Destiny's Child: Beyonce Knowles, Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams.
Additional personnel includes: Solange.
Producers include: Beyonce Knowles, Matthew Knowles, Rob Fusari, Alan Foyd, Erron Williams.
Engineers include: Marius Perron III, James Hoover, John Naslen.
Australian issue with one bonus track.
Doesn't it feel like Christmas? Well, it will after even a cursory listen to this seasonal offering from Destiny's Child, which mixes hardy favorites with newly minted holiday-oriented originals, all complete with the group's trademark luscious harmonies set to deft urban R&B orchestrations. The group kicks off with "8 Days of Christmas" (the other four presumably victims of some kind of Yuletide recession), with the traditional Christmas gifts replaced by diamond belly rings, back rubs, and "the keys to a CLK Mercedes."
Other highlights include "A DC Christmas Medley" which combines such beloved chestnuts as "Jingle Bells," "Deck the Halls," and "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" in a hip-hop Christmas wonderland melange. Beyonce Knowles's scintillating version of "Silent Night" featured here (though, oddly, it's exclusively credited to the singer) should melt the hearts of even the Grinchiest DC haters.
What the critics say...
Entertainment Weekly (11/30/01, p.89) - "...Silky originals...and a cornucopia of chestnuts, all vocally arranged to within an inch of their lives..." - Rating: B+
