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Songs for Christmas | 
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| Artist: Sufjan Stevens
Label: Unknown Label
Category: Music
List Price: £33.99
Buy New: £13.80
You Save: £20.19 (59%)
New (11) Used (3) from £13.80
Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 35459
Format: Box Set, Enhanced, Import
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 5
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 5.2 x 1.1
MPN: 28
UPC: 656605602820
EAN: 0656605602820
ASIN: B000HLDF0O
Release Date: January 15, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
Disc 1
| • | Silent Night | | • | O Come O Come Emmanuel | | • | We're Goin' to the Country! | | • | Lo! How a Rose E'er Blooming | | • | It's Christmas! Let's Be Glad! | | • | Holy Holy, Etc. | | • | Amazing Grace |
Disc 2
| • | Angels We Have Heard on High | | • | Put the Lights on the Tree | | • | Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing | | • | I Saw Three Ships | | • | Only at Christmas Time | | • | Once in Royal David's City | | • | Hark! The Herald Angels Sing! | | • | What Child Is This Anyway? | | • | Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella |
Disc 3
| • | O Come O Come Emmanuel | | • | Come on! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance! | | • | We Three Kings | | • | O Holy Night | | • | That Was the Worst Christmas Ever! | | • | Ding! Dong! | | • | All the King's Horns | | • | Friendly Beasts |
Disc 4
| • | Little Drummer Boy | | • | Away in a Manger | | • | Hey Guys! It's Christmas Time! | | • | First Noel | | • | Did I Make You Cry on Christmas Day? (Well, You Deserved It!) | | • | Incarnation | | • | Joy to the World |
Disc 5
| • | Once in Royal David's City | | • | Get Behind Me, Santa! | | • | Jingle Bells | | • | Christmas in July | | • | Lo! How a Rose E'er Blooming | | • | Jupiter Winter | | • | Sister Winter | | • | O Come O Come Emmanuel | | • | Star of Wonder | | • | Holy, Holy, Holy | | • | Winter Solstice |
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| Customer Reviews:
 Songs of Christmases Past January 28, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Sufjan Stevens can do no wrong it seems. It's been over a month since Christmas 2006 and still I can't stop playing these songs!
The 42 recordings here range from the Christmas standards that we all know ['Once in Royal David's City', 'Silent Night', 'I Saw Three Ships' and so on], to original compositions from Sufjan and old traditionals such as 'Amazing Grace' and 'Greensleeves'.
The five discs range from 2001 [pre-Michigan] to one recorded especially for this compilation in June 2006. It is fascinating to see Stevens's style develop, as he gradually embraces a fuller, more textured sound. There are several versions of 'O Come, O Come Emmanuel' and the exquisite German carol 'Lo! How a Rose E'er Blooming' where we can clearly see this progression.
The CD's also come in a handsome presentation box with stickers and what Sufjan calls a 'Songbook, and other stuff'. The whole package is clearly a labour of love. Also included is the short story 'Christmas Tube Socks', where Sufjan describes how, after years of disillusionment, he finally rediscovered the magic of Christmas.
 Enjoy That Creepy Christmas Feeling! November 22, 2006
19 out of 21 found this review helpful
You'd think that having created 2005's instant classic Illinois Sufjan would be over-protective and angst ridden about his growing reputation. Instead, in 2006 we got 75 minutes of Illinois 'outtakes and extras', and now this, a collection of his informal Christmas songs he recorded as gifts for family and friends each December since 2001. Rather than compile and cherry pick from these he has presented them in their original form, giving us 5 short CDs with a running time of 2 hours. Additionally, the box has all the lyrics, complete with chords and tongue-in-cheek advice, stories, pictures and stickers making this a very festive package, at a price that is a gift in itself.
And so to the music - each CD features a range of traditional Christmas tunes, some more familiar than others, interspersed with Sufjan's quirky compositions. The usual collaborators and friends are found here. Matt Morgan (the guy providing the excellent duet on Illinois's Decatur) features prominently on Disk 1, and later come Vito Aiuto, Shara Worden, Denison Witmer et al. Highlights and lowpoints may well depend on the listener's own associations with these well-known songs, although some of these interpretations are a delight. The track that seems to epitomise this whole project is The Friendly Beasts - which is both rustic and sophisticated at the same time, and may bring a tear to your eye when Shara Worden sings her wispy lines.
Disk 5 (Peace) recorded in July 2006 stands apart because (unlike the others) it was recorded with this release in mind. Thus, it is more polished and much like a typical Sufjan CD, if there can be such a thing. Sister Winter is a top drawer Sufjan song, its portentous opening chords blossoming into something beautiful. Star of Wonder is a miniature symphony. Just when you think this track will fade out (Hey Jude-style) an altogether more creative and satisfying ending occurs. Just brilliant!
I'd much rather have the next state CD, but taken for what it is this boxed set is a delight. Merry Christmas Sufjan!
