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There are roughly a million Christmas albums out there.  The differences between Sojourn's Songs for the Advent and most of them are readily apparent:

1) Sojourn has nothing to do with the commercialism and cashing in associated with many projects in this vein.

2) This disc is a mixture of original songs and new arrangements of standards, but all of the standards are associated with the birth of Christ and not some cartoon character created for television ratings.

Of the standards, "O Come O Come Emmanuel" and "What Child is This?" fare the best, with the latter featuring Rebecca Dennison's vocals.  "John 1" is a reading of the first chapter of the Gospel, as paraphrased by a theology professor.  "The Shepherds, Part II" is subtitled "a duet for guitar and crickets" and emphasizes the stillness of the fields surrounding the area of Christ's birth.

"The Birth, the Visit, The Escape" is a companion soundtrack to the Scriptures detailing the earliest events of Christ's life.  "Glory Be" celebrates His birth, while pointing to His return.  

Songs for the Advent caught me off guard just slightly.  It is well conceived, has a natural flow to it, and could almost serve as a musical program in a church setting.  Jeremy Quillo and his friends have done some good work here.

Brian A. Smith   3/5/2006