CeCe Winans - Joyful, Joyful: A Christmas Album
If you’re a fan of CeCe Winans and a fan of Christmas music, Joyful, Joyful: A Christmas Album is going to be a great fit for your holiday CD player– or however you play your music these days…
Joyful, Joyful: A Christmas Album
Artist: CeCe Winans
12 tracks / 48:31
2024 is ending up as a big year for CeCe Winans. Earlier this year she released the live Praise and Worship album More Than This, which spawned the hugely-popular “That’s My King.” Now, slipping in just before we say hello to a new year, CeCe is back with Joyful, Joyful, her third Christmas album. The twelve-track album is something old and something new – some things borrowed but nothing blue – plenty of things joyful, though.
If some of the 48 minutes of music sounds familiar, that’s because ten of the twelve songs are borrowed and remastered from her Something’s Happening album of six years ago. The first two songs are new entries, so “Joy to the World’ and “Angels We Have Heard on High / Joyful, Joyful” make the overall package a fresh listening experience. Needless to say, if you’re a fan of CeCe Winans and a fan of Christmas music, Joyful, Joyful: A Christmas Album is going to be a great fit for your holiday CD player – or however you play your music these days.
Backed by the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, the musical settings and arrangements are big – very big. Stylistically, the songs range from full-on variety show mode (you can almost picture a dance troupe behind “Grace of The Father”) to the ‘Nutcracker’ ambiance of “O Come, O Come Emanuel” and everything in-between. There’s even a delightfully Motown inspired “It’s Christmas,” which could easily be at home in standard Christmas rotation on any radio station. Produced by CeCe’s talented son, Alvin Love III, this project is glossier and more grandiose than what you might expect from the soulful CeCe. Swirling strings, harp glissandos and kettle drums abound. “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” is reminiscent of that period in CCM history when contemporary versions of Handel’s Messiah seemed to proliferate (‘Soulful Messiah’ even showed up on network TV), so the album covers a lot of musical ground.
Christmas is a big holiday. Joyful, Joyful: A Christmas Album is big music and of course CeCe has a big, wonderful voice. It belongs in your collection of music for the holidays.
- Bert Saraco
4 tocks
You can see concert photography by Bert Saraco at the link below.
