Get the new FREE JFH MP3 compilation -- Vol. 13!
Get the new FREE JFH MP3 compilation -- Vol. 13!

JFH Music Review


Phillips, Craig & Dean, Hope For All The World
CLICK COVER TO ENLARGE

Phillips, Craig & Dean
Hope For All The World



Artist Info: Discography
Genre(s): Christmas / Contemporary
Album length: 10 tracks: 36 minutes, 27 seconds
Street Date: October 1, 2013


Christmas albums in pop music (be it sacred or secular) are almost obligatory if you are around long enough. It's similar to a graduation ceremony; everyone has one or has gone to one at some point in life. And like graduation ceremonies, Christmas albums can be either a chore to sit through, or they can occasionally contain hidden surprises and be fairly entertaining.

For their second full-length Christmas album (which is about right for a 20 year music career), Phillips, Craig and Dean, that inspirational trio of singing pastors, add four Christmas songs to their independent Christmas EP of three years ago, and come up with a Christmas album that is full of familiar (if sometimes dry) moments, and some nice surprises mixed in as well. The canon of Christmas music is fairly well established by this point, and the best question to ask is whether the traditional songs here offer anything new in the listening and if the new holiday songs can stand alongside the carols.

As for Hope For All The World, the answer is that the carols represented here ("O Come All Ye Faithful," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen / We Three Kings" and "The First Noel") fair pretty well in a hybrid rock/inspirational setting. The best surprise is the bouncy version of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen / We Three Kings" that was made popular by The Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan a few years back. (It's the one you always here in the grocery store this time of year.) And if you are keeping score at home, this is most likely the only time you will ever see the bands Barenaked Ladies and Phillips, Craig and Dean ever mentioned in the same place again.

As for the originals, "Born Is The King (It's Christmas)" kicks off the album with a suitably joyous and celebratory groove and "A Night Of Hope" serves as the capable inspirational rocker in the group.

The only obvious clunker and pure head-scratching moment is the final song, "Jingle Bells (Duck Mix)," which clocks in at one minute and forty six seconds and features someone in the band singing "Jingle Bells" in a voice similar to Donald Duck's. It's an obvious joke, and the kind of song that should be a hidden track, and not a tenth song on an album that someone somewhere is charging fifteen dollars for. It's not that I don't appreciate humor; it's just a bit jarring when the rest of the album is so earnest and forthright. But for nine songs, Hope For All The World is a pretty good graduation ceremony. It conveys the spirit of the season well; it handles old material capably and offers a few new surprises.

- Review date: 11/24/13, written by Alex "Tincan" Caldwell of Jesusfreakhideout.com



(JFH Sponsor Spot)

Check out JFH's Lloyd in his first-ever childrens book!

 

. Record Label: Fair Trade Services
. Album length: 10 tracks: 36 minutes, 27 seconds
. Street Date: October 1, 2013
. Buy It: iTunes
. Buy It: Amazon Music (MP3)
. Buy It: Amazon.com

  1. Born Is The King (It's Christmas) (3:17)
  2. Do You Hear What I Hear? (4:22)
  3. For All The World (3:55)
  4. O Come All Ye Faithful (3:42)
  5. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen / We Three Kings (3:28)
  6. The First Noel (3:35)
  7. God Bless Us (3:32)
  8. Suddenly (5:04)
  9. Night of Hope (3:47)
  10. Jingle Bells (Duck Mix) (1:45)

 

Leave a Comment

 

 

go to main Album review page
go to Album review archive

 


(JFH Sponsor Spot)

 

 

                 
Check out JFH's Lloyd in his first-ever childrens book!

Search JFH




This Tuesday, November 19, 2024
SINGLES
Mat Kearney Certainty - Single (independent)

This Wednesday, November 20, 2024
ALBUMS
1K Phew Let Go Let God: The EP [Reach]

SINGLES
Drew & Ellie Holcomb High Seas - Single [Magnolia]
Sleeping At Last Let It Snow - Single (independent)

This Thursday, November 21, 2024
ALBUMS
The Choir Translucent (independent)

SINGLES
Wilder Woods Curioso [Dualtone]

This Friday, November 22, 2024
ALBUMS
Coqui I'll Still Have Christmas Day - EP [DREAM]
for KING & COUNTRY A Drummer Boy Christmas (LIVE) [Curb]
The Kingsmen Decades: Vol. 3 & 4 [Horizon]
Jonathan McReynolds Red & Green - EP [Capitol CMG/Motown]
NEEDTOBREATHE Acoustic Live Vol. 1 (CD Reissue) [Omnivore]
NEEDTOBREATHE Live From The Woods (CD Reissue) [Omnivore]
R.kitect Vicious Circles - EP (independent)
Run51 Let's Celebrate - EP [DREAM]
Van Zant Always Look Up [Frontiers Music]

SINGLES
7eventh Time Down I Speak Jesus - Single [BEC]
99 APEX Find A Way Freestyle - Single [Syntax]
Cory Asbury You're Still The One - Single [BEC]
Ashes Remain Lost Light - Single [BEC]
Paul Baloche Angels We Have Heard On High/Glorious (feat. Sarah Kroger) - Single [Integrity]
Elan Brio Sun Rays - Single (independent)
Amy Jay And So It Goes - Single (independent)
Jericko Holy Ground - Single [Syntax]
Reece Lache' Energy - Single (independent)
Vic Lucas Presha - Single [Syntax]
Cliff & Antoinette Murray O Emanuel - Single [DREAM]
Procyse, Dave A. You’re Not Free - Single [Polished Arrow]
River Valley Worship This is Our Jesus (feat. Moriah Christian) - Single [BEC]
Vineyard Worship Royal Son - Single [Integrity]

VINYL
NEEDTOBREATHE Acoustic Live Vol. 1 (Vinyl Reissue) [Omnivore]
NEEDTOBREATHE Live From The Woods (Vinyl Reissue) [Omnivore]

Next Thursday, November 28, 2024
VINYL
Van Zant Always Look Up Vinyl [Girder]

Next Friday, November 29, 2024
ALBUMS
Sixpence None the Richer Dawn of Grace (Deluxe) [Flatiron]
Thrive Worship Christmas, Vol. 2 - EP [Integrity]

SINGLES
ICF Worship Light of the World - Single [Integrity]
Selah Glory Hallelujah (feat. Mike Weaver) - Single [Integrity]
Slow Salvation The Ghost of Christmas Past - Single [Velvet Blue]
Uche Agu, Revival Today Worship Medley of Hymns - Single [DREAM]

VINYL
Sixpence None the Richer Dawn of Grace (Deluxe) Vinyl (Record Store Day Exclusive!) [Flatiron]



For all release dates, click here!
 



Check out the new album from Taylor Holland Armstrong!



Listen to the new Single from Second Adam and the New Creations!

Check out depositphotos for royalty free images