4Him

Item: Season of Love
Author: Beau Black

Season of Love

Reviewed by Beau Black

Apple Music TIDAL YouTube Music

Label Benson Music GroupThe LighthouseDecember 1996

adult contemporary ccm pop

One mark of a great Christmas album is that you want to listen to it more than just one month out of the year. 4Him's The Season Of Love fits that bill-mainly because half of its ten tracks are original compositions. That helps make this a standout project-and one of my favorite Christmas albums since its original release two years ago. It's being re-released this year with new packaging and artwork.

Mark Harris, the group's chief songwriter, penned four of the five new cuts, and they're the project's best. The title cut lays a groove reminiscent of several tracks from The Basics Of Life, punctuated by horns under Kirk Sullivan's blue-eyed soul delivery. "A Night To Remember" is an up-tempo track, led by Harris, that updates "O Holy Night" (and includes an interpretation of the carol at the song's end). If you've listened to the radio around Christmas time the last two years, you've probably heard "A Strange Way To Save The World," a pretty ballad that envisions Joseph's response to God's choosing him to be part of His plan for our salvation. My favorite track is another ballad, "In Your Care," which focuses on the image of God placing himself in man's care as a helpless infant-and His promise to keep us in His care until He returns. Musically and lyrically, these tracks deserve repeated listenings for many seasons to come.

The traditional offerings here don't quite measure up to the standard set by the new tunes, though. Most of the carols-"White Christmas," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," and a medley-were arranged by Ralph Carmichael (of the Young Messiah and Emmanuel tour productions) in a big-band style. They're pretty, but don't match the more intense pop flavor of the other tracks. Better are the more modern versions of "Drummer Boy" and "Do You Hear What I Hear?" The balance of the softer tracks with the more up-tempo ones may make this an album that the whole family can get into. But it's those new songs that'll still be playing in your head after you've taken down the Christmas tree.