2012 Christmas Music Guide

With so many "Holiday" albums being released each and every year, its hard to figure out which ones are worth your time.  We can only take so many versions of "Silent Night" or "Let It Snow" so what makes a good Christmas Album is unique song selection, creative arrangements of old chestnuts and quality new compositions.  Below are my lists of the best Christmas releases of 2012:

1. Francesca Battistelli- Christmas

Best Original Songs: Heaven Everywhere, You're Here, December 25, Christmas Is
Best Cover Songs: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Marshmallow World
Synopsis: I think the original songs are the best part of this CD (which is rare for holiday albums) and I am sure we will be hearing these for a while.  This one is worth buying the physical CD because the album packaging includes holiday stories, baking recipes, and cool pictures :)  Like Amy Grant's Home For Christmas, this is an album you will find yourself returning to every year.

 2. Steven Curtis Chapman- Joy

Best Original Songs: Christmas Time Again, Christmas Kiss, I Am Joseph, Happy New Year
Best Cover Songs: In the Bleak Midwinter, Joy to the World, We Three Kings
Synopsis: SCC's 1995 Christmas collection The Music of Christmas is, in my opinion, one of the most complete and well done Christmas albums of our generation so its tough to top that but what I enjoyed so much about Joy is the deeper and more nuanced tone in Steven's voice.  This is a man who lived through the darkest valley (as chronicled in Beauty Will Rise) and has come through the other side with great perspective.  He sings with  a new sense of urgency and passion and it is refreshing. I cannot tell you how good it is to hear SCC sing happy songs again.  This is the perfect bridge album between the Beauty Will Rise/Recreation era and his next record.  I for one cannot wait to experience SCC's next "great adventure".

 3. Mandisa- It's Christmas: Christmas Angel Edition

Best Original Songs: It's Christmas, Somebody's Angel, Christmas Day, Christmas Makes Me Cry
Best Cover Songs: Christmas Bell Medley, Children Go Where I Send Thee
Synopsis: For some of these songs, this is their fourth and arguably best repackaging.  The addition of the two original songs (It's Christmas & Somebody's Angel) greatly improves this set, although, I do prefer the discarded covers of Silent Night or Oh Holy Night to the new version of What Child is This.

 4. Jeremy Camp- Christmas: God With Us


Best Original Songs: God With Us 
Best Cover Songs: Jingle Bell Rock, Mary Did You Know, Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Synopsis: Exactly what you would expect from a Jeremy Camp Christmas CD. Its solid, albeit unoriginal, collection but the guy just knows how to make a solid CCM album. There is only one original song on this album (the title track) but Camp has a way of making every song he sings sound like he wrote it.


 5. Jason Gray- Christmas Stories: Repeat The Sounding Joy



Best Original Songs: Christmas is Coming, Rest, Ave Maria, Forgiveness is a Miracle, Christmas For Jesus, I Will Find a Way, Children Again
Best Cover Songs: Oh Come All Ye Faithful, Joy to the World
Synopsis: Epic in every good way, this is as good of a Christmas album as Gray's Ways to See in the Dark was a pop album.  I can totally see a Christmas Musical being formed out of this collection of songs.  Perfect balance of original music and carols. 


 Bonus: Pentatonix- PTXmas 


Best Original Songs: This Christmas
Best Cover Songs: Carol of the Bells, O Holy Night
Synopsis:  This isn't a Christian Artist but the winners of last year's A Capella contest The Sing Off  (NBC) have created a great Christmas EP, mainly filled with religious carols.  Their version of Carol of the Bells" will probably go down as pop music's definitive version.  It's easily the best version I've heard.

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