2. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas……Troy Casser-Daley
3. I Wish Christmas Day Would Last All Year……Vanessa Amorosi
4. O Holy Night……Stan Walker
5. Send Me Back My Dad……Katy Steele
6. Grown Up Christmas List……The Veronicas
7. Merry Christmas Baby……Diesel
8. Last Christmas……Tina Arena
9. Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful)……Mark Vincent
10. Little Drummer Boy……Delta Goodrem
11. Street Parade……Chris Cheney
12. We Three Kings……Gabriella Cilmi
13. White Wine In The Sun……Kate Miller-Heidke
14. All I Want For Christmas Is You……Haley Warner
SONG SAMPLES AT iTUNES (AUSTRALIA) 15. Christmas Time Is Here……Paul Dempsey
MYER STORES
Australian Christmas music might represent the best of all possible worlds when it comes to International holiday sounds--being half a world away and yet sharing a common language.
"The Spirit of Christmas" CDs are a charity venture put out each year by the Salvation Army and sold exclusively through Myer stores, with proceeds going to support at-risk children in Australia. The series began in 1993 and they haven't missed a year. They routinely feature a line-up of the biggest stars on the Australian music scene, across all genres, though many of the names might be unfamiliar to we here in the states. Among regular contributors to the series are Glenn Shorrock (Little River Band), John Farnham (Australia's Cliff Richard), Delta Goodrem (star of the Australian soap Neighbors), Judith Durham (The Seekers), and Jimmy Barnes (Cold Chisel, Diesel, INXS). Yes, Olivia Newton-John has been featured as well, as have Kate Ceberano and Kylie Minogue.
This year's volume gives us The Veronicas, Chris Cheney (The Living End), Katy Steele (Little Birdy), and a great Blues/Rock rendition of "Merry Christmas Baby" by Diesel.
This year, for the first time, "The Spirit Of Christmas" is also being sold through iTunes (AU), which still doesn't help any of us American mates. The hard copy CDs should show up at Myer stores in mid-November--about the time of the annual Myer Christmas parade. But the likelihood is that those in this country looking to purchase this one will have to wait until it turns up on eBay.