TobyMac - Christmas In Diverse City
Artist:
Title:
Christmas In Diverse City
Type:
Album
Released:
04 Oct 2011
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Review
Last year TobyMac released his fourth studio album, 'Tonight' and is currently working on the follow up, so what better thing to do with your spare moments in-between recording a new album than to get back in the studio and produce your own Christmas album. This is the first full-length Christmas album from the former DC Talk band member, and so to help him along Toby called on some of his mates. The thirteen track album includes collaborations with Owl City, Jamie Grace and Sixpence None The Richer's Leigh Nash.
The album includes a mix of Christmas classics such as 'The...
Read More Last year TobyMac released his fourth studio album, 'Tonight' and is currently working on the follow up, so what better thing to do with your spare moments in-between recording a new album than to get back in the studio and produce your own Christmas album. This is the first full-length Christmas album from the former DC Talk band member, and so to help him along Toby called on some of his mates. The thirteen track album includes collaborations with Owl City, Jamie Grace and Sixpence None The Richer's Leigh Nash.
The album includes a mix of Christmas classics such as 'The First Noel', 'O Come, All Ye Faithful' and 'Angels We Have Heard On High', but not as you might know them. And that is what makes this album so different to what we might consider as a traditional Christmas classics album. As I am a fan of Christmas and everything that goes with it, these newer versions of these classics is a fresh and exciting prospect.
This album doesn't disappoint from the start, opening with the TobyMac penned Christmas single Christmas This Year which features the amazing vocal talent of Leigh Nash. Hearing Leigh Nash and TobyMac together on a track worked well and it would be great to hear them sing together again. The First Noel follows quickly, with the help of Owl City - and this track has the Owl City vibe and sound all over it. Actually it works very well and I'm surprised it isn't one of my standout tracks, listen to the dramatic guitar drive middle section bursting the song into life.
I'm a massive fan of the vocals of the talented Jamie Grace, having Jamie and TobyMac putting their vocals to an even funkier modern version of Boney M's Mary's Boy Child is a brilliant idea and one that works very well. We all have our favorite classic Christmas songs, and also our least favorite Christmas songs, for whatever reason, we just do. Little Drummer Boy for me is one of them. Even the coolness of David Bowie and Bing Crosby couldn't make this song work for me. So seeing this track right in the middle of the album had me worried, but hearing TobyMac adding a Cance and Grime sound to it, this is one version I was actually more impressed with. The song has added drama to it that I hadn't heard on any version before. The dramatic elements continue on the atmospheric Carol of The Kings which features Gabe Real & Liquid who make this song into a sort of dramatic drama, with orchestral and choir work adding layers of atmosphere. Wow.
With all the songs on the album TobyMac adds his distinctive style and his own interpretation of the songs, adding beats and energy to some songs, then others are more dramatic and atmospheric, but they are all different to a more traditional feel that we might have grown up with. Get this album and get the Christmas classics tracks with the TobyMac style sprinkled all over them blasting around your house. As Noddy Holder of Slade once shouted in the late 70's "It'sssssssss Christmassssssss". Have this album playing through all your Christmas parties over the festive period.
Review by Jono Davies
LTTM Rating 5 Out Of 5 Stars
Standout Tracks
Mary Boy Child
Carol Of The Kings
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Grammy Award winning singer and rapper TobyMac has released his new Christmas album 'Christmas In Diverse City' this week, featuring collaborations with Owl City, Jamie Grace and Sixpence None The Richer's Leigh Nash. The…
