A Romantic Christmas

Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas is a charming, warmly humorous - and yes, swinging - set of classic Christmas tunes. The program is familiar, from bouncy singalongs like "Jingle Bells" to slinky ballads like a downright sexy "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," but Fitzgerald treats each song with exactly as much respect as it deserves. And so Frank Loesser's "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve" is wistfully romantic and Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne's "Let It Snow" is kittenishly enticing. As always, Norman Granz's production avoids the schlock that drowns some holiday sets. This is as good as jazz Christmas albums get.

In the Russian Orthodox Church, "only human voices are allowed to take part in the worship of the Lord." Directed by Lawrence Havriliak, the St. John's Russian Orthodox Choir of Spring Valley, New York sings a capella Ukrainian Christmas carols. Sung in Church Slavonic.

IQ - Tales From A Dark Christmas (2017) {The Archive Collection AC008}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 334 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 117 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 6 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2017 The Archive Collection | AC008
Rock / Art Rock / Neo-Prog / Prog-Rock

This CD was not on general sale, all copies have been given-away to attendees at the London and Zoetermeer 2017 Christmas concerts, with the left-overs sold-out through the band's official website. It is now out of print. As you may know by now, this year sees the 20th anniversary of the iconic IQ Christmas Bash(es). To mark this auspicious occasion the boys are giving away a free ‘Christmas-themed’ archive collection CD as a thank you to everyone attending the shows in London or Zoetermeer. With design by Tony Lythgoe and new artwork from Peter Nicholls, the album ‘Tales from a Dark Christmas’ consists of 6 tracks including the 20 minute epic ‘The Dark Christmas Suite’ complete with Tron choirs, ‘big juicy bass pedals’ big proggy ending and of course Alastair Sim!