A Christmas Album

Once upon a time I worked at a book/music store. During the Holiday Season we would play every genre of Christmas CD for the listening pleasure of our customers. I think I have probably heard them all, and I noticed that some collections were nice, some nostalgic and some ANNOYING. Many didn't even give a Christmas-y feeling or vibe at all! I sure wish that James Taylor's Christmas Album would have been available then. What a wonderful CD: the first time you hear it, I guarantee it will put you in a lovely Christmas mood. For this reason I am rather glad he didn't include his heartfelt version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (from "October Road") or his cover of Joni Mitchell's "River" (intended for this CD) because the overall feeling is festive. Those songs are too melancholy for this collection; as JT wrote in the album notes, this CD is intended to be played while "trimming the tree and quaffing eggnog..."