A Christmas Album

by

Amy Grant

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The idea that Amy Grant could put out a great Christmas album is hardly surprising, but the fact that she had a hand in writing four of the songs on this classic 1983 collection should raise some eyebrows. The scope of "A Christmas Album" is laid out in the first three tracks: "Tennessee Christmas," the first of the songs co-written by Grant, the traditional Mendelssohn hymn "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," and a German carol "Preiset Dem König!" This album was released when Grant was pretty much at her height as a contemporary Christian singer, having won a Grammy for gospel singing the previous year, and that may well explain this rather ambitious album. But you would have to believe that Grant was going to be able to record anything she wants, which makes the eleven tracks she selected all the more interesting.

The other original songs are "Christmas Hymn," "Love Has Come," and "Heirlooms," which blend in just as well with the contemporary Christmas classics "Sleigh Ride" and "The Christmas Song." But the definitive song on this Christmas album is the last track, when Grant pulls out all the stops for an impressive medley of "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" and "Angels We Have Heard on High," supported by the Hollywood Presbyterian Choir. Having more sedate Christmas songs preceding this finale only makes it a more powerful conclusion to the album. I did a quick check through my Christmas albums and Amy Grant's "A Christmas Album" has more original songs, songs that I have never heard, or songs that do not appear on any other holiday, of any holiday album that I have. If you have not picked up this Christmas album in the twenty years since it was first released, then now would be a good time to add this classic to your music library.