Oh, goodie. It's another City on a Hill spinoff. I thought they were done with this series... what's the deal?

I try to approach the music that is sent to me for review in as unbiased a fashion as I can. But sometimes, I've got to admit to myself before listening to something that there's an extremely low chance of me actually liking it. Come Let Us Adore Him: A Christmas Worship Experience is one of those albums - and it's not because I hate Christmas music. Andrew Peterson's excellent Christmas album from last year proved to me that holiday-themed albums could be artistically viable and enjoyable past December 25th. No, the reason for my distaste before even hearing a note of this particular album is due to my general boredom with the overhyped City on a Hill series of multi-artist worship albums, and the statement by creators Steve Hindalong and Marc Byrd that the third album in that series (fourth if you count City on a Hill: It's Christmas Time) would be the end of it. Not even a year later, a collection of leftovers with a few new tracks was released, strategically titled The Christ: His Passion to tie in with a rather well-known movie being released at around that time. That was supposed to be part one in a series of three, and thankfully the other two never showed up - but I think I'm getting a retooled version of Part II, which was supposed to focus on Christ's birth, in this seemingly new package. To their credit, they haven't reused any older recordings. But pretty much everything on this CD treads old ground, and quite frankly, I'm getting tired of having to listen to these City albums.

Let's say you've never heard a City on a Hill album. What can you expect when you pop one in? Generally, there's a peaceful atmosphere of worship, in a largely acoustic setting, and big-name CCM vocalists (mostly from the roster of Essential Records, the label that the series belongs to, which means you'll be hearing a lot of Caedmon's Call, Third Day, Jars of Clay, etc.) split up the singing duties to give each album a bit of a community feel. Great idea in principle, and it has resulted in a few memorable classics, but for the most part, it's a vehicle for rather dull and lifeless praise choruses from the pens of Byrd and Hindalong to reach an audience who probably wouldn't be as interested if it were just them singing the songs. I can appreciate the intent, but the results are generally under whelming. A common theme among these albums is working in lyrics and/or melody lines from well-known hymns, which was pretty cool when I first recognized snippets of "Holy, Holy, Holy" in the middle of the now-classic "God of Wonders", but it's done the same way almost every time - a long-since worn out idea. The Christmas version is, not surprisingly, to have bells ringing out pieces of familiar carols here and there. If I had never heard an album from this series before, I suppose my reaction might be more favorable, but we still wouldn't be looking at a collection that really puts me in a holiday mood. The best thing I can really say is that it's OK for background music and it at least won't make you barf by trying to jazz up some sentimental Christmas song like "I'll be Home for Christmas" or whatever. The focus is, understandably, on new compositions and spiritual Christmas carols, and the spiritual ones have always been my favorites anyway. (When they're not being played in a boring way, or only featured in small snippets, that is.)

Honestly, I can't figure out why intelligent artists (Essential still has a few who have survived their unfortunate transition from cutting edge, youth-friendly label to play-it-safe, trend-following label) continue to participate in these things. Sometimes they still do a good job, but for the most part, I'm dreaming of a blaaaaaaahhh Christmas.

Sanctus
Taking more of a classical approach with the first track isn't a bad way to go. Newcomer Ana Laura, whom I know absolutely nothing about, sings this ancient Latin text over a brief introductory interlude of piano, chimes, and strings. She's got a little bit of brass to her voice, giving me visions of a younger Rachael Lampa or Jaci Velasquez. It's pretty, if somewhat incomplete-sounding.

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord
There's an unwritten rule that track 1 or 2 on pretty much every City album must be a carefully measured, mid-tempo worship anthem that unimaginatively mimics "God of Wonders" in its instrumentation and chord structure. All they really do is change up who gets to lead the song - in this case, it's folk artist Bebo Norman paired with Caedmon's Call's Danielle Young, singing what amounts to a half-song based on another ancient text (this time in English - "Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, Heaven and Earth are filled with Your glory"). The two-minute length makes the album feel like it's got two intro tracks before it gets to an actual song - and nothing stands out here but the steady acoustic guitar strumming.

Here with Us
The album's centerpiece song comes early - too early if you ask me. The spotlight shines on teen pop singer Joy Williams for a piano ballad that feels like it honestly belongs somewhere farther in. Nevertheless, it's a surprisingly strong and beautiful song, which Joy co-wrote with Jason Ingram and Ben Glover. The lyrics ponder the paradox of how infinite power could be manifested in something as tiny and fragile as a human baby. We've all heard those analogies on other CCM Christmas albums, but it's poetic lyrics like "It's a mystery to me how His infant eyes had seen the dawn of time" that really drive the paradox home. The song sounds like it's destined for show-stopping climactic moments of youth group Christmas plays - and in this case, that ain't a bad thing.

Hail Almighty King
I'm not exactly sure what happened to Andrew Peterson this year. I've always respected him as a songwriter, and he put out that aforementioned Christmas album that I really like, but this year, his new stuff kinda bored me. The song that he and Derri Daugherty came up with here is another example of that - breezy but ineffectual AC pop set to a frustratingly familiar melody. I could sing the praise chorus "Come, Lord Jesus Come" (from "All Who Are Thirsty") over the chorus of "Hail Almighty King" and it fits perfectly. Cliff Young and Andrew Osenga, the male vocal anchors of Caedmon's Call, share lead duties here, and unlike their work on the band's Share the Well, absolutely nothing about it is striking. Original songs on Christmas albums really need to stand out, or they're even more prone to getting the skip button pressed on them than filler tracks on normal CD's, 'cause you know, most folks just want to get to the carols unless something else really grabs them.

