1. Newborn 2. Christmastime Again 3. Sleigh Ride 4. I'll Be Home For Christmas 5. Hold On Christmas 6. A Holly Jolly Christmas 7. Go Tell It On The Mountain 8. Do You Hear What I Hear 9. Our Lullaby 10. Joy 11. O Come, O Come MERCYME WEB SITE PURCHASE FROM AMAZON PURCHASE FROM CD UNIVERSE PURCHASE FROM BARNES & NOBLE |
"MercyMe, It's Christmas" is another nice mix from the band. The two rockin' originals may be worth the price of admission. Both "Christmastime Again" and "Hold On Christmas" borrow from retro Pop Rock styles without sounding dated or derivative. The rest of the set falls more in the mid and down tempos. "Newborn" offers a beautiful beginning. The arrangements for "Go Tell It On The Mountain" and "Sleigh Ride" sound fresh (with the latter taking the song to better and more beautiful places than just about any other version I've heard, though I'm probably always going to side with Leroy Anderson on that one). "Joy" soars. The other standards--"I'll Be Home For Christmas" and "Do You Hear What I Hear"--seem to work work well though, to be fair, the samples on those didn't give me a complete sense of them. And "Holly Jolly Christmas" may be the most Holly Jolly Joyful rendition of that song I've ever heard. That one made me feel like Christmas. Yep, even in a 30 second clip.
"MercyMe, It's Christmas!" is slated to arrive October 9 at all the usual on-line spots. If you liked MercyMe's first Christmas album, you're going to love this one.