The follow-up album of 1993's The New Young Messiah does not follow the course of its predecessor, which was based on the famous Christmas oratorio Messiah by Handel. Instead, this album utilizes both traditional carols and original Christmas pieces. Compiled in 1995, Christmas Carols of the Young Messiah contains artists mainly from the Christian Pop music scene, with a few Gospel artists in the mix. Basically, the albums seems like it was made to showcase the talents of the artists who were either popular or up-and-coming at the time of this compilation. Some of these artists are Point of Grace, Steven Curtis Chapman, Twila Paris, Sandi Patty, Clay Crosse, and BeBe & Cece. However, the album makes for an enjoyable listen for the person who prefers the Adult Contemporary genre of music.
I tend to stay away from compilation albums, mainly because I find that there are always a few flubbers on the album. However, the album becomes worth the price you paid when the quality of the good songs outweighs the quantity and quality of the bad songs. I find that most compilations just barely sneak into the "good" section of music. This album is one of those albums. While we receive good performances from some artists, the amount of songs that don't make the cut take away from the quality of the album.
Steven Curtis Chapman's rendition of 'O Come All Ye Faithful' is the best song on the album, without doubt. This song was taken from his album, The Music of Christmas, and features a children's choir along with his recognizable voice and excellent guitar playing. Another stellar guitar player, Wes King, gives a magnificent performance of 'O Come, O Come Emmanuel' with his guitar playing being his best attribute. Some artists are just made for certain songs, and there are two such cases on this album. The first is Twila Paris, whose cover of 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' makes you wonder if she wrote the song herself because of how well it suits her. Clay Crosse also performs a song which he was made for, 'The Christmas Song.' The vocals and piano on both of these songs are excellently mixed and are soothingly peaceful.
Point of Grace, the Spice Girls of the CCM world, dish recognizable brand of pop in the song 'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.' Unfortunately, they demolish the song because their style of music clashes horribly with this song and it leaves you wishing that the next song would come soon. Another flop on this album is Sandi Patty's 'O Holy Night.' While the background symphony is nice, her soprano arrangement of the song makes me cringe every time she starts to go high. Carman does his usual speaking thing in 'For Unto You', a song which takes its lyrics from Isaiah's prophecy of Jesus in the Old Testament. Like Point of Grace and Sandi Patty, his style of music simply does not go well with the flow of the album.
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