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A Legendary Christmas
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A Legendary Christmas Image
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
2.1

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 7 Ratings

  • Summary: The holiday album from the R&B singer was produced by Raphael Saadiq feature guest appearances from Esperanza Spalding and Stevie Wonder.
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. Exclaim
    Nov 28, 2018
    80
    Overall though, it's a solid effort in a genre that's hard to nail. Worth repeating all season!
  2. AllMusic
    Nov 28, 2018
    80
    The LP is joyously nostalgic, decked with strings, horns, and a trio of background vocalists including secret weapon Sy Smith.
  3. The New York Times
    Dec 6, 2018
    80
    Moments of surprise pepper John Legend’s austere first holiday album, A Legendary Christmas. There are the savvy song choices, including rarities like Marvin Gaye’s pulpy “Purple Snowflakes.”
  4. Los Angeles Times
    Nov 28, 2018
    75
    The R&B-pop singer-songwriter finds a way to bring urban music sensibility even to something as quintessentially foursquare as “Silver Bells.”
  5. Variety
    Dec 21, 2018
    72
    Over the course of 14 upbeat and brassy odes to home and hearth, the relentlessly eager-to-please Legendary Christmas starts to feel almost oppressively cheerful. Major props, anyway, for the most unusual pick here: Marvin Gaye’s rarely covered “Purple Snowflakes.”
  6. Clash Music
    Nov 28, 2018
    70
    The fact that I’m listening to this album on a gloriously balmy afternoon and am getting in the festive mood is testament to Legend’s conviction and the arrangements. However after 14 tracks, it does start to lose its way a bit.
  7. The Guardian
    Dec 14, 2018
    60
    A Legendary Christmas’s sophistication is both its big selling point and its major drawback. The arrangements are beautifully done and sepia-toned. ... You start longing for a moment where it loosens its tie, when Legend lays into the sherry and really lets rip.

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 3
  3. Negative: 2 out of 3
  1. tipar
    Dec 23, 2018
    6
    There is not a lot of Christmas albums I want to keep on my collection; most of them are albums I do not like that much but are made byThere is not a lot of Christmas albums I want to keep on my collection; most of them are albums I do not like that much but are made by artists I like—Chris Isaak or Aimee Mann—but this one it is pretty decent. If you liked "Merry Christmas" by Mariah Carey—one of the best of Christmas—that alternated one fast and slow song this is yours. The sound is pretty classic and I am saying this without knowing his work, only "No Ordinary People". So, as I said an album to keep if you like soul/r&b and Christmas. I think is a grower.… Expand
  2. shababs
    Dec 25, 2018
    0
    This album is pure garbage.. this yet just another take on classic Christmas song done by a mainstream dude. the result is awful as always.This album is pure garbage.. this yet just another take on classic Christmas song done by a mainstream dude. the result is awful as always.

    except this is worse a lot of the vocals are so overdone that it completely ruins the songs. i dont know what the critics have been taken by voting it this high. its worse than the originals by a lot.    … Expand
  4. pooops
    May 2, 2023
    0
    haven't listened to it but I hate Christmas music and i also am not a fan of john legend

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