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Anita Baker

CD Christmas Fantasy

★★★★☆ 4 points (1 reviews)


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  • Issued : 03 Oct 2005

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Item Details

Genre : Dance & Soul Catalogue Number : 3321732
Format : CD Label : Blue Note
Issued : 03 Oct 2005 Item sourced from : USA
Number of Discs : 1

Christmas Fantasy

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HMV Review

Holiday titles live a bit outside an artist's standard discography, but if you look at Christmas Fantasy as a follow-up to the 2004 comeback My Everything, it continues that album's looser feel, less concerned with the charts and all the better because of it. There are only nine tracks on Anita Baker's Christmas Fantasy, but the album still clocks in at 45 minutes, with most tracks letting things comfortably develop past the five-minute mark. Part of the reason for this is the band. With George Duke, Larry Carlton, Joe Sample, the underrated Ricky Lawson, and other top-notch folk involved, it would be a shame not to let these boys play, but as much as they get to vamp, it's still Baker's album, 100 percent. Her increasing love of scat singing finds her interacting with the musicians in cool urbanite fashion, free but neither languid nor shamelessly bold. The exciting Crescent City take on Frosty the Snowman, Frosty's Rag, may be the standout track at first glance, but it's the cool interaction between singer and band on more subdued numbers like O Come, All Ye Faithful with the Yellowjackets and Moonlight Sleighride that makes the album worth returning to each holiday season. With its sparse, nearly haiku lyrics, Moonlight Sleighride is far and away the best of the three original numbers here, with Family of Man finishing second due to its mostly non-holiday lyrics that are clumsily tied to Christmas with a tacked-on final verse. A distant third, Christmas Fantasy feels too forced, but all is forgiven when Baker closes the album with an effervescent My Favorite Things, putting her own spin on a song despite all the definitive versions that have come before. Kudos to Baker for avoiding anything sugary or diva and delivering on the promise she makes in the liner notes. I wanted Mom & Dad to have a recording that we could listen to with a glass of wine after the kids were in bed, she states. Christmas Fantasy is not only that but more evidence Anita Baker's Career, Pt. 2 may be more sumptuous than Pt. 1. ~ David Jeffries, Rovi

Credits

Anita Baker(Vocals),  Barry J. Eastmond(Keyboards),  Gene Lobianco(Clarinet),  George Duke(Piano),  Jimmy Haslip(Bass),  Joe Sample(Piano),  Larry Carlton(Guitar),  Marcus Baylor(Drums),  Nathan East(Bass),  Phil Upchurch(Guitar),  Rafael Padilla(Percussion),  Ricky Lawson(Drums),  Russell Ferrante(Piano),  Tim May(Guitar),  Barry J. Eastmond(Fender Rhodes),  Carlos Ricketts(Vocals (Background)),  Nathan East(Bass (Acoustic)),  Nathan East(Bass (Electric)),  Reggie Hamilton(Bass (Acoustic)),  Sharon Bryant(Vocals (Background)),  Tiffany Palmer(Vocals (Background)),  Al Schmitt(Engineer),  Anita Baker(Arranger),  Anita Baker(Producer),  Barry J. Eastmond(Arranger),  Barry J. Eastmond(Engineer),  Barry J. Eastmond(Producer),  Bill Airey Smith(Engineer),  Joe Sample(Arranger),  Russell Ferrante(Arranger),  A. Baker(Composer),  Adrian Buckmaster(Photography),  Al Schmitt(Mixing),  Anita Baker(Executive Producer),  Anita Baker(Liner Notes),  Anita Baker(Vocal Arrangement),  Barry J. Eastmond(Vocal Arrangement),  Buck Ram(Composer),  Doug Sax(Mastering),  Gordon H. Jee(Art Direction),  Gordon H. Jee(Design),  Jason Wormer(Assistant Engineer),  Kim Gannon(Composer),  Michael O'Reilly(Mixing),  Oscar Hammerstein II(Composer),  Peter Doris(Mixing Assistant),  Richard Rodgers(Composer),  Richard Rodgers(Composer),  Robert Hadley(Mastering),  Steve Genelek(Assistant Engineer),  Steve Genelek(Mixing Assistant),  Traditional(Composer),  Vince Guaraldi(Composer),  Walter Kent(Composer),  Al Schmitt(Audio Engineer),  Anita Baker(Audio Production),  Eli Wolf(A&R),  Shanieka D. Brooks(Product Manager)

Songs

  •   
    1
    Frosty's Rag (Frosty the Snowman)
  •   
    2
    Christmas Time Is Here
  •   
    3
    I'll Be Home for Christmas
  •   
    4
    Christmas Fantasy
  •   
    5
    God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
  •   
    6
    Moonlight Sleighride
  •   
    7
    O Come, All Ye Faithful
  •   
    8
    Family of Man
  •   
    9
    My Favorite Things

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    gil  |  山口  |  不明  |  15/October/2006

    よくありがちな片手間で作った安っぽいクリスマスアルバムではない。アニタ入魂の一作。アニタ自身もプロデュースに参加しているのが功を奏したのかも。 演奏曲数9曲、トータル45分、捨てこく無し、という短い構成であることからも勝負アルバムであることがうかがえます。 ややJAZZYな構成、ナチュラルサウンド、歌唱力おとろえず、クリスマスの切なく甘い喜びを伝える幸せアルバム。

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