I've enjoyed all the Winter Solstice collections except the "Winter Solstice on Ice" - now, that's atrocious! No. III is one of my favorites because of the vocals. The version of "In the Bleak Midwinter" is one of the most purely spiritual carols I've ever heard. In fact I'm buying my second copy of this CD today because my first has disappeared.

I Purchased the Winter Solstice Vol #3 thinking that it would be as good as the rest,was I disappointed. Tracks 5,6,7,10,11.13 are atrocious,the rest of the tracks are good.I cant get to my CD player fast enough to skip over them when they start playing.I now sample every song on the CDs and dont take for granted that all Winter Solstices are created equal.People,please start giving honest reviews and stop the false advertisement.

The most beautiful and subtle feelings about Christmas lie in this album. A great combination of artist with a lot of coherence between each one's inspirations create this saga which is a masterpiece in itself. Every Christmas time I hear my tape with this and the 2nd part... it's completely magical and gets you into the real feeling and the innocence and magic of Christmas. I'll briefly comment each song:




1. Little Drummer Boy - beautiful version
2. Hopeful - Michael Manring - big hearted piano
3. Christmas Song - Steve Erquiaga - nice and peaceful guitar
4. Veni Emmanuel - Turtle Island String Quartet - wonderful chamber music
5. Christmas Bells - John Gorka - a folkie song
6. Lullay, Lully - Barbara Higbie - stunning ballad; magic
7. Trepak - The Modern Mandolin Quartet - funny song
8. Of the Father's Love Begotten - Tim Story - very religious
9. Coventry Carol - Paul McCandless - ooh... perfect harmony
10. Sleepers, Awake - Andy Narell - nice steel drums
11. Snow Is Lightly Falling - Nightnoise - absolute magic
12. Pavane - Liz Story - just nice
13. In the Bleak Midwiner - Pierce Pettis -- beautiful voice

The last two songs I don't have in my tape. This is one of the most beautiful and heartful albums I've ever heard. I never will forget it.

What I like about this CD, as opposed to the others in this series, is the inclusion of nontraditional vocals, rather than just instrumental versions of songs and carols. "Lullay Lully" is perhaps the most beautiful lullaby carol I've ever heard, and Barbara Higbie is WONDERFUL on it - so haunting! "In the Bleak Midwinter" and "Christmas Bells" are simply gorgeous - very simple.

Maybe I'm just a folkie at heart, and love that aspect of this CD, but this one rates as my second favorite Xmas CD, right below "John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together."

This is another of those CDs that's tough to rate. Most of the music on it is beautiful. Unfortunately, it's beautiful BACKGROUND music. If you'd like a bit of Christmas music to play so as not to override what you're doing, this is the album. Of the 15 tracks on the CD, I've rated one as Very Good, one as Good, 11 as OK, and two, unfortunately, as Bad (I use Media Player's five star rating system where two stars (not three stars) rates as OK). My specific track ratings are:

1. Little Drummer Boy -- 2 Stars
2. Hopeful - Michael Manring -- 2 Stars
3. Christmas Song - Steve Erquiaga -- 3 Stars
4. Veni Emmanuel - Turtle Island String Quartet -- 2 Stars
5. Christmas Bells - John Gorka -- 2 Stars
6. Lullay, Lully - Barbara Higbie -- 2 Stars
7. Trepak [The Nutcracker Suite] - The Modern Mandolin Quartet -- 4 Stars
8. Of the Father's Love Begotten - Tim Story -- 2 Stars
9. Coventry Carol - Paul McCandless -- 2 Stars
10. Sleepers, Awake [Cantata #140 Wachet Auf] - Andy Narell -- 2 Stars
11. Snow Is Lightly Falling - Nightnoise -- 2 Stars
12. Pavane [The Capriol Suites] - Liz Story -- 2 Stars
13. In the Bleak Midwiner - Pierce Pettis -- 1 Star
14. In Dulci Jubilo (Good Christian Men Rejoice) - Michael Hedges -- 1 Star
15. Earth Abides - Philip Aaberg -- 2 Stars