Snowflakes is hardly a traditional Christmas record.
Of its nine proper songs (the two final songs are instrumental and remix variations of two cuts that came before), there are only two standards -- "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "The Christmas Song" -- unless you want to count Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas Time Is Here," familiar through Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown.
The rest has been co-written by Braxton and a variety of collaborators, then polished by her, Keri Lewis, and Antonio "L.A." Reid.
Not surprisingly, the end result is something that's very similar to a proper Toni Braxton record, only with an appropriately hushed tone and the sultriness replacing the overt sexiness.
Some of the originals are pretty good -- particularly the two opening cuts, "Holiday Celebrate" and the Shaggy duet "Christmas in Jamaica" (it's always a good idea to front-load holiday records) -- and the rest that don't make much of an impact are nevertheless pleasant and add to the mood.
And that pretty much summarizes the record -- it's not remarkable, but it's nice, providing a nice, romantic soundtrack for an evening of cuddling in front of the tree and a roaring fire.
Which is all that you could ask for, really.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Holiday CelebrateTamar Braxton, Toni Braxton, Keri Lewis | Toni Braxton | Play | 03:59 | 9 MB | 30 MB |
| 2 | Christmas in JamaicaToni Braxton, Keri Lewis, Craig Love, Donnie Scantz | Toni Braxton, Shaggy | Play | 04:22 | 10 MB | 34 MB |
| 3 | Snowflakes of LoveToni Braxton, Isaac Hayes, Keri Lewis | Toni Braxton | Play | 04:24 | 10 MB | 28 MB |
| 4 | Christmas Time Is HereVince Guaraldi, Lee Mendelson | Toni Braxton | Play | 04:11 | 9 MB | 26 MB |
| 5 | Santa Please...Toni Braxton, Keri Lewis | Toni Braxton | Play | 04:32 | 10 MB | 33 MB |
| 6 | ...Pretty Please (Interlude) | Toni Braxton | Play | 01:00 | 2 MB | 5 MB |
| 7 | Have Yourself a Merry Little ChristmasRalph Blane, Hugh Martin | Toni Braxton | Play | 04:34 | 10 MB | 31 MB |
| 8 | This Time Next YearBabyface, Toni Braxton, David Foster | Toni Braxton | Play | 04:22 | 10 MB | 29 MB |
| 9 | The Christmas SongMel Tormé, Robert Wells | Toni Braxton | Play | 03:23 | 7 MB | 20 MB |
| 10 | Snowflakes of LoveToni Braxton, Isaac Hayes, Keri Lewis | Toni Braxton | Play | 04:24 | 10 MB | 28 MB |
| 11 | Christmas in JamaicaToni Braxton, Keri Lewis, Craig Love, Donnie Scantz | Toni Braxton, Shaggy | Play | 04:22 | 10 MB | 34 MB |
| 43 mins | 99 MB | |||||
| 43 mins | 302 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ashley Alexander | Assistant Engineer, Engineer |
| 2 | Babyface | Composer, Guest Artist, Producer, Vocals (Background) |
| 3 | Brenton Banks | Violin |
| 4 | Ray Bardani | Mixing |
| 5 | Robert Berg | Viola |
| 6 | Sally Berman | Violin |
| 7 | Ralph Blane | Composer |
| 8 | Tamar Braxton | Composer, Vocals (Background) |
| 9 | Toni Braxton | Arranger, Composer, Executive Producer, Primary Artist, Producer, Vocal Arrangement, Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 10 | Becky Bunnell | Violin |
| 11 | Carlo Dalla Chiesa | Photography |
| 12 | Fran Cooper | Make-Up |
| 13 | Kevin KD Davis | Mixing |
| 14 | Marie Davis | Hair Stylist |
| 15 | Thomas Diener | Viola |
| 16 | Peter Donald | Drums |
