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8 Days of Christmas

 
Album Review: 8 Days of Christmas

  • Artist: Destiny's Child
  • Rating: StarStarHalf Star
  • Release Date: October 23, 2001
  • Type: Christmas
  • Genre: Rhythm & Blues

Review

Destiny's Child's holiday album, 8 Days of Christmas, is pretty much what you'd expect -- divided equally between strained hip-hop-soul and smooth adult contemporary pop directly targeted at a crossover paradise. Since holiday albums have to have a hook, or at least one novelty to draw in an audience, there's the title track that recasts "12 Days of Christmas" as a modern, commercialistic, sub-hip-hop rant. Things get better than that, as the tailor-made "Winter Paradise" works much better, as does "A 'DC' Christmas Medley," which may be a little formulaic, but appealing. Then, there's a huge stretch that features the individual members of Destiny's Child singing a carol apiece (plus "Little Drummer Boy," which features Solange, who isn't in the group) -- good way of prepping for the inevitable solo careers, I suppose. Then, the album pretty much runs out with ballads and songs that emphasize some of the more irritating aspects of Destiny's Child (the skittering verses of "Spread a Little Love on Christmas Day," for instance, complete with its chorus of "I got your back on Christmas Day"), as well as their crossover attempts, including a version of "Opera of the Bells." So, yes, this is uneven, as much as any holiday album is uneven, and even if it lacks anything distinctive, it's still Destiny enough to please many hardcore fans. Ultimately, it doesn't really feel all that distinctive one way or another, which may be worse than being really bad or really great. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
8 Days of Christmas (Lyrics) Errol "Poppi" McCalla, Beyoncé Destiny's Child (3:31)
Winter Paradise (Lyrics) Rob Fusari, Beyoncé, Falonte Moore Destiny's Child (3:36)
A "DC" Christmas Medley: Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town/Jingle ... J. Marks, Traditional, S. Nelson Destiny's Child (3:59)
Silent Night (Lyrics) Joseph Mohr, Franz Xaver Gruber Destiny's Child, Beyoncé (3:41)
The Little Drummer Boy (Lyrics) Henry Onorati, Katherine Davis, Harry Simeone Destiny's Child, Solange Knowles (3:36)
Do You Hear What I Hear Destiny's Child, Kelly Rowland (3:47)
White Christmas (Lyrics) Irving Berlin Destiny's Child (1:42)
Platinum Bells J. Livingston, R. Evans Destiny's Child (1:26)
O Holy Night M. Williams Michelle Williams, Destiny's Child (4:24)
Spread a Little Love on Christmas Day (Lyrics) Beyoncé Destiny's Child (3:41)
This Christmas (Lyrics) Nadine McKinnor, Donny Hathaway Destiny's Child (3:38)
Opera of the Bells Beyoncé Destiny's Child (4:34)

