O Come All Ye Faithful
Artist: Various artists
| Format: Audio CD
| Format: Audio CD
Released September 28 2010
Label: BEC Recordings
Christmas albums come, Christmas albums go, Christmas albums come back again and again and although some would prefer they didn’t come so early, they are always a welcome sight in my eyes. Not to be outdone by the compilation by their sister label Tooth and Nail, BEC Recordings attempts its own collection of Christmas tunes from their biggest and up and coming artists.
Jeremy Camp gets the honor of taking on the title track to start off the compilation with his typical straightforward worship/rock version of “O Come All Ye Faithful”. Bebo Norman steps up next with the first of his two songs, as “Joy To The World” brings about a folksy charm to the cover. Chris Tomlin invites a choir of angels, or, maybe just a regular church choir and absolutely nails his rendition of “O, Holy Night”, a song that almost always gets a thumbs up from this guy. My other favorite “night song” follows naturally, with Amy Grant putting up “Silent Night”, featuring a scenic intro and her seasoned contemporary vocals. Last year I recall saying that Kutless doing worship songs by far outmatched their rock albums, but their Christmas songs might even be better, as “This Christmas” shows more vocal and musical range than I ever remember hearing from them anywhere else. ”Downhere” busts out the title track from their Christmas EP with a whimsical number, followed by The Museum’s pounding “What Child Is This”. Jadon Lavik then decides to change things up a bit with his acoustic guitar and a soulful voice on “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”. Shane and Shane take that cue and bust out their down and moody version of “White Christmas”. Seventh Day Slumber let’s us know for sure what they’re singing about with their rocked out “Away In A Manger”, before we get a couple of repeat artists in Bebo Norman’s “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” and the Kutless re-tread “Mary Did You Know” to cap off the album.
When you have the time to do just one or two songs and they’re covers it would be really difficult to flub it up too bad, so it shouldn’t be any surprise that O Come All Ye Faithful is about as strong of an effort as you can see out of this A-List of contemporary Christian music artists and will surely be heard at many gatherings around the fire this Christmas.
Grade: B+
Reviewed By Tyler Hess
Reviewed By Tyler Hess
Tracklisting:
- Jeremy Camp – O Come All Ye Faithful
- Bebo Norman – Joy To The World
- Chris Tomlin – O, Holy Night
- Amy Grant – Silent Night
- Kutless – This Christmas
- Downhere – How Many Kings
- The Museum – What Child Is This
- Jadon Lavik – O Come, O Come Emmanuel
- Shane and Shane – White Christmas
- Seventh Day Slumber – Away In A Manger
- Bebo Norman – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
- Kutless – Mary Did You Know