Sufjan's a madman November 4, 2006
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
First, let me say that this review is based soley on the music contained on these discs (which are now fully streamable from the Asthmatic Kitty web-site), and so does not take into account the ridicuous amount of stuff you get with it (videos, pictures, essays, and lots of other stuff).
Sufjan here takes another break from his 50 states project to tackle another, huge, concept - Christmas!
While at least the first 3 discs of this collection have been lurking around on the internet for quite a few years, there is still a lot of very good music. Mostly made up of short instrumentals and covers of Christmas hymns, there is the odd brilliant original song hidden away ("Come On! Let's Boogey To The Elf Dance!", "Get Behind Me, Santa!", "Did I Make You Cry On Christmas Day? (Well, You Deserved It!") which in themselves are almost worth the !6.99 pruce-tag.
There is a surprisingly dark feel to a lot of these sets of music, and a lot of bitterness hidden beneath the surface. But it's still recognisably Sufjan, even if the choirs and orchestras are often missing. The changes that Sufjan have gone through as both a singer and songwriter are on show here, as these discs span from way back in 2001, and were released one at a time for each year since (except 2004, for some reason). They were originally only made for Sufjan's close friends as a unique Christmas present, but he's finally decided to release them commercially.
There are many highlights, so I will stick to the best of Sufjan's original material's highlights - "Come On! Let's Boogey To The Elf Dance!", "Get Behind Me, Santa!", "That Was The Worst Christmas Ever!". I would suggest that you purchase these EPs, as it is very likely that you won't be disappointed.
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Hark! Since it's Christmas (well almost), let's be glad! November 2, 2006
15 out of 17 found this review helpful
As if there wasn't enough cheesy Christmas music already, Sufjan churns out another 5 EP's (which makes that now 12 records in 8 years) of Christmas covers and completely original Christmas-themed songs composed by Sufjan over the past 5 years. Not quite as serious/purposeful as his focal projects (Illinois, Michigan, Seven Swans), but he must love it. I do...
Being an avid fan of Sufjan Stevens (and I ♥ Christmas music), I couldn't ask for a more appropriate Christmas present off the back of buying `The Avalanche' for my birthday in July, and I have to refrain myself from foaming at the mouth from the amount of BREATHTAKING new material he manages to keep producing in such a short space of time (NB. these EP's are the result of mini recordings over various winter breaks in between his main records). Despite having heard the whole box set already from a sincerely generous stream on the website of Sufjan's label Asthmatic Kitty, one must surely look forward to the "suf-goodies" included in the box set: an essay by Rick Moody, a music video and a comic book by Tom Eaton, extensive liner notes and short stories by Sufjan Stevens, a "Christmas Songbook with lyric sheets and chord charts," stickers, and last but not least, the "Official Original Christmas Family Portrait of Santa Sufjan painted by Jacques Bredy!" It's going to be a good Christmas.
Onto the music, and as noted, the 5 EP's are made up of a mix of covers and original compositions. They show the progression of the Sufjan 'sound', and the technical/production quality of the songs (particularly in the last two EP's) delineate how he has become one of the great modern songwriters of our generation. The covers get a Sufjanized make-over in the style of the indie-folk genre, sometimes completely obscured from the original as we know them (but occasionally as we know them), with soft boyish vocals from Sufjan that reach into your soul when he stretches to falsetto, accompanied by kindred male/female voices and the occasional trademark banjo plucking. There are some instant classics (Star of Wonder), Epic anthems (Sister Winter), Sufjan-esque acoustic thought-evoking songs (That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!) and delightful little short instrumentals (Jingle Bells). The titles get wackier and more exclamation-ridden as they go along chronologically, to purvey Sufjan's tongue-in-cheek wit. My personal favourite is `Did I Make You Cry on Christmas Day? (Well, You Deserved It!)'. The cheesiness of `Get Behind Me, Santa' is furthermore appropriate in the spirit of the season as the box set emphasizes on the cover (one cannot help but begin "singing along" to the C.H.R.I.S.T.M.A.S. fanfare). Some holiday favourites get treated to more than one version such as classics `Once in Royal David's City' and `O Come O Come Emmanuel' (three versions of this one, but no "Adult Contemporary Easy Listening Version", alas). While most tracks are not exactly essential for playage all year round, `Put the Lights on the Tree', `Only at Christmas Time', and `Christmas in July' are nevertheless worthy ventures for any follower of Stevens' work.
Albeit the verity that Sufjan is going to be a very, very old man when he completes his ambitious "50 States" project, there is always time for quirky side projects. So when Sufjan was discussing which state to do next, in which his reply is "The State of Christmas", he wasn't to jest this time. With respect to the evidence that his best material is yet to come (listen to a recording of `Majesty, Snowbird' if you can), and already quite a novice at covering songs (Tim Buckley, The Beatles, John Fahey), it's a pleasure to hear any new material from the brilliance of Sufjan Stevens, and that he'll be remembered as King Midas Jnr, turning everything into gold, if not, again.
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