by Bradley Torreano
Christmas From the Heart takes several Christmas favorites and blends them with songs taken from the musical of the same name. This is truly a bizarre and disappointing album, combining Rogers' bland adult contemporary versions of traditional Christmas songs with obnoxious numbers sung by children. The message is good: it teaches children about charity and the real meaning of Christmas and such. It is just the presentation that ruins it, as children will probably be bored with the bland adult songs and adults will probably find the songs from the musical painful to listen to. And the musical numbers are sung in a needlessly overblown fashion, making the songs sound condescending and shrill. The songs are not the problem -- the music is just presented in a terrible way. This is not recommended for any age.