TobyMac – Christmas In Diverse City
Nov 25, 2011 CD Reviews
Posted by
wiegmake
TobyMac
Christmas In Diverse City
Grade – C+
It’s that time of year, when Christmas music begins to infiltrate every aspect of our lives. Old and new holiday favorites alike are heard seemingly everywhere we go! It’s been a great season for new Christmas music and TobyMac (and DiverseCity) friends are joining the ranks with their first ever Christmas album!
The album starts off with “Christmas This Year”, TobyMac’s previous holiday single. It’s a catchy track, definitely following in his signature style with a surprising guest appearance from Leigh Nash! Owl City (Adam Young) joins in the holiday fun with “The First Noel”. He and Toby echo back and forth in a fun, unique, upbeat rendition of this Christmas classic. It was an interesting take on the song. Jamie Grace lends her talents in “Mary’s Boy Child” with a fresh, almost summery tone. “O Come All Ye faithful” was definitely a favorite of mine. (This is a remix of a version featured on Wow Hits: Christmas).
The second half of the album focuses almost entirely on the DiverseCity band and less on Toby. While this was a great idea and gave the others a chance to stand in the spotlight, unfortunately, most of them don’t stand out, and I don’t see them being well-received by most people. Nirva Ready did provide a beautiful twist on “Angels We Have Heard On High”. While this portion of the album definitely had spirit and heart, the remixes on the selection of Christmas classics didn’t do much for me (especially the Toddiefunk track.)
The first half of the album had great momentum and definitely delivered what TobyMac fans would be expecting from him. The guest appearances were great and definitely make the album worth it. The second half, however, was not what I was expecting, and after a few listens, I still can’t manage to make it through a few of the songs. Everyone definitely will have different opinions on the second portion, but I suggest checking the album out nonetheless.
- Tom F.
