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Sweet Bells | 
| Artist: Kate Rusby
Label: Pure Records
Category: Music
List Price: £14.99
Buy New: £8.98
You Save: £6.01 (40%)
New (9) from £8.98
Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 98
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 4.9 x 0.4
EAN: 5060066680108
ASIN: B001KX63LG
Release Date: December 15, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | Here We Come A Wassailing | | • | Sweet Bells | | • | Poor Old Horse | | • | Hark The Herald | | • | Holly And The Ivy | | • | Hark Hark | | • | Candlemas Eve | | • | Hail Chime On | | • | Serving Girls Holiday | | • | Awake Arise | | • | Miners Dream |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Carol singing and Yorkshire would seem to go hand in hand. Who better to record an album of Christmas carols then, than South Yorkshire’s own Kate Rusby? Regarded as one of the UK’s best folk singers thanks to breathtaking albums like Hourglass, Sleepless and the recent Awkward Annie, Sweet Bells gives us Rusby’s own repertoire of Christmas favourites. She mostly keeps things pared down to voice, guitar and accordion (played by frequent collaborator Andy Cutting), as well as the odd splash of brass from the Grimethorpe Colliery Band. Festive favourites mingle with lesser-known songs like “Poor Old Horse”, “Serving Girl's Holiday” and “A Miner's Dream of Home,” as well as reworked classics like her reflective version of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” and interesting – and, some might say, irreverent - treatments of “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks” and "The Holly and the Ivy". A mix of joyous celebration and melancholy moods, Sweet Bells makes for an all-round Christmas treat. --Danny McKenna
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 If it's not broken, don't fix it! January 3, 2009
The reviews I've read so far seem to range from those for whom Kate can do no wrong to those bitterly disappointed by this latest collection. I hope to be as balanced as possible.
I now travel to Sheffield each year to enjoy the South Yorkshire tradition of pub carol singing and the one thing that strikes me is that most of the tunes are real belters. Kate, wisely, has chosen many of the real belters, but why on earth has she felt the need to tinker with the tunes? One reviewer described this as "making them her own", but they're not hers to make her own and I think the tinkering has, in the main, weakened fantastic tunes. "If it's not broken, don't fix it" springs to mind.
Kate has a lovely voice and much of this album makes for pleasant listening. However, these carols should be belted out "fortissimo" and her voice falls short of the power needed to achieve this on a number of tracks, most noticeably on "Awake, Arise".
I do agree with the reviewers who have mentioned the similar sound of much of Kate's recent work, but, to be fair, that is the sound that most people buy her albums for.
In conclusion, this is a nice album to listen to but whether it has won Kate any new fans amongst the hard core of South Yorkshire's carollers is doubtful. She may have even lost a few!
 disappointment January 1, 2009
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Dismal stuff: is the Christmas album the sign of someone who's lost her way artistically?
Kate does Christmas - beautifully December 31, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a lovely collection of songs. The potent combination of Kate's melancholy yet uplifting voice, gorgeous melodies and sympathetic arrangements (Kate and brass band - a match made in heaven) results in an experience that stays with you long after you have finished listening. It gets better with each play, and is a worthy addition to Kate's catalogue of beautiful, rich, resonant work.
Not one of Kate's best December 31, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I was very disappointed on hearing this and remained so with repeated plays.
As someone commented previously, the tunes are weak and even the marvellous melodies of "Hark the Herald" and "The Holly and the Ivy", have been replaced by Kate's own melodies. All the tracks sound similar and are just
monotonous. For anyone new to Kate Rusby, don't buy this, buy Little Lights instead which has the brilliant "Let the cold wind blow".
 Christmas Ho-hum December 26, 2008
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
Ho ho ho - hum. Kate Rusby has a great voice, but even that doesn't make up for a bunch of weak tunes, no matter how good the supporting cast(and you don't get much better than Andy Cutting).There is nothing on this album that even remotely compares to her earlier efforts, such as Hourglass, with the possible exception of Track 9 Serving Girl's Holiday. I stopped buying Kate's albums after Underneath the Stars, as the songs all started to sound the same, but I thought this might be different.Unfortunately I was wrong.
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