Details
Track Listing
1. O Come All Ye Faithful
2. Christmas Medley: Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas / The Christmas Song / Jingle Bells
3. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
4. Mary's Boy Child
5. Chant Interlude
6. Take Me to Jesus
7. Silent Night
8. This Christmas (I'l Be Thinking of You) - (featuring Chaka Khan)
9. Angels Medley: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing / Angels We Have Heard On High / The First Noel
10. Bethlehem (The World Is Gonna Hear About You)
11. More Chant Interlude
12. Away in a Manger
Album Notes
Personnel includes: Andrae Crouch, Chaka Khan, Patti Austin, Yolanda Adams, Tata Vega, Kirk Whalum (vocals); Paul Jackson, Jr. (guitar); Greg Philingane (piano); Scott V. Smith (synthesizer); Nathan East, Abraham Laboreal (bass); Jon "J.R." Robinson (drums).
THE GIFT OF CHRISTMAS was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album.
Crouch's Grammy-nominated Christmas album is state-of-the-art, late-'90s pop gospel (and something of a concept album as well, given that the songs--mostly holiday standards--are linked from time with brief snippets of African-inflected chanting). The backing tracks are big and lush, with a crack funk band, a Hollywood string section, and a 20-voice choir all operating at maximum energy levels. There's also a suitably star-powered supply of special guests, including Tata Vega, Pam Austin, Yolanda Adams, and most impressively Chaka Khan, whose contribution to "This Christmas" provides ample proof that she's still, as they say, got it. The downside, of course, is that Crouch, who sings throughout with his customary gruff intensity, is often reduced to the status of being a guest on his own album, but then again that's hardly the listener's problem.
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