VA - A Very Special Acoustic Christmas (2003)

Every year since 1987, there's been A Very Special Christmas record of one sort or another, the proceeds of which go to the Special Olympics. This year's A Very Special Acoustic Christmas is as great as any previous year's efforts, even though it's deliciously unplugged. Country music superstars like Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, and Wynonna are balanced by such legendary country and bluegrass figures as Earl Scruggs, Ralph Stanley, Ricky Skaggs, and Willie Nelson (doing a version of Charles Brown's "Please Come Home for Christmas" that's almost as haunting as Brown's). Throw in the father of newgrass Sam Bush's sparkling "Let it Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!," Tift Merritt's sensual "I'll Be Home for Christmas," and a handful of other luminaries and you get a 16-tune acoustic set long on value that ends with multi-Grammy-winner Norah Jones singing "Peace."

Review by Martin Keller, Amazon.com Product Description

This is the sixth in the series of special Christmas albums dedicated to raising money for the Special Olympics, but this one is very different from previous albums that generally featured pop and rock music. This album, as its title suggests, features acoustic country and bluegrass music. As far as I know, all the recordings are new although some of the artists have recorded their chosen songs previously. Many of the songs here will be familiar to you but the simple acoustic settings featured here allow the singers to bring out the true meaning of each song

The set opens with Reba singing a great version of Silent night. Reba previously recorded this for her first Christmas album, Merry Christmas to you, in the eighties. On that occasion, she did a spoken introduction explaining how the song came to be written but she did not repeat that on this new recording.

Dan Tyminski does a sparkling version of Frosty the snowman, on which a couple of children (James and Julia Knobloch) sing backup on the word Stop. Willie Nelson proves that he still has what it takes with a fine rendition of Please come home for Christmas. Alan Jackson is brilliant on the rarely recorded Just put a ribbon in your hair, an excellent Christmas love song. Alison Kraus deviates a little from the acoustic concept on her own song, Only you can bring me cheer, although it is a brilliant recording.

Marty Stuart is next on Even Santa Claus gets the blues, which is a great song that he wrote himself. Earl Scruggs contributes an instrumental version of Jingle bells. Ralph Stanley sings Christmas is near, a song he wrote and first recorded as one of the Stanley brothers. Patty Loveless is a classy singer who is in her element on this type of album as she proves with one of the finest renditions of O come all ye faithful that I've ever heard.

Wynonna began her career singing acoustic country as one half of the Judds and shows that she can still do that type of music with an excellent version of O holy night. Pat Green, a singer new to me, sings Winter wonderland. Sam Bush provides the second and last instrumental on this album with his version of Let it snow. Ricky Skaggs reminds us that he can still record quality music on Away in a manger. Rhonda Vincent treats us to Christmas time at home, a great bluegrass song that she wrote herself. Tift Merritt does an excellent and very distinctive version of I'll be home for Christmas. Pop-jazz singer Norah Jones sings and plays piano on the final track, Peace, without any other accompaniment.

This is an outstanding collection that will give all fans of acoustic music a lot of pleasure as well as benefiting a worthy charity.

Review by Peter Durward Harris, Amazon.com

EAC extraction logfile from 2. December 2007, 15:00 for CD
Various / A Very Special Acoustic Christmas

Used drive : LITEON DVD-ROM LTD163 Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure with NO C2, accurate stream, disable cache
Read offset correction : 594
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No

Used output format : C:\Program Files\FLAC\flac.exe (User Defined Encoder)
320 kBit/s
Additional command line options : -V -6 -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s

Other options :
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Installed external ASPI interface


Track 1
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\Shawn\My Documents\Oink\Flac\A Very Special Christmas\01-Reba McEntire-Silent Night.wav

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Track 2
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\Shawn\My Documents\Oink\Flac\A Very Special Christmas\02-Dan Tyminski-Frosty The Snowman.wav

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Track 3
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\Shawn\My Documents\Oink\Flac\A Very Special Christmas\03-Willie Nelson-Please Come Home for Christmas.wav

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Track 4
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\Shawn\My Documents\Oink\Flac\A Very Special Christmas\04-Alan Jackson-Just Put A Ribbon In Your Hair.wav

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Track 5
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\Shawn\My Documents\Oink\Flac\A Very Special Christmas\05-Alison Krauss-Only You Can Bring Me Cheer (Gentleman's Lady).wav