| 17 | Assa Drori | Concert Master, Engineer, Violin |
| 18 | Gordon Dukes | Engineer, Vocal Engineer |
| 19 | Nathan East | Bass |
| 20 | Arni Egilsson | Contrabass, Double Bass |
| 21 | Jerry Epstein | Viola |
| 22 | Henry Ferber | Violin |
| 23 | Farrah Fima | Assistant Engineer |
| 24 | Brent Fischer | Conductor, Percussion, String Arrangements |
| 25 | Clare Fischer | Orchestration, String Arrangements |
| 26 | David Foster | Composer |
| 27 | Jim Fox | Guitar |
| 28 | Steve Genewick | Assistant Engineer |
| 29 | Brad Gilderman | Engineer |
| 30 | Darren Godwin | Assistant Engineer, Engineer |
| 31 | Jason Goldstein | Mixing |
| 32 | Lynn Grants | Viola |
| 33 | Henry Gronnier | Violin |
| 34 | Vince Guaraldi | Composer |
| 35 | Brandon Harris | Assistant Engineer |
| 36 | Isaac Hayes | Composer |
| 37 | Oscar Hidalgo | Contrabass, Double Bass |
| 38 | Allen D. Hong | Assistant, Project Coordinator |
| 39 | Jim Hughart | Bass |
| 40 | Kayo | Bass |
| 41 | Thom "TK" Kidd | Engineer |
| 42 | Igor Kiskatchi | Violin |
| 43 | Armen Ksadjikian | Cello |
| 44 | Sonny Lallerstedt | Guitar, Guitar (Classical) |
| 45 | Mario de León | Violin |
| 46 | Keri Lewis | Composer, Executive Producer, Instrumentation, Mixing, Producer |
| 47 | Craig Love | Composer, Guitar, Producer |
| 48 | Jeremy Lubbock | Conductor, String Arrangements, String Conductor |
| 49 | Larry Mah | Engineer, String Engineer |
| 50 | Hugh Martin | Composer |
| 51 | McArthur | Drums, Producer |
| 52 | Scott Meeder | Drum Overdubs, Drums |
| 53 | Lee Mendelson | Composer |
| 54 | Heather Michell | Vocals (Background) |
| 55 | Chanté Moore | Guest Artist, Vocals (Background) |
| 56 | Jorge Moraga | Viola |
| 57 | Irma Neumann | Violin |
| 58 | Dave Palmer | Engineer, Mixing |
| 59 | Don Palmer | Violin |
| 60 | Kazi Pitelka | Viola |
| 61 | Poke & Tone | Producer, Remixing |
| 62 | Randy Poole | Assistant Engineer, Engineer |
| 63 | Herb Powers | Mastering |
| 64 | Precision | Producer |
| 65 | Tom Rainer | Celeste, Piano |
| 66 | Tom Ranier | Celeste, Piano |
| 67 | L.A. Reid | Drums, Executive Producer, Producer |
| 68 | Dave Reitzas | String Engineer |
| 69 | Anatoly Rosinsky | Violin |
| 70 | Robert Sanov | Violin |
| 71 | Donnie Scantz | Composer, Instrumentation, Producer, Vocal Engineer |
| 72 | Al Schmitt | Mixing |
| 73 | L'Wren Scott | Stylist |
| 74 | Don Sebesky | Arranger, Conductor |
| 75 | Jason Shablik | Assistant Engineer, Engineer |
| 76 | Shaggy | Guest Artist, Primary Artist, Producer, Vocals |
| 77 | Daryl Simmons | Arranger, Keyboards, Percussion, Producer |
| 78 | Rob Skipworth | Assistant Engineer |
| 79 | Ivy Skoff | Production Coordination |
| 80 | Dan Smith | Cello |
| 81 | Daniel Smith | Cello |
| 82 | Neal Starkey | Bass |
| 83 | Robbes Stieglitz | Assistant Engineer |
| 84 | Jean Sudbury | Violin |
| 85 | Lisa M. Sutton | Violin |
| 86 | Craig "Niteman" Taylor | Assistant Engineer |
| 87 | Vance Taylor | Piano |
| 88 | Michael Thompson | Guest Artist, Guitar (Electric) |
| 89 | Mel Tormé | Composer |
| 90 | Cecilia Tsan | Cello |
| 91 | Courtney Walter | Art Direction, Design |
| 92 | Robert Wells | Composer |
| 93 | Tony Williams | Drum Programming |
| 94 | Elizabeth Wilson | Violin |
| 95 | Shari Zippert | Violin |
| 96 | Jim "Z" Zumpano | Engineer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |