Customer Rating: 
Summary: Another classic from Barbra!
Comment: This album is sooo good! Barbra does a fine job of singing and sounds even better now than when she was younger.Lots of good Christmas songs on this along with some new ones, with OUR GOD being my favorite. (Last song on the cd)
This will truly become a Christmas classic, the orchestra sounds lush and beautiful as always. A wonderful job done on this album. The album notes are wonderfully written with a special note from Barbra with regards to 9/11.
This ranks just about where her first Christmas album is, GREAT!
(...)
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Not Very Festive
Comment: After listening to this CD I soon realized that it was NOT very good. The songs sounded downright dull and only a handful were traditional songs! Barbra's songs were too slow, and each one sounded like the previous, I normally enjoy listening to Barbra's music, but this is one CD that i feel I wasted my money on, and I wish I hadn't bought it. PLEASE! listen to these excerpts before buying this CD, because I don't want you to waste your money too.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Nice try, good singing!
Comment: I do agree with Barbra's politics but more importantly I really like her style. Having said that, this X-mas Cd is not her best album. I visited both her concert in London in the early nineties and the recent farewell concert in LA, and I can tell you that her voice is still as strong as ever. This X-mas album showcases that vocal brilliance like never before. On the other hand some of the songs she sings are not that interesting. Where is the brilliant Barbra of Guilty or Superman? This Christmas album, like 'A love like ours' almost completely lacks contemporary, up tempo songs (that is desperately needs). The Cd also lacks a warm X-mas feeling. In stead we get lots of violins and very sweet lullaby's. Highlight are the clever Grownup Christmas list, the smooth Closer and the wonderful Christmas Lullaby. Completely over the top is One God (with a sickening lyric) and A Christmas Lovesong (the tittle sais it all). The rest of the songs on the album are more of the same stuff Streisand has been putting out for the last decade(adding lots of violins for an X-mas feel). Barbra, it's time to sing a NEW song!Merry Christmas to you all!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Christmas Can Only Get Brighter
Comment: What a delight to hear one of the greatest voices of our time doing another Christmas themed album. It's nice to see that Barbra has not duplicated herself with mostly traditional songs again. I've read some of the other reviews and though most are gracious, some are simply bizarre. Comparisons between singers is childish and inappropriate. If you don't like Streisand, then don't buy her records. It's very simple. Spare yourself and us the stress of hearing about it. Also, I find the rantings of this not being a very Christian Christmas album especially odd. Jesus and Mary were, after all, Jewish people themselves, as is Streisand. The roots of all Christianity are in Judaism. To say that one must be Christian to enjoy in the spirit of the season is absurd. Being catholic myself, I have no problem with anyone, of any religion, sharing in the celebration of peace and hope that is an essential part of Christmas-time. In fact, I believe attempting to disenfranchise anyone from joining in Christmastime celebrations to be decidely not "Christ-like".
That being said... and now that I've had a chance to listen to the album a few times, I find Barbra completely magical here. No fluff, no filler, no ready for radio fodder and thankfully no duets. This is clearly Barbra's best singing since 1985 and I believe "Closer" to be one of her all time best ballads. At 59, her crispness, clarity and the careless ease with which she carries notes has lost none of its strength. Over the years I've noticed only the slightest drop in Barbra's upper range which has been more than offset by a richer, fuller and more confident sound. In fact, this slight change in voice is most welcome since I believe that each stage of her recording career will have its own unique and individual sound. I agree with one reviewer that the best is yet to come from Streisand. Hopefully a "Broadway Album - Act III" will not be far away... perhaps a "Guilty Again" and with any great luck an album of all new contemporary songs that will bring Barbra's wonderful voice back to the airwaves and inspire a whole new generation of fans.
This album on so many levels, does not disappoint, but instead builds great hope for things ahead.
By the way... Merry Christmas Barbra!
Chris
Customer Rating:
Summary: An Early Christmas Present
Comment: Fot those complaining about the somber tone of this album, most adults among us will understand that the Christmas holiday's aren't always about "Jingle Bells"....this is not a depressing recording by any means if you just LISTEN to it. The messages are about reflection, remembrance and hope. Indeed, the weakest cut here is the most upbeat; "It Must Have Been the Mistletoe" would be great by just about any other singer who isn't capable of interpreting music on the level that Barbra does when she's at her best. The voice? For those complaining about the thin high notes, I've got news for you...this is TRULY the first 'recorded live with an orchestra' album that Barbra has done in ages and I applaud the fact that she didn't go back and redo the less than perfect notes like she normally would have until very recently. The voice is in fine shape - she's just finally comfortable enough to let us all hear the imperfections that were always there...today and twenty years ago. And there aren't THAT many bad notes....as a whole she sounds as good as she has in the past fifteen years and the performances, because there's not a lot of vocal cutting-and-pasting, flow as seamlessly and naturally as some of the best work she's ever done. Yeah, it would be great to hear Barbra tear through 'O Holy Night', I have to admit, but "I Remember", "A Christmas Lullaby" and "Closer" are amazing performances of some beautiful, adult music. And anyone who can even think to compare Barbra to Celion Dion....well, they just don't get it and never will. Not without it's miscues (I thought the arrangement of "I'll Be Home For Christmas" was pretty cheesy, also), as a whole "Christmas Memories" is the best thing Barbra's done since "The Broadway Album." But, as anyone who really "gets" Barbra knows, this is just not something you can preach to the average man on the street
