclusion of two '60s songs which are (a) not sung by crooners and (b) not about Christmas, thus completely voiding their eligibility for inclusion according to the criteria of the title. Additionally (c) they are unreasonably bad as songs. Recommendation: About 1/3 of these tracks should be on your Christmas playlist, but get them via a different recording.
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