Get Your Music on Amazon!
Get Your Music on Amazon!

JFH Music Review


Various Artists, DREAM Christmas Volume 4
CLICK COVER TO ENLARGE

Various Artists
DREAM Christmas Volume 4



Genre(s): Christmas / Pop
Album length: 7 tracks: 27 minutes, 28 seconds
Street Date: November 1, 2019


READER RATING:   


If one didn't know better, they might assume that the folks at DREAM Records are following some sort of predetermined pattern when it comes to their holiday-themed anthologies. The label's first Christmas compilation featured thirteen tracks by eight different artists. By the time Volume 2 saw the light of day, the composition count was trimmed down to eight, making the sophomore offering more like two thirds of a full-fledged album. The third installment in the series found the DREAM team once again ramping up the total song number to twelve. Which brings us to the present where, this time around, fans are greeted with Christmas Vol. 4, a seven-cut extended player.

Theories about the debatable full/half/full/half-album template aside, the most recent edition in the sequence includes at least a few hands-down winners in its lineup. The ethereal sounds that wash in and out of "Joy" render Switch's shuffling, easy-going version of the holiday classic, "Joy to the World," as light and airy as it is engaging. The simple, heartfelt beauty of HillaryJane's mid-tempo ballad, "Emmanuel (God with Us)," make it the collection's most reverent and moving entry. And the irresistiblly lively "Dancing in a Snow Globe" shows that the men of We Are Leo aren't afraid to channel a bit of late-'70s disco when the song calls for it. To be certain, listeners brave enough to lower the convertible top in the middle of December and cruise the downtown hot spots have now found the perfect accompaniment track.

Unfortunately, the remainder of the Vol. 4 run time is filled out with run of the mill radio-fitted fare that does little to distinguish itself from the veritable throng of artists now shoehorned into the sated pop/worship domain. Of course, listeners whose bread and butter lies within the inspirational Top 40 would do well to pick up the Vol. 4 project, given the fact that, even at its most generic, the EP is still arguably on par with most of what they hear on the radio. For everyone else, though, the best course of action would be to add the first three songs to their Christmas playlist and take a pass on the rest.

- Review date: 10/30/19, written by Bert Gangl of Jesusfreakhideout.com



(JFH Sponsor Spot)

Purchase Original Art Prints, Drawings, Buttons, Stickers, Bookmarks and more from JFH's own John DiBiase!

 

. Record Label: DREAM Records
. Album length: 7 tracks: 27 minutes, 28 seconds
. Street Date: November 1, 2019
. Buy It: iTunes
. Buy It: AmazonMP3

  1. Joy - Switch (3:25)
  2. Dancing In a Snow Globe - We Are Leo (3:44)
  3. Emmanuel (God With Us) - HillaryJane (2:52)
  4. Come and Adore - Lifepoint Worship (3:35)
  5. God With Us - Joel Vaughn (3:58)
  6. Unto Us - 29:11 Worship (5:23)
  7. Redemption Song - Canyon Hills Worship (4:32)

 

 JFH Album Sample Player

 



Leave a Comment

 

 

go to main Album review page
go to Album review archive

 


(JFH Sponsor Spot)

 

 

                 
Purchase Original Art Prints, Drawings, Buttons, Stickers, Bookmarks and more from JFH's own John DiBiase!

Search JFH




This Wednesday, March 13, 2024
ALBUMS
Chris Renzema Manna [Centricity]

This Friday, March 15, 2024
ALBUMS
Apollo LTD Dreaming - EP [Centricity]
The Inspirations The Legacy Continues [Horizon]
Barbara Mandrell Precious Memories: 20 Hymns & Gospel Classics [Gaither]
Katy Nichole Jesus Changed My Life (Deluxe) [Centricity]
Katy Nichole Jesus Changed My Life (Deluxe Bonus Video Version) [Centricity]
Seph Schlueter Counting My Blessings - EP [Provident]
Seventh Day Slumber Fractured Paradise [RockFest]
Spoken Reflection [XOVR]
Still Worship Still Worship Lofi, Vol. 2 [Integrity]
Tedashii Dead or Alive, Pt. 2 - EP [Reach]
Chris Tomlin Live from Good Friday [Capitol CMG]

SINGLES
Above the Clouds For God's Sake [Remix] - Single [Polished Arrow]
Big Daddy Weave Let It Begin - Single [Curb]
Convictions Sleeping Lotus - Single (independent)
Christine D'Clario Lift Your Head Up - Single [Capitol CMG]
EmanuelDaProphet VICIOUS CYCLE - Single [Capitol CMG]
Future of Forestry Forever - Single (independent)
Iveth Luna Right On Time - Single [Red Street]
New Life Worship Where the Story Ends - Single [Integrity]
Newsboys Heaven On Earth - Single [Capitol CMG]
REVERE RED (O The Blood) - Single [Integrity]
The Rocky Valentines Stick it Out - Single [Velvet Blue]
Sound Street Mountains Will Fall - Single [Sonlite]
Vineyard Worship Real Thing - Single [Vineyard UK]
Phil Wickham The Jesus Way (Hometown Version) - Single [Fair Trade]

Next Friday, March 22, 2024
ALBUMS
Meredith Andrews Heaven's Frequency (Live) [Curb]
Jaime Jamgochian Sacred Surrender [Wings]
Whitecross Fear No Evil (independent)

SINGLES
Big Daddy Weave Let It Begin - Single [Curb]
Hannah Kerr If I Were You - Single [Curb]
Mac Powell Like It's Nothing - Single [Capitol CMG]
We The Kingdom Church Music - Single [Capitol CMG]


For all release dates, click here!
 



Listen to the new album from Trey Tate!




Listen to the new Album From Tim Juillet!

Check out depositphotos for royalty free images