Michael English - A Michael English Christmas, CD Review

Nov

2003

Michael English - A Michael English Christmas

Add this entry to Your Favorites | [0] Favorites

Produced by Michael Sykes, Michael Lloyd, and Michael Curb
Label: Curb Records

If you are a Michael English fan you will love this CD. Even a laid back conservative reviewer like me found some really nice spots in this project. Michael draws you into this CD with a very mellow rendition of “Little Drummer Boy.” The same attitude is shown on “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” The strings on the track add a nice touch. Things change a bit though by the time he gets to “Go Tell It On The Mountain.” You can tell that Michael is just having some fun while recording this song. There is a neat “squeal” by the organ on the ending.

“Mary Did You Know” is performed as well as Michael has ever recorded it on this project. He seems to have put a little something extra in the feeling on this cut. Another fun song on this project is “Let’s Make The Baby King.” There are some neat guitar happenings on the track. Reverting to his more Contemporary style, “When The Baby Grew Up” has a unique message to it. Moving on to a modern country sound with “That Spirit Of Christmas,” you can sit back and just enjoy the message of this cut. This is one of my favorite songs on the whole CD.

Using three traditional Christmas Carols in “O Come Emmanuel,” “O Holy Night,” and “Silent Night,” Michael treats them reverently, singing them with heart felt expressions.

I said at the beginning that if you are a Michael English fan you will love this CD, however even non-Michael fans will enjoy this CD.

Reader Comments

Where does anyone say this is a so. gospel Christmas CD? This is a Christmas CD plain and simple and a very good one I might add. Just enjoy the music and forget about labeling everything. Michael has put our a great CD for this time of year and all year long too

Commented by On 12/08/2003

Most artists vary their style when making Christmas CDs. I think that Ivory was just venting.

Deon Unthank
SoGospelNews.com
My Blog

Some people are like Slinkys… Not really good for anything, but they
still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs - Author Unknown

Commented by On 12/10/2003

Just what are you sure of Jackie? and by the way, what color of a volkswagon are you?

Commented by On 12/10/2003

OOPS! That last comment was for Ivory not Jackie , Sorry Jackie
:oops:

Commented by On 12/10/2003

I think the CD is awesome ! I do agree that it is not all Southern Gospel , but most of the songs could be played on Southern Gospel or Contemporary Stations . Thats what I thought Christmas music was about , to uplift THE KING and reach everyone!! Oh Lord Im going to preach . Anyway, Michael I was there at the Christmas CD debut, I thought you did a great job .

Commented by On 12/11/2003

As mentioned, my comment was not against Michael, but this IS "Southern Gospel News". I'm just alarmed at the flood of styles prying into the market of SG, trying to identify themselves with the same. If it's just a "news" sight, then so be it. Southern Gospel is NOT indentified by the artist. If it's not SG, the info might be better served at some other sight. Remember the Tower of Babel? Everyone wanted to change God's plan and become as one. God gave the world different styles of music. We might want to be cautious in trying to unite them into one. God bless you.

Commented by On 12/12/2003

PS--As for the volswagon comment---our pastor used that in reference to "just because people call themselves Christian doesn't automatically make it so. Just as saying you're a Volkswagon doesn't make you one". Just because you or I or anyone else says "we're SG" doesn't make it so.

Commented by On 12/12/2003

Deon, my comments certainly were not aimed at you and your article. It is a "general" statement of concern. I apologize if anyone thought they were personal.

Commented by On 12/12/2003

Ivory, everyone is entitled to their opinion here, I never took anything you said as personal against me. Besides that, if you are in this business, you had better develope some think skin. People can call me what they want, as long as they don't forget to call me for dinner.

Deon Unthank
SoGospelNews.com
My Blog

Some people are like Slinkys… Not really good for anything, but they
still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs - Author Unknown

Commented by On 12/12/2003

I have never thought of Michael English's solo projects as Southern Gospel in general, nor have I seen an attempt to "pry into" the Southern Gospel market by English. I've only heard him call his music "Southern Gospel" when it really WAS SG, and he's never said this was a SG recording.

So why was it reported here? Simple. English has a following in the SG market because of his roots with the Singing Americans, Happy Goodmans, and Gaither Vocal Band. SG fans in general want to know about what he's up to musically, even if it isn't SG. David Phelps' non-SG project will be reviewed here in a couple of months, too. Now Greg Long's solo CDs most likely won't be reviewed here, because Long doesn't have a huge following by SG fans.

That's what I like about this website. The owners aren't trying to protect some artists while keeping others that don't meet their opinion of SG out. They try to determine what the SG fans in general would want to hear about, and that's what they print. Same thing goes for their charts. It's up to the DJs to decide what to put on the air and report. Sogospelnews doesn't tell them they won't put certain artists on the charts.

Commented by On 12/13/2003

Page 2 of 4 Comment Pages < 1 2 3 4 >

Add Comments

If you are seeing this form you are not a Member or have not logged in. Why not consider becoming a Member? All comments must be made with a valid email address. Comments with invalid email addresses are subject to removal.

Membership allows you to have a prepared signature of your choice applied to every comment you make, as well as the ability to choose an avatar to display next to your name to help identify your posts. Members are also given opportunity to vote weekly in our Weekly Chart as well as special Members Only contests, polls and giveaways during the year. If you are already a member, login here, otherwise please register here.

**Note: Forums membership is a seperate membership.

By posting you agree to our Comments Policy

Name:
Email:
Location:
URL:
Comment:
	Remember my personal information
	Notify me of follow-up comments?
Please enter the word you see in the image below: