These Are Special Times

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These Are Special Times
These Are Special Times cover
Studio album by Céline Dion
Released October 30, 1998 (1998-10-30)
Recorded 1998
Genre Pop
Length 68:27
Label Columbia, Epic
Producer Bryan Adams, David Foster, Humberto Gatica, R. Kelly, Tony Renis, Carole Bayer Sager, Ric Wake
Professional reviews
Céline Dion chronology
S'il suffisait d'aimer
(1998)		 These Are Special Times
(1998)		 Au cœur du stade
(1999)
Alternate cover
Ihre Schönsten Weihnachtslieder.
Ihre Schönsten Weihnachtslieder.
Singles from These Are Special Times
  1. "I'm Your Angel"
    Released: November 9, 1998
  2. "The Prayer"
    Released: March 1, 1999
  3. "Don't Save It All for Christmas Day"
    Released: December 4, 2000

These Are Special Times is a Christmas album by Canadian singer Céline Dion, released on October 30, 1998. It's her 1st English-language Christmas album, 6th English album and 25th in total. It was re-released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in September 2007, under the title Ihre Schönsten Weihnachtslieder, including the same tracklist as the original version, but a different cover picture. These Are Special Times was also re-released worldwide between October and December 2007 as a collector's edition. This 2-disc digipak containes the original CD and previously unreleased DVD of Dion's 1998 CBS TV special.

Contents

[edit] Album information

On These Are Special Times Dion balances popular carols ("The Christmas Song," "Blue Christmas," "Feliz Navidad") with new songs ("Don't Save It All for Christmas Day," the R. Kelly duet "I'm Your Angel"), hymns ("Ave Maria," "Adeste Fideles"), and Christmas songs with a distinct religious theme ("O Holy Night," the Andrea Bocelli duet "The Prayer"). Dion is joined by her family on "Feliz Navidad" and "Les cloches du hameau." The album was produced mostly by singer's longtime partners: David Foster and Ric Wake. One of the songs, called "Don't Save It All for Christmas Day" was co-written by Céline Dion.

These Are Special Times was recorded with help of few other artists, including Diana Krall (piano on "Blue Christmas") and Bryan Adams (guitars, bass and backing vocals on "Another Year Has Gone By").

Two songs from These Are Special Times were previously available: "The Christmas Song" (recorded in 1993 for The Christmas Album by David Foster) and "Brahms' Lullaby" (recorded in 1996 for the compilation For Our Children Too to benefit Pediatric AIDS Foundation). French version of "The Christmas Song" appeared on Dion's first two Christmas albums: Céline Dion chante Noël (1981) and Chants et contes de Noël (1983).

On November 25, 1998, one-hour CBS TV special, dedicated to Céline Dion's Christmas album, was broadcasted all across the United States. Dion performed songs from These Are Special Times, as well as few other tracks, including duet with Rosie O'Donnell on "Do You Hear What I Hear?." One year later, O'Donnell added her vocals to Dion's song "The Magic of Christmas Day (God Bless Us Everyone)," and included this duet version on her A Rosie Christmas album.

Céline Dion was nominated for two Grammy Awards in Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals category for "I'm Your Angel" (1999) and "The Prayer" (2000). The last one was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song from the Quest for Camelot movie in 1999. Dion performed it with Andrea Bocelli at the Grammys and Oscars.

The title song was covered in 2000 by Christina Aguilera for her album My Kind of Christmas.

Over the years, Céline Dion recorded few other Christmas songs, not included on These Are Special Times. In December 1994, A Very Merry Chipmunk by The Chipmunks was released, containing "Petit Papa Noël" with Céline Dion on lead vocal. The latter recorded her own version of this song back in 1981 on Céline Dion chante Noël.

In December 1999, "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" was used as the lead track to the Target TV special called "And So This Is Christmas." The special featured an instrumental track of the song accompanied by a choir to the introduction to the show and also featured Dion's new Christmas recording "I Met an Angel (On Christmas Day)." The final track of the show used Dion's version of "Happy Xmas" accompanied by Charlotte Church and Gloria Estefan. "I Met an Angel (On Christmas Day)" was included as a B-side to the "That's the Way It Is" single, and appeared on various Christams compilations in the following years.

[edit] Chart success

These Are Special Times is one of the best selling Christmas albums in history, with 11.5 million copies sold worldwide. According to Billboard magazine dated October 31, 2007, These Are Special Times is the second best-selling Christmas album of the Soundscan era. Kenny G took the first place with his Miracles: The Holiday Album. Dion's album was certified 5x platinum in the U.S. for selling 5 million copies. In Canada, These Are Special Times sold 1 million copies and was certified diamond.

These Are Special Times went to number 1 in Canada (for two weeks), Switzerland (four weeks) and Norway (four weeks), and reached top 10 all over the world. Although number 2 on the Billboard 200, These Are Special Times reached number 1 for nine consecutive weeks on the Billboard Top Holiday Albums. The next year it went also to number 1 for seven consecutive weeks on the Top Pop Catalog Albums.

