Reviewed by Tom Lennie

It's kinda refreshing to come across a Christmas recording which avoids any tendency towards the cheesiness we've come to expect of such seasonal offerings. 'The Christmas To Remember', thankfully, is one of such disc. 12 American gospel artists, such as Darwin Hobbs, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Smokie Norful and Darrel Petties & Strength of Praise, choose their favourite Christmas songs and arrange and perform them in their own inimitable way. About half the songs are popular favourites "Joy To The World", "O Come All Ye Faithful", "Go Tell It On The Mountain", etc - but such are the adventurous arrangements that traditional Christmas music lovers might hardly recognise them! The other songs are more recent, lesser-known tunes, but all the more interesting because of that. Throughout, there's a musical variety, a vocal excellence and sensitivity and a lavishness and professionalism of production that really makes these sounds truly stand out. If Christmas really is a time to remember, it's in part thanks to beautiful recordings like this.

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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