A Star In The East - A Spiritual Christmas
Thomas Young
Ocean Records, 1997
REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 12/02/1998
I normally don't sit on records for a year after I receive
promotional copies in the mail. But I had to make an exception in
the case of
A Star In The East - A Spiritual Christmas from Thomas
Young. You see, the disc arrived in the mail a short time after
Christmas had passed, and it would have seemed very strange to be
reviewing a Christmas album in January. Fortunately, my friends at
Ocean Records (as well as another label, whose disc also suffered
the same fate, and will be reviewed later this week) were very
understanding and patient.
Young (who made an appearance on "The Daily Vault" earlier this
year with
Claire De Lune And Sister Moon), along with The American
Pops Orchestra and Timeline (Choral Ensemble), put a spin on
Christmas music that many people have forgotten about. With all the
sanitized, sterilized music we hear in the shopping malls at this
time of year, Young tries to remind us just what the season really
is about - and he does this with twelve songs that focus on the
spiritual aspect of the holidays.
Now, from the description of the disc, you'd probably expect
this to be gospel-based - and I was happily prepared to settle in
for an afternoon of gospel chorus fronted by Young's rich tenor. In
fact, there is very little gospel (at least in the sense that many
people know it) in
A Star In The East - and I was more than a tad disappointed
at that.
Having made this admission, I also have to come forth and say
that the music contained herein is quite good, once you've made the
adjustment to it. Both a collection of songs to worship the season
to and a primer in black history ("Rockin' J", which is the least
Christmas-like to me), I can understand why I got this disc in
between Christmas and Black History Month.
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