Sparrow Records
Released October 9, 2012
Reviewed by Emily Kjonaas
Josh Wilson – Noel (Amazon MP3)
Josh Wilson is a solo artist that I enjoy listening to so I was excited to be able to review this Christmas project of his. This album is a follow-up to his immensely popular Christmas tour, Noel: A Unique Christmas Experience, which is now going to be in its third year. Josh Wilson is finally releasing his first full-length Christmas CD: Noel.
Beginning the record is an instrumental “The First Noel”. And when I say instrumental, I mean a song without lyrics. It was kind of disappointing; I was waiting and waiting for lyrics to a song I enjoy to start. However, no lyrics appear in this song and it could be said that it’s just an intro to a CD. Following is Josh’s number 1 Christmas single of 2011, “Jesus Is Alive”.
Some popular tunes on this album are “Go Tell It On The Mountain”, “Do You Hear What I Hear”, “Emmanuel”, and “Angels We Have Heard On High”. Track 8 is yet another instrumental song on Noel, the ever-beautiful “Carol Of The Bells”. Even though this track doesn’t have the lyrics with it either, it’s a beautiful arrangement of instruments, with a just bit of background vocals. I’m not sure how you can get background vocals on a song that doesn’t have any vocals, but this one does.
Making an appearance on Noel are Wilson’s originals: “Christmas Changes Everything”, “Almost Christmas”, and “Once A Year”. These are great original songs that Christmas music fans will love.
Overall this is a good record. However, one of my favorite Christmas songs is “The First Noel”, mainly because it’s one of the first they taught me in Sunday school. And it was a little saddening to see that Josh didn’t put his voice into the lyrics. The rest of the CD makes up for the lacking intro and Noel is a must-have Christmas album for Josh Wilson fans and Christmas music fans alike.
Score: 3/5
Track List:
- The First Noel
- Jesus Is Alive
- Go Tell It On The Mountain
- Do You Hear What I Hear
- Christmas Changes Everything
- Almost Christmas
- Emmanuel
- Carol Of The Bells
- Angels We Have Heard On High
- Once A Year
Ugh, too much Christmas music on CMZ homepage right now! lol
its not our fault! its the industry! they come out w/ this stuff early!
I actually love listening to Christmas music around October. September is a tad too early, but since, I’m a reviewer; I’ve learnt to embrace listening to Christmas music in August and September. But yeah, Christmas albums release way to early in my opinion. I mean, Jeremy Camp Christmas album in September? That’s so wrong! lol
I disagree! I love instrumentals; I first saw Josh live and his guitar is what really stood out to me, and I think his instrumentals are a way to make it shine. (Amazing Grace?!) Everyone knows the lyrics, it’s just the guitar singing this time. Definitely checking out this CD.