Reviewed by Tony Cummings

If you're going to get pop and rock artists recording Christmas songs and carols every year - and, as I've said before, I'm not entirely convinced by the practice - bright CCM newcomer Centricity Records show here how it should be done. The first track "How Many Kings" sung by Downhere and written by the Canadian worship band's lead singer Marc Martel is a delight while the hugely underrated Circleslide can even bring new life out of the over-recorded "Joy To The World". Not everything is quite that good. Jason Gray's version of "Mary, Did You Know" is fine until you get to hear the definitive version by Ralph Van Manen (note to CR's Dutch readers - what's happened to Ralph?). But worship leader Jaime Jamgochian does a haunting version of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel". The recent dreadful version of "Silent Night" by Delirious? (available as a free download) shows that it's harder to breathe creative life into over familiar carols than you think, but the artists here make a thoroughly good fist of it.

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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