Be prepared to bounce into Christmas with the latest offering from Rebecca St. James. Following in the musical footsteps of God, again using producer Tedd T, Christmas brings fresh energy to seven traditional carols and two cover songs while presenting one original tune written by St. James. Replete with thick orchestrations that are fairly dark at times, Christmas nonetheless comes off fresh and bright. Rather than trying to overwhelm her accompaniment, St. James contrasts the heavy arrangements with a childlike vocal tone quality (though not to the overdone extreme of Julie Miller or Cyndi Lauper).
90% of the tunes have readily recognizable lyrics, but from the first strains of "Sweet Little Jesus Boy," Christmas is anything but predictable musically. Several tunes ("O Come All Ye Faithful," "One Small Child," "O Come Emmanuel") follow the alternative formula used with "God," that being a relaxed verse followed by a pounding, guitar driven chorus, and back. Some arrangements would make great dance tunes with little or no remixing. "O Holy Night" in particular is high NRG. Music theorists will note interestingly re-harmonized chord progressions and peculiar inversions in "What Child Is This?" It's doubtful J. S. Bach could have ever imagined "Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring" with low-rider bass notes and strings moving in parallel motion. St. James' cover of "One Small Child" is decidedly light hearted, contrasting the serious mood of the original recording by David Meece.
Although the artwork for Christmas is pretty, the muted hues of gray behind the liner notes make for severe eyestrain, at least with the cassette version. The background for the liner notes is a busy swirling pattern that distracts from the foreground. Frustrated, Dave finally gave up on trying to discern the insights that St. James offered for each song.
Any of the alterno-pop arrangements from Christmas would have suited God. Just think of this album as a Christmas themed extension of the same musical concept. It's nice to hear very common tunes given such a fresh treatment. Rebecca St. James is one of few artists in the Christian industry to make a Christmas recording that is both conceptually cohesive and unique stylistically. Much variation exists, but Christmas somehow manages to hang together as one unified musical entity that defies tradition, while paradoxically extending the same.