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Our Review

Nice! Pat Coil's Peaceful Christmas is exactly what you might expect, if your expectations are high. This is easy-listening instrumental piano music for the holidays; it establishes a calm context for your harried holiday activities. Combining light jazz elements with a new age feel, everything flows smoothly here.

Coil is the piano master, and he also created all of the arrangements. He adds some electronic synth through keyboard magic here and there (my personal preference is more "real" piano and less synth). I loved his interpretation of O Come Emanuel, which richly embodies diverse moods presented through changing tempos, rhythms, and colors, alternating between delicate and regal. O Holy Night is another contemplative gem, and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and I'll Be Home for Christmas exude cool and melancholy--yet upbeat--vibes. And My Favorite Things is the perfect album closer.

Peaceful Christmas is the antidote to holiday stress. No angst here; listeners can let go of pesky, migraine-generating matters.

Now that I'm feeling refreshed, I think I'll run out and complete my holiday shopping. Just kidding! Pat Coil's Peaceful Christmas is just the album to recharge your batteries for the long Halloween-to-New-Year's-Day marathon. Enjoy!

--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2008)

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From the liner notes:

Embrace the peace and promise of the season with soothing piano instrumentals

Produced by Pat Coil & Tod Ellsworth
Exevcutive Producer: Tod Ellsworth
Recorded by Blair Masters at Blair Masters Studio
All arrangements by Pat Coil

Pat Coil: Piano and Keyboards

Mastered by Doug Wayne for Matermind

From the Website:

Green Hill: Easy listening for easy living

Pat Coil

Peaceful Christmas

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Track List