Susan Boyle's Second CD: The Gift - Listen for Free

Susan Boyle's second CD, The Gift, was released on November 8th. Although performers ususally wait until later in their careers to release a Christmas album, Susan Boyle has released about half a Christmas album. Thanks to Youtube videos, you can preview the songs of The Gift to determine whether you want to purchase the CD.

Trivia Questions about the Songs of The Gift

Answers are at the end of the article.
A -Which song on the CD was written in 1962, in response to the Cuban Missle Crisis?
B - Which of these songs did A. O. Scott, New York Times film critic, call for a moratorium on?

Listen to The Gift

In her first CD, I Dreamed a Dream, Susan Boyle sang show tunes, hymns, a Christmas carol, blues and soul, country, and rock (even a song by the Monkees). The Gift, with its dominant holiday theme, does not show as much variety. Instead of the strong musical theater voice which we first heard from her, throughout this album, her voice sounds smaller, somehow tighter. Not all of these recordings are from the CD itself.

"Perfect Day" by Lou Reed Lou Reed - Listen.
"Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen - Listen.
"Do You Hear What I Hear?" by Noël Regney, Gloria Shayne Baker - Listen.
"Don't Dream It's Over" by Neil Finn - Listen.
"The First Noel" Christmas carol - Listen.
"O Holy Night" Christmas carol - Listen.
"Away in a Manger" Christmas carol - Listen.
"Make Me a Channel of Your Peace" Hymn - Listen.
"Auld Lang Syne" by Robert Burns - Listen.
"O Come All Ye Faithful" Christmas carol - Listen.

Check my article "Susan Boyle's First CD: I Dreamed a Dream - Listen for Free," which has links for listening to all the songs in her first album (here).

Trivia Answers

A -There is one song on this CD that was written in 1962, in response to the Cuban Missle Crisis. Which one is it? "Do You Hear What I Hear?" (source)
B - Which of these songs did A. O. Scott, New York Times film critic, call for a moratorium on?
"Hallelujah" (source)

More on Susan Boyle and The Gift

You can read an article about this album, "Susan Boyle's Second Album, The Gift is Now Available" (here), by Julia Bodeeb (index page). I have two other articles about Susan Boyle: "Susan Boyle Wows Britain's Got Talent" (here) and "Susan Boyle and the Craigslist Killer" (here).