These Are Sepcial Times Legacy Edition

[Dustin]

Forgive me if this has been posted already, but here is the official Press Release from Columbia/Legacy.

 

CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS WITH CELINE DION

 

THESE ARE SPECIAL TIMES: COLLECTOR’S EDITION UNITES 1998 HOLIDAY CD WITH PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED CBS-TV SPECIAL ON DVD

 

CELINE DION DUETS WITH ANDREA BOCELLI AND R. KELLY (ON CD), AND WITH BOCELLI AND ROSIE O’DONNELL (ON DVD)

 

A yuletide musical feast: “O Holy Night,” “Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful),” “Brahms' Lullaby,” “Ave Maria,” “Blue Christmas,” “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire),” “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” “Feliz Navidad,” and more on CD; “Power Of Love,” “Because You Loved Me,” “Let’s Talk About Love,” “My Heart Will Go On,” “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” “Do You Hear What I Hear?” (with Rosie), and more on DVD

 

Two-disc package arrives in stores October 2, 2007, on Columbia/CMV®/Legacy

 

A singer’s first Christmas recording is always a landmark, but for Celine Dion, who had already released two holiday albums in French earlier in her career, her first English language Christmas project, These Are Special Times, was a true milestone. The release of the album on Epic/550 Music in early November 1998 (featuring guests R. Kelly and Andrea Bocelli) climaxed the most successful year that the Canadian megastar had experienced to that moment. It was solidified during Thanksgiving week, when the television special of the same name (with guest appear¬ances by Bocelli and Rosie O’Donnell) was broadcast in the U.S. on the CBS network.

The album quickly rose to #2 on the Billboard 200 chart that season, and #1 on the Christmas chart – where it was re-listed for six consecutive years inside the Top 10, attaining 5-times RIAA platinum sales in the U.S. alone. The television special, though it earned two Emmy Award nominations, has remained in the archives commercially unreleased – until now.

THESE ARE SPECIAL TIMES: COLLECTOR’S EDITION is the package that Celine Dion’s fans worldwide have been awaiting for nearly a decade. The two programs – a remastered version of the original CD coupled with a previously unreleased 45-minute DVD of the CBS-TV special – have now been brought together for the first time. This deluxe two-disc package will arrive in stores October 2nd on Columbia/CMV®/Legacy, a division of SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAIN¬MENT.

The original CD of THESE ARE SPECIAL TIMES covers the full range of Christmas fare, starting with the traditional “O Holy Night” and “Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful),” and three from the pens of classical composers Johannes Brahms (“Brahms' Lullaby,” “Les Cloches du Hameau”) and Franz Schubert (“Ave Maria”). From the Great American Songbook come “Blue Christmas” (with Diana Krall on piano, associated with Elvis Presley), and Mel Tormé’s “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)”; while Classic Rock is represented by John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” and José Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad.”

On the contemporary side, fellow Canadian Bryan Adams wrote “Another Year Has Gone By,” Dee Snider of Twisted Sister wrote “The Magic Of Christmas Day (God Bless Us Everyone),” Diane Warren wrote “These Are the Special Times,” and “Don't Save It All for Christmas Day” was co-written by Celine Dion and Ric Wake. Finally, there are the album’s two duets: “I'm Your Angel” with R. Kelly, and “The Prayer” with Andrea Bocelli (originally from the Quest for Camelot soundtrack).

With the exception of “O Holy Night” and the duet with Bocelli on “The Prayer,” there is virtually no song duplication from the CD to the DVD. Dion sings four of her biggest signature numbers: “Power Of Love,” “Because You Loved Me,” “Let’s Talk About Love,” and “My Heart Will Go On,” and delivers her unique interpretation of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” (associated with Roberta Flack). “Do You Hear What I Hear?” is a duet with Rosie O’Donnell (that points the way to their reprise of “The Magic Of Christmas Day (God Bless Us Everyone)” one year later on the benefit album A Rosie Christmas). And Bocelli brings the evening to a righteous close with his rendering of “Ave Maria.”

For Céline Marie Claudette Dion Angélil, who turned 30 years old in 1998 (on March 30th), the year was a juggernaut of accomplishment that would ultimately bring her the fourth and fifth Grammy Awards of her career.

In fact, a half-decade of success paved the way to that point in time, starting back in November 1993, with her breakthrough album The Colour of My Love, her third Epic album (and first on the newly-created 550 Music imprint), and overall fifth album. Propelled by “When I Fall in Love” (popularized in the movie Sleepless In Seattle, Dion’s cover of the 1952 Doris Day standard) and the #1 “The Power of Love” (a mid-chart hit on Epic in 1985, by Jennifer Rush), the album climbed to #4 and spent almost three years (149 weeks) on the chart, on its way to 6-times platinum.

“When I Fall in Love” generated a Grammy Award to David Foster and Jeremy Lubbock for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s). Colour’s string of hit singles in the U.S. and around the world – which also included “Misled,” “Think Twice,” “Only One Road,” and “Next Plane Out” – kept the singer on tour for nearly three years, which time encompassed her high-profile marriage in 1994 to long-time manager René Angélil. (Two Sony Music long-form home videos chronicled the touring: The Colour of My Love Concert, filmed September 1993 at Le Théàtre Capitole in Quebec City, released October 1995; and Live à Paris, recorded October 1995 at the Zenith Theatre in Paris, released October 1996.)

