O Holy Night Off: Round 1 - Celine Dion vs. Neil Diamond

Round 1 P1 Celine Dion vs. P8 Neil Diamond

This is a very interesting first round. I have to admit first, that I am a big Neil Diamond fan and, quite frankly, not a big Celine Dion fan. However, this is not a competition about them in particular, but rather their covers of O Holy Night. Dion's cover is one of the most popular Christmas downloads on iTunes and Amazon, and it is on one of the most popular Christmas albums of all time, "These are Special Times." The rendition is powerful, clean and her voice fits with the song in general. She shows good vocal range, and her high note is solid. She changes in the second chorus to "Noel", the original French version, which I like, it seems to bring transcendence to the song. I can hear and understand why this would be a popular version.
Neil Diamond's version starts out with an interesting minor motif that is interesting, but is quickly abandoned once the song begins. Diamond's voice is a jarring juxtaposition with the song that is hard to overcome, and overall, the song sounds like Neil singing to a karaoke tape. Love Neil Diamond, but not this version. What do you think? Let me know if this is a slam dunk as I see it, or if you can argue for the huge upset.