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Track 6
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\Shawn\My Documents\Oink\Flac\A Very Special Christmas\06-Marty Stuart-Even Santa Claus Gets The Blues.wav

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Track 7
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\Shawn\My Documents\Oink\Flac\A Very Special Christmas\07-Earl Scruggs-Jingle Bells.wav

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Track 8
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\Shawn\My Documents\Oink\Flac\A Very Special Christmas\08-Ralph Stanley-Christmas Is Near.wav

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Track 9
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\Shawn\My Documents\Oink\Flac\A Very Special Christmas\09-Patty Loveless-O Come All Ye Faithful.wav

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Track 10
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\Shawn\My Documents\Oink\Flac\A Very Special Christmas\10-Wynonna Judd-O Holy Night.wav

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Track 11
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\Shawn\My Documents\Oink\Flac\A Very Special Christmas\11-Pat Green-Winter Wonderland.wav

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Track 12
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\Shawn\My Documents\Oink\Flac\A Very Special Christmas\12-Sam Bush-Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!.wav

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Track 13
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\Shawn\My Documents\Oink\Flac\A Very Special Christmas\13-Ricky Skaggs-Away In A Manger.wav

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Track 14
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\Shawn\My Documents\Oink\Flac\A Very Special Christmas\14-Rhonda Vincent-Christmas Time at Home.wav

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Track 15
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\Shawn\My Documents\Oink\Flac\A Very Special Christmas\15-Tift Merritt-I'll Be Home For Christmas.wav

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Track 16
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\Shawn\My Documents\Oink\Flac\A Very Special Christmas\16-Norah Jones-Peace.wav

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No errors occured


End of status report

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2014-12-24 18:26:47

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Alan Jackson / A Very Special Acoustic Christmas (1)
Alison Krauss / A Very Special Acoustic Christmas (2)
Dan Tyminski / A Very Special Acoustic Christmas (3)
Earl Scruggs / A Very Special Acoustic Christmas (4)
Marty Stuart / A Very Special Acoustic Christmas (5)
Norah Jones / A Very Special Acoustic Christmas (6)
Pat Green / A Very Special Acoustic Christmas (7)
Patty Loveless / A Very Special Acoustic Christmas (8)
Ralph Stanley / A Very Special Acoustic Christmas (9)
Reba McEntire / A Very Special Acoustic Christmas (10)
Rhonda Vincent / A Very Special Acoustic Christmas (11)
Ricky Skaggs / A Very Special Acoustic Christmas (12)
Sam Bush / A Very Special Acoustic Christmas (13)
Tift Merritt / A Very Special Acoustic Christmas (14)
Willie Nelson / A Very Special Acoustic Christmas (15)
Wynonna Judd / A Very Special Acoustic Christmas (16)
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR7 -0.03 dB -9.33 dB 3:27 04-Just Put A Ribbon In Your Hair
DR7 -0.03 dB -9.40 dB 3:36 05-Only You Can Bring Me Cheer (Gentleman's Lady)
DR6 -0.03 dB -7.76 dB 2:20 02-Frosty The Snowman
DR9 -0.03 dB -10.91 dB 2:45 07-Jingle Bells
DR9 -0.03 dB -10.90 dB 3:31 06-Even Santa Claus Gets The Blues
DR12 -0.03 dB -15.16 dB 3:50 16-Peace
DR9 -0.03 dB -11.02 dB 2:36 11-Winter Wonderland
DR6 -0.03 dB -7.74 dB 2:34 09-O Come All Ye Faithful
DR7 -0.03 dB -8.53 dB 2:25 08-Christmas Is Near
DR6 -0.03 dB -8.86 dB 3:36 01-Silent Night
DR7 -0.03 dB -8.84 dB 2:46 14-Christmas Time at Home
DR7 -0.03 dB -8.46 dB 3:03 13-Away In A Manger
DR7 -0.03 dB -9.32 dB 4:10 12-Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
DR9 -0.03 dB -11.32 dB 3:08 15-I'll Be Home For Christmas
DR9 -0.03 dB -10.26 dB 3:19 03-Please Come Home for Christmas
DR8 -0.03 dB -9.84 dB 4:36 10-O Holy Night
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 16
Official DR value: DR8

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 914 kbps
Codec: FLAC
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