2. Silver Bells
3. Angels We Have Heard On High
4. Christmas Song
5. O Come All Ye Faithful
6. Christmas Alphabet
7. Last Christmas
8. All I Want For Christmas
9. Christmas Shoes
10. Amazing Grace
11. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
12. What A Wonderful World
13. Nakaraang Pasko
14. Christmas Time
15. The Gift of Christmas (with Liza Chan-Parpan)
ARTIST'S SITE
PURCHASE THROUGH KABAYAN
It doesn't ever snow there, but Christmas and Christmas music are a very big deal in The Philippines. They tend to treat any Christmas release there as though the Beatles had just reunited. So you can imagine the reaction when someone they view as an actual star announces a Christmas album.
Christian Bautista came to prominence in the small Asian country in 2003 as a contestant on Star In A Million, an American Idol-like talent/reality show. Christian lost but, just as in this country, the winners aren't always the real winners. Bautista has pursued both acting and singing careers since then. As a singer, he's staked out a role as "Asia's Romantic Balladeer", which reached something of a pinnacle with the success of last year's "Romance Revisited".
The track list on "A Wonderful Christmas" continues in that vein, with mostly traditional carols and standards, the obligatory nod to Wham's "Last Christmas" and Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas", the self-penned "Christmas Time", plus a duet with the daughter of Asian musical icon Jose Mari Chan (the songs on "Romance Revisited" had originally been made popular by Chan). The album is lush at times and just straight up Idol-pop at others. It's sure to be a huge hit. Still, I can't help but feel that covering "Christmas Shoes" was a mistake. Just sayin'.
This is actually Christian's second Christmas album, more or less. A few years back, Christian's previous label had released a special holiday edition of his live album, including a second CD with 5 Christmas songs (a la Carrie Underwood). You can find that one at Kabayan or through some of Amazon's private vendors.