Music Review: Yuletide Joy by Sandi Patty

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Great Christmas songs and an amazing voice

Cons: Many similarly released already

The Bottom Line:

Great Christmas music

But we have much of this from

Sandi already

Christmas Best of - In a Manner of Speaking

Over the last sixteen years, Sandi Patty is an artist I have come to associate with Christmas music, mainly because of her great CD The Gift Goes On. Naturally, when I found out she had another Christmas CD coming out, I had to get it. Yuletide Joy is wonderful. I just wish I had been a little more patient.

In a move I don't think I've seen before, she decided to release a best of from previous Christmas projects. However, instead of just doing a best of, she has chosen to rerecord the songs. This gives us the praise song "Worship the King" with a new intro of "A Christmas Carol," for example.

The advantage of this is that many of these songs are absolutely wonderful. "Bethlehem Morning" is one of my favorite Christmas songs because of the way it ties the birth of Christ through His triumphant second return. This new version doesn't disappoint.

No Sandi best of would be complete without a version of "O Holy Night." While my favorite is still the one from her first Christmas CD, this one is very good.

Also getting covered are "Home for the Holidays/I'll be Home for Christmas" and "Star of Bethlehem" from her second CD and "O Magnify the Lord" from her first, this time combined with "Angles We Have Heard on High."

Surprisingly, she chose not to rerecord "Merry Christmas with Love." This is the original recording from her first Christmas CD. It does sound a tad out of place, but it does still sound good. She follows it up with a new recording of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," and she makes one change to the lyrics which I really like - she changes "if the fates allow" to "if the Lord allows." I've only ever heard Twila Paris do this, but I like it.

There are new songs on here as well. "Jingle Bells Ala Sandra" is a version you have never heard before, I guarantee it. Starting out pretty traditionally, she soon goes to a jazzy version, German opera, and then finally Mexican fiesta. It's fun, but doesn't hold up well to repeated listens.

I had not heard "Someday" before. It's a beautiful ballad imagining the lullaby that Mary might have sung to Jesus that first Christmas night. I especially like the way in incorporates a vision of His future ministry into the song.

Even though she has chosen to rerecord these songs, she has still stuck with the inspirational sound that made her popular in the first place. While a few songs do tend to end with the operatic high notes she's employing recently, it's not as annoying as on some of her recent CD's.

If you have missed out on some of Sandi's past Christmas CD's, Yuletide Joy will be a great addition to your collection. Even if you already have all of her others, this CD won't disappoint. You'll just probably want to wait until after Christmas sales to buy it.

Running Time: 1 hour

Track Titles:

1) A Christmas Carol/Worship the King

2) Bethlehem Morning

3) Jingle Bells Ala Sandra

4) Home for the Holidays/I'll be Home for Christmas

5) Star of Bethlehem

6) O Magnify the Lord/Angles We Have Heard on High

7) Go Tell it on the Mountain

8) Jesus, O What a Wonderful Child

9) Someday

10) O Holy Night

11) Worthy is the Lamb/Hallelujah Chorus

12) Merry Christmas with Love

13) Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas