Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Every year we have the strange spectacle of established artists, both in the mainstream and in the CCM world, falling over themselves to record Christmas albums. From a commercial perspective it's easy to see why so many acts succumb to this trend - Christmas albums sell by the bushel load in December - but aesthetically, of course, most Christmas releases simply don't last beyond the time it takes to finish the turkey. Making unimaginitively arranged recordings of Christmas carols interspersed with dreadful songs of sleigh bells and Santa may achieve some quick sales but hardly ever do such releases do anything for the creative reputation of the artists involved. To his credit then, America's top selling praise and worship leader makes a reasonable fist of carols like "Angels We Have Heard On High", "Hark The Herald Angels Sing" and "O Holy Night". The production by Ed Cash is hearteningly restrained while there's some deft acoustic guitar work from Cash himself and easy on the ear backing vocals from Christy Nockels bringing out the poignancy of Tomlin's huskily emotive voice. There are some Tomlin originals of course with both "Emmanuel (Hallowed Manger Ground)" and "My Soul Magnifies The Lord" having their moments without ever suggesting that they will become classics sung at Christmas' future. All in all then, a reasonable album which at least strives to bring the concept of the incarnation into the Christmas frame.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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