The momentum carried over to the next album, Falling Into You (March 1996). Once again propelled by multiple smash hit singles - the #1 Grammy Award-winning “Because You Loved Me” (written by Diane Warren, theme of the Robert Redford movie, Up Close & Personal), Jim Steinman’s “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” (which hit #2, originally intended for a Meat Loaf album), and a cover of Eric Carmen’s “All By Myself” (#4) – the album eventually reached #1 for three weeks.

 

Falling Into You spent more than two years on the chart (113 weeks) on its way to 11-times platinum lifetime sales. It also reaped Grammy Awards as Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, one of only four times in Grammy history that quiniela has occurred. Underscoring the album’s success was the “Falling Into You” world tour of 1996-97, which played 144 shows in 17 countries. The tour was chronicled on the Sony Music long-form home video Live in Memphis, filmed March 1997 at the Mid-South Coliseum, later broadcast on television, and commercially released in November 1998.

At the end of 1997, the stage was set for one of pop music history’s memorable phenomena. The new Celine Dion album, Let’s Talk About Love, was released on November 18th, an all-star celebration with guest appearances by Barbra Streisand (on the first single, “Tell Him”), the Bee Gees, Luciano Pavarotti, Carole King, Bryan Adams, and others; plus an A-list of producers, among them Sir George Martin, James Horner, Jim Steinman, Walter Afanasieff, David Foster, and more.

On the same day, Sony Classical released the soundtrack album in advance of a new Paramount film, Titanic, set to open the week before Christmas. Both albums included Celine Dion’s next single, “My Heart Will Go On,” sub-titled “Love Theme From Titanic,” released February 1998.

A symbiotic relationship developed between the single, the two albums, and the movie, an avalanche of positive mainstream acceptance that seemed to last forever. The song hit #1 on the AC chart (for 10 weeks), #1 on the Airplay chart (10 weeks), and #1 on the Hot 100. Let’s Talk About Love charted for 84 weeks, rose to #1 and was most recently certified 10-times platinum. The soundtrack album spent 71 weeks on the chart, 16 of them at #1, and hit 11-times platinum, making it the #6 overall album of the decade. The movie, of course, is ranked the #1 box office success in history, at over $1.8 billion gross to date. In addition to sweeping the annual Billboard Music Awards, the American Music Awards, Canada’s JUNO Awards, and numerous other ceremonies around the globe, Dion triumphed as “My Heart Will Go On” won the table for Best Song at the Academy Awards, Best Original Song at the Golden Globes, and Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.

After sharing the stage in April 1998, with Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan, Aretha Franklin, Carole King, and Shania Twain at the first VH1 Divas Live Concert, Dion formally opened her own “Let's Talk About Love Tour” in August 1998. The 16-month outing only played 95 shows, because of many cancellations that took place due to her husband’s illness (he was diagnosed with throat cancer). As news of his condition became known, the poignancy of Dion’s upcoming Christmas show was overwhelming.

THESE ARE SPECIAL TIMES marked a turning point in Celine Dion’s career. When the “Let's Talk About Love Tour” ended, she announced a hiatus from the scene to concentrate on René’s care and plans to start a family. During the years that followed, compilations of her work were released on 550 Music in 1999 (All the Way... A Decade of Song) and 2000 (The Collector's Series Volume One). Their son René-Charles was born in January 2001, and 15 months later Celine Dion was back on Epic and back at #1 with a new album, the aptly-titled A New Day Has Come.

The album became the lynchpin for “A New Day...” at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, a multimedia extravaganza that began in March 2003, was virtually sold-out for most of its three years and 600-shows, and was extended to run through the end of 2007. In the interim, she released new albums in March 2003 (One Heart), June 2004 (the live A New Day... Live in Las Vegas), and October 2004 (Miracle); followed by new Canadian/European Francophone albums in October 2005 (the Québecois French compilation On Ne Change Pas) and May 2007 (D'Elles).

 

 

THESE ARE SPECIAL TIMES: COLLECTOR’S EDITION by CELINE DION (Columbia/CMV®/Legacy 88697 15575 2) Disc One (CD) – Selections: 1. O Holy Night • 2. Don’t Save It All For Christmas Day • 3. Blue Christmas • 4. Another Year Has Gone By • 5. The Magic Of Christmas Day (God Bless Us Everyone) • 6. Ave Maria • 7. Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful) • 8. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) • 9. The Prayer (Duet with Andrea Bocelli) • 10. Brahm’s Lullaby • 11. Christmas Eve • 12. These Are The Special Times • 13. Happy Xmas (War Is Over) • 14. I’m Your Angel (Duet with R. Kelly) • 15. Feliz Navidad • 16. Les Cloches Du Hameau. (Album originally issued November 3, 1998, as Epic/550 Music 69523.)

Disc Two (previously unreleased DVD) – Selections: 1. Power Of Love • 2. Do You Hear What I Hear? (Duet with Rosie O’Donnell) • 3. O Holy Night • 4. Because You Loved Me • 5. Let’s Talk About Love • 6. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face • 7. My Heart Will Go On • 8. The Prayer (Duet with Andrea Bocelli) • 9. Ave Maria (Performed by Andrea Bocelli). (Originally aired on CBS-TV November 25, 1998.)

[Koolan]

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