Credits

Larry Strum (Engineer), Bill Meyers (String Conductor), Rob Fusari (Producer), Kurt Farquhar (Producer), Stephen Stepanic (Assistant Engineer), Robert Valdez (Assistant Engineer), Calvin Gaines (Producer), Huy Nguyen (A&R Assistance), Rick Wake (Producer), Francesco Romano (Guitar), Michael Morales (Guitar (Acoustic)), Errol "Poppi" McCalla (Producer), Tucker Allen (Engineer), Marius Perron III (Engineer), Dave Pensado (Mixing), Erin Williams (Producer), Beyoncé (Vocal Arrangement), Emily Lazar (Mastering), Kim Burse (A&R), Ramon Morales (Engineer), Beyoncé (Producer), Focus (Producer), James Hoover (Engineer), Tom Morris (Engineer), Alonzo Jackson (Producer), Tom Coyne (Mastering), Michelle Williams (Arranger), Sharay Reed (Guitar (Bass)), Huy Nguyen (Artist Coordination), Beyoncé (Vocals), Bill Lee (Producer), Brian Summer (Assistant), Kim Burse (Vocal Arrangement), Jennifer Patierno (Production Coordination), Kelly Rowland (Vocal Arrangement), Reggie Wells (Make-Up), Errol "Poppi" McCalla (Programming), Juan Ramirez (Assistant Engineer), Ivy Skoff (Production Coordination), Damon Elliott (Producer), Pablo Arraya (Engineer), Tony Maserati (Mixing), Bryon Rickerson (Engineer), Kim Burse (Arranger), Mathew Knowles (Producer), Antoine Verglas (Photography), Mathew Knowles (Executive Producer), David Swope (Engineer), Mark Russell (Production Coordination), Asif Ali (Engineer), Tina Knowles (Hair Stylist), Solange (Performer), David Guerrero (Mixing), Beyoncé (Arranger), Erin Williams (Arranger), Eric Greedy (Engineer), Kevin Turner (Guitar (Acoustic)), Wirlie Morris (Producer), Montonori Sasaki (Assistant Engineer), Bill Meyers (String Arrangements), Ian Cuttler (Art Direction), Tommy Vicari (Engineer), Flip Osman (Mixing), Falonte Moore (Producer), John Naslen (Engineer)
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Wikipedia: 8 Days of Christmas
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8 Days of Christmas
Studio album (holiday album) by Destiny's Child
Released October 30, 2001
(See release history)
Genre Holiday, R&B, pop, dance-pop
Length 41 min (original)
53 min (special edition)
Label Columbia
Producer Demon Elliott, Kurt Farguhar, Focus, Alan Foyd, Rob Fusari, Alonzo Jackson, Beyoncé Knowles, Errol McCalla Jr., Falante Moore, Willie Morris, Ric Wake, Erron Williams, Bama Boyz
Professional reviews
Destiny's Child chronology
Love: Destiny
(2001)
8 Days of Christmas
(2001)
This Is the Remix
(2002)
Singles from 8 Days of Christmas
  1. "8 Days of Christmas"
    Released: 2001
  2. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"
    Released: 2004

8 Days of Christmas is a Christmas album by R&B girl group Destiny's Child, released by Columbia Records in October 2001 in the United States (see 2001 in music). It debuted at number seventy-five on the U.S. Billboard 200 selling over 23,000 copies during its first week of release, and it eventually peaked at number thirty-four a few weeks later. It was certified gold by the RIAA in December 2001 for over 500,000 copies shipped in the United States.

In 2004, a re-issued version of the album was released, containing previously unreleased records.

Contents

Track listing

  1. "8 Days of Christmas" (Erroll McCalla Jr., Beyoncé Knowles) 3:31
  2. "Winter Paradise" (B. Knowles, Rob Fusari, Falante Moore, G. Michael) 3:36
  3. "A 'DC' Christmas Medley" (H. Gillespie, F. Coots, S. Nelson, J. Rollins, J. Marks, G. Autry, O. Halderman) 3:59
    1. "Jingle Bells"
    2. "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"
    3. "Frosty the Snowman"
    4. "Holly Jolly Christmas"
    5. "Deck the Halls"
    6. "Here Comes Santa Claus"
  4. "Silent Night" (by Beyoncé Knowles) 3:41
  5. "Little Drummer Boy" (featuring Solange Knowles) (K. Davis, H. Onorati, H. Simeone) 3:36
  6. "Do You Hear What I Hear?" (by Kelly Rowland) (N. Rigney, G. Shain) 3:47
  7. "White Christmas" (I. Berlin) 1:43
  8. "Platinum Bells" (R. Evans, J. Livingston 1:27
  9. "O Holy Night" (by Michelle Williams) (A. Adam) 4:25
  10. "Spread a Little Love on Christmas Day" (B. Edwards Jr., B. Knowles) 3:42
  11. "This Christmas" (N. McKinnor, D. Hathaway) 3:38
  12. "Opera of the Bells" (M. Dythrovych) 4:35
Reissue bonus tracks
  1. "Home For The Holidays" (B. Knowles, S. Knowles, Bama Boyz) 3:10
  2. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" 2:31
  3. "Proud Family" (Solange featuring Destiny's Child) 2:17
  4. "Emotion" (with strings) 4:22
DualDisc Edition

Release history

Region Date Format
United States October 23, 2001 (2001-10-23) Compact disc
Poland November 5, 2001 (2001-11-05) Compact disc
United States October 18, 2005 (2005-10-18) DualDisc

Charts

Chart (2001) Provider Peak
position
Certification
Australian ARIA Albums Chart ARIA 64[1]
Austrian Albums Chart[2] Media Control 20
Dutch Albums Chart[2] MegaCharts 24
French Albums Chart[2] SNEP/IFOP 134
U.S. Billboard 200[2] Billboard 34 Gold

References


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "8 Days of Christmas" Read more

 

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