Christmas: The Album for Holiday Spirit: by Jedi Teen

Francesca Battistelli’s album Christmas was produced by Ian Eskelin, published by Fervent/Curb Records, and consists of eleven tracks. While many are traditional, the album includes four original tracks written by Battistelli and her collaborators. While Francesca is the current leading singer on Christian record labels, I do not enjoy her albums because of her fame, but mainly because of her music. She has a strong voice, good range, and she brings fun to her songs, even when making a point. She is also good at writing slow ballads, as well as those bouncy, get-up-and-dance songs.

Track one on Christmas is “The Christmas Song”, which Francesca has added her own flair to, as well as keeping the traditional lightheartedness of the song. Let the “kids from one to ninety-two” enjoy.

The first original track on the album is “Heaven Everywhere” which incorporates bits of the famous carol “Angles we Have Heard on High”. The point of the song is that during the Christmas season, Heaven seems to be everywhere, and people feel closer to God.

“Christmas Is”, is a collaboration by Francesca Battistelli, Ian Eskelin, and Tony Wood. While there are many humorous lines in the song such as, “Christmas is Snoopy and Charlie Brown”, “It’s praying for some place to park at the mall,” “It’s Mom going crazy ‘cause the turkey got burned,” and “Saying thanks for some gift you’ll return”, the main point is that “Christmas is Jesus!” At this point, you’ll want to say, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

Track four is a beautiful arrangement of “The First Noel”, and “What Child is This?”, which are two of my favorite carols.

Once again we move from profound to silly at Christmas with Francesca’s bouncy rendition of “Marshmallow World.” You are sure to get this one stuck in your head!

Perhaps my favorite Christmas carol is “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” (You should check out Enya’s Latin version). Christmas is so much more than fluffy marshmallows!

My Mom was commenting that many female singers have trouble with the sentimental song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” She said that they either sing it flat, or get the pacing wrong. I think that Francesca is one singer who gets it right. She takes all of the sadness away from the song and turns it into a bouncy song about future Christmases together, the only lyrical change being that she changes “fates allow,” into “Lord allows”. She also has fun, and does not sound like she is trying to hard to get it right.

“You’re Here”, is a profoundly beautiful original song written from Mary’s perspective (much like Amy Grant’s “Breath of Heaven”).

On track nine, Francesca adds her own style to “Joy to the World”. The  good pacing, not too slow or too fast, and simple guitar work sell this traditional song.

“Christmas Dreams” is another hit from Francesca, Ian, and Tony. This is a song about how we are “never too old for Christmas dreams”, and one that future generations will enjoy.

The final track is “Go, Tell it on the Mountain”. Francesca puts a slow pace on this song, and makes it a great way to end an album.

You can buy this at Christian bookstores or online. Francesca’s other albums are My Paper Heart, Hundred More Years, and If We’re Honest. Enjoy!