[edit] Track listing

  1. "O Holy Night" (Traditional) – 5:21
  2. "Don't Save It All for Christmas Day" (Peter Zizzo, Ric Wake, Céline Dion) – 4:37
  3. "Blue Christmas" (Jay Johnson, Bill Hayes) – 3:48
  4. "Another Year Has Gone By" (Bryan Adams, Eliot Kennedy) – 3:24
  5. "The Magic of Christmas Day (God Bless Us Everyone)" (Dee Snider) – 4:17
  6. "Ave Maria" (Franz Schubert) – 4:55
  7. "Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful)" (Traditional) – 4:43
  8. "The Christmas Song" (Mel Tormé, Robert Wells) – 4:13
  9. "The Prayer" (with Andrea Bocelli) (David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager, Alberto Testa, Tony Renis) – 4:29
  10. "Brahms' Lullaby" (Johannes Brahms) – 3:32
  11. "Christmas Eve" (Maria Christensen, Curt Frasca) – 4:16
  12. "These Are the Special Times" (Diane Warren) – 4:08
  13. "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" (John Lennon, Yoko Ono) – 4:14
  14. "I'm Your Angel" (with R. Kelly) (R. Kelly) – 5:31
  15. "Feliz Navidad" (Jose Feliciano) – 3:40
  16. "Les cloches du hameau" (Brahms) – 3:10
  17. "My Heart Will Go On" (no lead vox) (James Horner, Will Jennings) – 4:40 (Japanese bonus track)

2007 collector's edition bonus DVD

  1. "The Power of Love" (Candy DeRouge, Gunther Mende, Mary Susan Applegate, Jennifer Rush)
  2. "Do You Hear What I Hear?" (with Rosie O'Donnell) (Noel Regney, Gloria Shayne Baker)
  3. "O Holy Night" (Traditional)
  4. "Because You Loved Me" (Warren)
  5. "Let's Talk About Love" (Adams, Jean-Jacques Goldman, Kennedy)
  6. "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (Ewan MacColl)
  7. "My Heart Will Go On" (Horner, Jennings)
  8. "The Prayer" (with Andrea Bocelli) (Foster, Bayer Sager, Testa, Renis)
  9. "Ave Maria" (performed by Andrea Bocelli) (Schubert)
  10. End credits (featuring "Feliz Navidad" and "These Are the Special Times")

[edit] Chart performance

Chart Peak
position		 Certification Sales/shipments
Australian Albums Chart[1] 6 2x platinum 140,000[2]
Austrian Albums Chart[3] 2 Platinum 50,000[4]
Belgian Flanders Albums Chart[5] 16 Platinum 50,000[6]
Belgian Wallonie Albums Chart[7] 12
Canadian Albums Chart[8] 1 Diamond 1,000,000[9]
Danish Albums Chart[10] 6
Dutch Albums Chart[11] 3 Gold 50,000[12]
European Albums Chart[13] 3 Platinum 1,000,000[14]
Finnish Albums Chart[15] 4 Gold 30,000[16]
French Albums Chart[17] 23 60,000[18]
German Albums Chart[19] 3 Gold 250,000[20]
Hungarian Albums Chart[21] 14
Italian Albums Chart[22] 7 Platinum1 250,000[23]
Japanese Albums Chart[24] 4 2x platinum 510,000[25]
New Zealand Albums Chart[26] 4 2x platinum 30,000[27]
Norwegian Albums Chart[28] 1 2x platinum 100,000[29]
Portuguese Albums Chart[30] Gold 20,000[31]
Swedish Albums Chart[32] 3 Platinum 80,000[33]
Swiss Albums Chart[34] 1 2x platinum 100,000[35]
UK Albums Chart[36] 20 Gold 200,000[37]
U.S. Billboard 200[38] 2 5x platinum 5,000,000[39]
U.S. Billboard Top Holiday Albums[40] 1

1 should be certified 2x platinum (200,000)

[edit] Awards

Year Award show Award
1999 Golden Globe Awards Best Original Song – "The Prayer"
1999 Japan Gold Disc Awards International Pop Album of the Year – These Are Special Times

[edit] Release history

Region Date Label Format Catalog
Europe October 30, 1998 Columbia CD 4927302
Japan October 31, 1998 Epic CD ESCA 7390
North America November 3, 1998 Epic CD 69523
Australia November 6, 1998 Epic CD 4926512
Europe September 28, 2007 Columbia CD 82876860572
North America October 2, 2007 Epic CD/DVD 88697155752
Europe November 2, 2007 Columbia CD/DVD 88697155752
Japan November 21, 2007 Epic CD/DVD 88697155752
Australia December 8, 2007 Epic CD/DVD 88697155752

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Australian Albums Chart
  2. ^ ARIA
  3. ^ Austrian Albums Chart
  4. ^ IFPI Austria
  5. ^ Flandres Albums Chart
  6. ^ IFPI Belgium
  7. ^ Wallonie Albums Chart
  8. ^ Canadian Albums Chart
  9. ^ CRIA
  10. ^ Danish Albums Chart
  11. ^ Dutch Albums Chart
  12. ^ NVPI
  13. ^ European Albums Chart
  14. ^ IFPI
  15. ^ Finnish Albums Chart
  16. ^ IFPI Finland
  17. ^ French Albums Chart
  18. ^ SNEP
  19. ^ German Albums Chart
  20. ^ IFPI Germany
  21. ^ Hungarian Albums Chart
  22. ^ Italian Albums Chart
  23. ^ FIMI
  24. ^ Japanese Albums Chart
  25. ^ RIAJ
  26. ^ New Zealand Albums Chart
  27. ^ RIANZ
  28. ^ Norwegian Albums Chart
  29. ^ IFPI Norway
  30. ^ Portuguese Albums Chart
  31. ^ AFP
  32. ^ Swedish Albums Chart
  33. ^ IFPI Sweden
  34. ^ Swiss Albums Chart
  35. ^ IFPI Switzerland
  36. ^ UK Albums Chart
  37. ^ BPI
  38. ^ Billboard 200
  39. ^ RIAA
  40. ^ Top Holiday Albums
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Céline Dion