The Very Special Christmas Series (currently at 7 volumes), is an ongoing series of compilation albums that has raised over $100 million to benefit Special Olympics. So while not even half of this CD is outstanding, at least it was put together for a worthwhile cause. Each compilation consists of Christmas standards and originals by popular artists from a variety of genres. I had the first (superior) volume on cassette tape and now own volumes 2 & 3 on CD. I've lost interest in the series mainly because of the inconsistency of the quality of music. I love the cover art by the late Keith Haring, but I'm a fan of all his work.
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #7
Tracks: 19 tracks including 5 original tunes. Highlights include Luther Vandross singing The Christmas Song, Frank Sinatra and Cyndi Lauper duet on the swinging Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Jon Bon Jovi covering Please Come Home for Christmas, and Bonnie Raitt and Charles Brown duet on Merry Christmas Baby. There's also a nice jazz waltz arrangement of What Child Is This? by Vanessa Williams. I encourage skipping Paul Young butchering What Christmas Means To Me, Michael Bolton's version of White Christmas, and Ann & Nancy Wilson covering Blue Christmas. The only one of the 5 originals that is worth my time is Tom Petty's jangly-pop song, Christmas All Over Again.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: In 1992, I didn't own many Christmas CDs, so this disc was played a lot around that time.
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