Halford to release a new solo album.

The samples aren't working for me. I'll get it though, if anything for the novelty. I like Christmas music that is not the boring old traditional stuff so this is right up my alley. Plus anything involving Roy Z is golden IMO.

I like what I've heard so far, so while it's not a priority, I'll pick this up at some point. I like "non-traditional" takes on Christmas music. Beats hearing Gene Autry's Rudolf the Red-Nose Raindeer 50,000 times.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I like what I've heard so far, so while it's not a priority, I'll pick this up at some point. I like "non-traditional" takes on Christmas music. Beats hearing Gene Autry's Rudolf the Red-Nose Raindeer 50,000 times.

I wonder if there might be a metal version of that Christmas song with all the dogs barking???

exact33 wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I like what I've heard so far, so while it's not a priority, I'll pick this up at some point. I like "non-traditional" takes on Christmas music. Beats hearing Gene Autry's Rudolf the Red-Nose Raindeer 50,000 times.

I wonder if there might be a metal version of that Christmas song with all the dogs barking???

If there isn't, there should be. I'd buy that one too.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

exact33 wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I like what I've heard so far, so while it's not a priority, I'll pick this up at some point. I like "non-traditional" takes on Christmas music. Beats hearing Gene Autry's Rudolf the Red-Nose Raindeer 50,000 times.

I wonder if there might be a metal version of that Christmas song with all the dogs barking???

If there isn't, there should be. I'd buy that one too.

heh! Maybe we could do that for a song as a group on HoM. Those with talent could play the music and the less talented could bark

In case anyone's interested, you can download one song from Halford's WINTER SONGS ("Christmas For Everyone") for free from his official site:

http://www.robhalford.com/

I saw this in a store today. I looked at it I dont think I can get myself to buy it. I like christmas music but only the oldies.

Fat Freddy wrote:

In case anyone's interested, you can download one song from Halford's WINTER SONGS ("Christmas For Everyone") for free from his official site:

http://www.robhalford.com/

I just listened to the freebie track that I downloaded from Rob's site... and immediately wish I hadn't.

Um...wow, I don't know if the whole album sounds like this, but this track is just bad. REAL bad. Embarrassingly bad. I'm talking new Lita Ford album bad.

Seriously,
even though it IS free, don't bother downloading this song. Please. I'm
embarrassed for having listened to it.

"Christmas For Everyone" is not a good representation of the album. It is indeed the worst song of the bunch (one of only four original songs, with "Get Into the Spirit" being the best of those).

I bought this today, and seriously, I'm loving it. If you're a fan of Christmas songs/Christmas rock, you'll like this album.

I understand "Christmas For Everyone" scaring people off though, so you should check out more samples if you can find them online, especially the cover tunes and "Get Into the Spirit" (which is HEAVY METAL).

Now that I've heard it, I like it.

The renditions of the Christmas hymns ("O Come O Come Emmanuel", "What Child Is This?", "O Holy Night", etc) are actually pretty cool. "Get In The Spirit" is a bit strained, but sounds like HALFORD...

I'm surprised Kiss hasn't tried to capitalize on a Christmas album.........yet.

GrandNational wrote:

I'm surprised Kiss hasn't tried to capitalize on a Christmas album.........yet.

I can hear Gene now...

"Deck my yule log in your open fire!!"

Looked for it everywhere this weekend and couldn't find it.

I intend to buy this too. I'm a big Halford fan, but it's kind of funny. You know you're getting old when the artist you grew up with are releasing Christmas albums. It's like Rob Halford and Dee Snider are the Tony Bennett and Johnny Mathis of our generation.

[quote="Shawn Of Fire"]

GrandNational wrote:

I'm surprised Kiss hasn't tried to capitalize on a Christmas album.........yet.

Shhhh... Gene might hear you.

It appears there's a special edition Japenese version with a bonus track entitled:

White Beard, Red Hat

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

GrandNational wrote:

I'm surprised Kiss hasn't tried to capitalize on a Christmas album.........yet.

I can hear Gene now...

