Written by Mykola Leontovych

 

“Carol Of The Bells” was the opening track and a highlight of David Foster’s now-classic 1993 The Christmas Album. The track’s powerful and inventive arrangement made it a seasonal favorite, often played for events during the festivities. Foster’s version of this classic composition was already a Song of the Week on this page years ago. The review can be resurrected in the archives.

For this holiday season, Foster re-worked “Carol Of The Bells” for the new, complete version of Christmas Songs. The 2022 successful cd was released with his wife, Katharine McPhee. This new version doubles the fun with seven new tracks paired to the seven of last year’s version. As previously mentioned, “Carol Of The Bells” was one of the new offerings. Foster sonically updated the arrangement thanks to some tasteful programming. He added gorgeous vocal harmonies courtesy of his talented wife, Katharine, and a glorious choir. With Foster’s clever touches, the song sounds fresh and modern without losing the impact and strength of his original version.

The Hitman kindly sent a few words about this new version of “Carol Of The Bells”:

“Tom Whalley, my old friend and former head of Warner Bros. Records, always loved my arrangement of “Carol Of The Bells.” He was  at Interscope Records when I first did it on my Christmas album in the nineties. All these years later, Kath and I released our new album on Tom’s independent label, Loma Vista Recordings. He suggested that re-record the song and putting some vocals on it. I got my genius friend, Boh Cooper, to do the programming and incredibly he was able to duplicate the original 90s sound. Then, our friend Tim Davis did the vocal arrangement. I really enjoyed their help and incredible input because I was too close to it! People seem to love it and it certainly makes them think of Christmas!”

Happy Holidays!!

• Vocals: Katharine McPhee
• Piano & Keyboards: David Foster
• Programming: Boh Cooper

• Vocals Arranged by Tim David
• Produced & Arranged by David Foster

Lyrics

No Lyrics