The Bottom Line: Dolly and Kenny bring an upbeat fun feeling to this CD and to the Christmas Season. It's a great disc to listen to while wrapping gifts
popsrocks's Full Review: Once Upon a Christmas by Kenny Rogers/Dolly Parton
First I have to say that I believe that Dolly Parton has one of the most "joyful" voices of all recording artists I listen to. She has a cheerful upbeat way about her that brings on good feelings. Kenny has always been a pleasure to listen to. No airs, just a simple guy who likes his music and delivers in a comforting way.
I Believe in Santa Claus is a bright upbeat song that jumps right into the spirit of Christmas. It's my favorite. Though this seems to be an adulation of Santa the words speak more of keeping a positive spirit in life. To forgive, to believe in hope when all is lost, believe wishes can come true and that miracles are real are some of the sentiments of the song. Dolly and Kenny also sing of belief in each other, in family, and in country. The song also states, "I believe in turnin' negatives to positives in life".
Both singers have a couple of solos
Kenny
I believe in saying what you mean and meaning what you say
I believe a better attitude can make a better way
And I believe in viewing life as a journey that we're on
And lookin' at our troubles as another stepping stone
Dolly
I believe that everything in life is what it's meant to be
I believe that their is God somewhere although He's hard to see.
I believe I am, so therefore I should do all that I can, to be a better piece in the puzzle of thy plan.
The song closes with a big ending as a choir of kids sing the words, "I believe in Santa Claus" over and over while Kenny and Dolly have fun with the words and tune. It becomes a kind of sing along. It's a terrific opener for getting into the holiday spirit through both the words and the fun filled delivery of the song. This is my favorite on the CD.
Walking in a Winter Wonderland and Sleigh Bells
Dolly takes this one, no these two, and give them both a cutesy manner that is once again joyful. The arrangement is perfect in blending the two songs together and Dolly makes the move from one to the other and back effortlessly. It's a fun one for sure.
Christmas Without You has Dolly and Kenny lamenting what the holiday is without that special person they love and they just can't get use to it. The closing lines say
Christmas without you
White Christmas and I'm blue
I love you I miss you I need you
So sad but so true
Like a mystery with no clues
Like fireworks with no fuse
Christmas without you
Hey, what's a country CD without a touch of the blues.
The Christmas Song
Kenny opens with "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..." in a soft tone accompanied by a few quiet notes resonating from a key board. This is done in a slower fashion than usual for this Christmas classic. It hardly builds at all keeping an almost melancholy feel for the song.
Christmas To Remember has both Dolly and Kenny singing out together with fire. Two strangers meet and leave the season closer than they though they might. The images in this one are exciting to any romantic. This song is "smokin".
You've made this a Christmas to remember
Springtime feelin's in the middle of December
Strangers meet and they willingly surrender
Oh! what a Christmas to remember
With Bells On brings up that cheerful feel like the opener. This one is a knee slappin' arrangement with some interaction with a fiddle. The song continues with the two repeating, "I'll be home with bells on until it fades into the distance."
Kenny takes on Silent Night and as with the Christmas Song he puts reverence into the words and melody. Not much more to say except it's easy to listen to.
Kenny starts The Greatest Gift of All with the same slow beat of the last song. Dolly comes in to pick up from Kenny and it continues with a chorus backing them up. It becomes a full sound with strings filling the air upon the closing.
Miss Parton sings White Christmas. She does it in extremely slow tempo. Though I love her and the song, I just didn't feel any personal input. This is the only song that I wish would have been differently arranged.
Once Upon A Christmas
This is the only other spiritual song on the CD besides "Silent Night". It's a favorite of mine that isn't really mainstream. It tells the simple story of the first Christmas with Mary and Joseph finding a stable and completing with the birth of the infant Jesus.
This is a beautifully sung story that ends the CD perfectly for me.
I do like the arrangement of the songs in this CD. They flow well from one to the next and changed the tempo well. The arrangement also tended to showcase each of the singers and at times meld them perfectly as one.
This is one of the CDs we like to listen often during the holidays. I Believe In Santa Claus is my favorite on this CD
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