Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Let's face it, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" would be in the running for The Greatest Carol Ever Written award. This metrical paraphrase of a series of plainchant antiphons is truly beautiful and John Mason Neale, who translated it from the Latin in 1861, knew a thing or seven about putting together poetic rhyming couplets ("O come, O come, Emmanuel/And ransom captive Israel/That mourns in lonely exile here/Until the son of God appear/Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel/Shall come to thee, O Israel"). Down the decades, this beautiful hymn has been recorded hundreds, possibly thousands, of times. Cross Rhythms radio has selected for its playlist diverse versions by (deep breath) Hannah Kerr, Late Late Service, Everfound, Jamie Grace, House Of Heroes, Jeremy Camp, Lincoln Brewster, Chasing Furies and Rebecca St James, while the U2 song "White As Snow" on the 'No Line On The Horizon' album took its melody directly from the hymn. So what does this Michigan-based singer/songwriter and globe-trotting musicianary do to this classic carol? Well, Perry's version is an acoustic/electric roots rock rendition and is, in fact, a taster from his new album 'Him'. Perry's re-imagining of the hymn is pretty good, though hardly ground-breaking.

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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