"Deck my yule log in your open fire!!"

Finally!! Got it in the mail and first spin is very impressive! Sure it is specific to a holiday but it still is hell bent on metal. Drop the worries and just enjoy Halford 3 for what it is.

DeathCult wrote:

It appears there's a special edition Japenese version with a bonus track entitled:

White Beard, Red Hat

How did I miss this joke? Good one!!

Anyway... one of my pals has WINTER SONGS and brought it up to my place this past weekend for me to check out. I'd say it was about 50% cool and 50% goofy. Halford's arrangements of the "traditional" olde timey hymns like "O Holy Night" and "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" worked a lot better than I expected. Those tracks are pretty good. However, the "original" tunes are a mixed bag. "Get into the Spirit" is a pretty decent rocker, but "Christmas For Everyone" is just flat-out awful, and "I Don't Care If It's Christmas Night" sounds like a bad attempt at one of those '60s pop (ala "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)") style holiday songs.

Unlike some other recent holiday rock releases, at least Rob didn't go over the top covering everything in glossy studio magic (like T.S.O. does) and he didn't try to go for the lowbrow humor aspect (like Twisted Sister did) either. It's a fairly classy sounding album. I will say that the production sounds a little thin to my ears, even the "heavier" songs (i.e. "Get Into The Spirit") are lacking the "crunch" that Halford's past solo albums had.

So WINTER SONGS may not be the greatest thing since sliced cheese, but not a complete bomb either. Whether or not you'll want to actually spend money on this CD (keeping in mind that it'll have zero replay value once the holiday season is over, so it will simply gather dust on your shelf till next December) depends on how much of a Halford fanboy you are, I guess.

I just purrchased it. It's very good. Rob's vocals are awesome as usual. Although i wish he did not go for a seasonal album as this will probably be put on the shelves for good once Christmas is over.

I wonder: did Rob become a Christian?

Gilbert wrote:

I wonder: did Rob become a Christian?

Now the question is, do we ever become a Christian, or are we always in the process of becoming one? Ok, philosophy aside, I listened to the samples at Amazon and it sounded decent to me. Made me wonder why that old-fart Ozzy never attempted to cash in on this.

Fat Freddy wrote:

manny wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Sounds a little weird but I'll check it out. Rob rarely disappoints.

This wouldn't be his first venture into Christmas music either. When he was in Fight they put out a holiday tune on a promo/fan club only CD single called "Christmas Ride"

Wow i didn't know that! Did this song ever get reissued ?

When he reissued all the Halford/Fight stuff on his own Metal God label a year or two ago I believe it was briefly available on his web site as a free download but I never checked it out.

Ask and ye shall receive!! Rob has added Fight's "Christmas Ride" to his web site as a free download for the "Black Friday Sale Weekend" -- it's only free thru Sunday the 29th. Check it out y'all

http://www.halfordmusic.com/content/static/index.html

Gilbert wrote:

I wonder: did Rob become a Christian?

Rob's always had a spiritual side to him. Back around the time Fight's first CD came out in the early 90s, he did one of those "What So-And-So Sez" interviews with Heaven's Metal magazine (the regular feature where they'd interview a "secular" artist about his religious views) and he went on about how he came from a religious family, had been brought up in the Church of England as a child, sung in church choirs when he was a kid, etc. I believe he even said flat out in the interview "I'm a Christian man."

And hey, now that I think about it, the original pressing of Fight's WAR OF WORDS had a hidden bonus track on it called "Jesus Saves."

Of course, that was a few years before he became open about his, ahem, "alternative lifestyle," so I don't know how reconciles that with his spiritual side nowadays but then that's a can of worms I don't really want to see (re)opened around here anyway. It's his biz and nobody else's.

Of course, that was a few years before he became open about his, ahem, "alternative lifestyle," so I don't know how reconciles that with his spiritual side nowadays but then that's a can of worms I don't really want to see (re)opened around here anyway. It's his biz and nobody else's.[/quote]

I know it's his own biz. I'm just being curious...

I've got the album...like it a lot.