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Title: The Phantom Does Christmas
Review: This is NOT a Christmas album, per se, so much as a Phantom of the Opera/ Michael Crawford album. While I like the Phantom album and another Crawford album I own, this one is so full of Crawford's thoroughly affected whispered words and "soaring" vocals that it completely overwhelms the songs he is performing. On "Candlelight Carol", for example, the best part is when Crawford stops and lets the choir sing. Only then can I fully pay attention to and enjoy the tune. "O Holy Night" sounds like it was arranged by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Frank Wildhorn together: what ought to be a beautiful, pristine melody sounds like a Broadway finale with layers of instruments, synthesizers, chorus, and full-blast Michael Crawford. It's just too overblown. Crawford should have kept the Phantom locked in the dungeon.
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