Messiah Has Come
This song marks the much-awaited return of Cindy Morgan to the world of Christian music. It's been about four years since we've heard anything from her, and I'm highly anticipating her new album in 2006. For the time being, though, I'll have to settle for her vocal take on another Hindalong/Byrd collaboration. It's interesting to hear her in more of a folk setting, with gently picked guitar, contemplative cello, and some bells and synths providing a little bit of ambience. Cindy takes a rather mild-mannered song and does her best to flavor it with layered background vocals - really, the fact that it's Cindy's lovely voice that we're hearing is the only interesting thing about the song. The lyrics are little more than a modern reshuffling of lyrics from carols such as "O Come All Ye Faithful" and maybe a few Amy Grant Christmas classics.

King of Angels
Now here's a perverse pairing for a Christmas album. Avril Lavigne wannabe Krystal Meyers teams up with Day of Fire's Joshua Brown (you know, the guy who used to be in Full Devil Jacket) for one of the album's more upbeat numbers. Krystal thankfully keeps the whining to a minimum and actually sounds more mature on this one, which isn't too bad, and Joshua's grittier growl is mostly kept to a minimum. It's another standard, poppy praise song that sounds pleasant on the surface, but isn't memorable in the long run, other than perhaps for how it works in a few lines from "Angels, We Have Heard on High". I can understand the attempt to recast old carols in modern English, but when most of the old melodies are lost, it's extremely difficult to accomplish the timeless feeling that Christmas albums are really supposed to have.

O Come All Ye Faithful
Joshua Brown gets to fly solo for a reflective rendition of the carol which provides the album's title (in its well-known chorus of "O come let us adore Him", of course). His deep voice is an awful fit for this sort of a song (imagine Scott Stapp trying to be John Denver and you'll get the idea), and just to make things weirder, the song cuts off after the first line of the second verse. I guess they thought it'd be really witty to have Christine Byrd (Marc Byrd's wife, the other half of the snooze-inspiring duo GlassByrd) take over the song at that point and pretend to be a choir of angels with her multiple layers of ethereal singing. That's it - that's the whole song. One minute and 44 seconds of frustrating pointlessness.

Silver Starlight
I guess this is supposed to be the celebration song of the album. It does stand out a little more with its catchy melody, it's glistening electric guitar part, and the perky vocals of Cliff and Danielle Young (not exactly a creative pairing, but at least it makes some sense). It's a song of adoration for the newborn Christ, depicting the radiant glow on the child's face. Not much is done with the idea to make it memorable, but it screams "radio single", which is likely the effect they were going for.

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
Interesting thing about Jars of Clay - whenever they do one of these City albums, they're never paired with other vocalists ("With Every Breathe", which Dan Haseltine did with Leigh Nash, excepted), and they either write their own material or cover something traditional. Smart lads! Here, they do a fairly conservative take on a classic that I've always considered to be one of the mellower Christmas carols out there (i.e. it generally isn't sung in a way that makes it build to big climax like your average rendition of "O Holy Night" or whatever). The band does it justice by giving it a folk/country take in keeping with the hymns covered on their Redemption Songs album - nothing outstanding, but it's pleasant. I'm not about to jump up and down for joy just because Jars is my favorite band, but at least I can generally count on them to not annoy me.

Manger Throne
Back to the world of interesting vocal pairings - here we've got Third Day, led by the inspiring (albeit way overexposed) Southern voice of Mac Powell, with songwriter Julie Miller (who has a little girl-ish voice) and Derri Daugerty singing backup. I believe they've redone this one from an earlier take recorded for City on a Hill: It's Christmas Time, but it's different vocalists, so I'll let it slide. There's a fiddle weaving in and out of the 6/8 rhythm, which is a nice touch, and the voices blend together quite nicely, so this turns out to be one of the highlights (albeit an easy one to miss). I like the analogy of what is essentially an animal feeding trough, which is where Jesus was placed upon His birth, to a majestic throne in Heaven. Not a whole lot is done to really unpack the metaphor, but at this point, I don't expect to be blown away, so "pleasant" will work for me. Hey, there's a xylophone playing a snippet of "Away in a Manger". I'll admit to being slightly amused.

Mary's Prayer
Why Bebo Norman is singing "Mary's Prayer" is beyond me (well, other than the fact that he wrote it). I've heard much more interesting Christmas songs written from the perspective of the mother of Jesus (including the famous "Breath of Heaven"), and this slow, dull, electric guitar-driven lullaby just isn't cutting it for me. OK, so maybe Bebo's mild, husky voice is well-suited for lullabies, but that ain't exactly a compliment. Christine Byrd, who hasn't really done anything interesting ever since she ceased to be Christine Glass, breaks in at one point with half a verse from the slowest rendition of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" ever, sealing the coffin on an unbelievably boring song.

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord (Reprise)
OK, so the reprise is 9 seconds longer than the original song. What the... ? They've chosen to close out the album with echoing voices repeating lines from the original song while the church bells that get so overused in every City album ring out the chorus of "O Come All Ye Faithful" - it would be a beautiful way to close the album if the song in question had been at least halfway interesting. Other than trying to pick out which voice from the ensemble belongs to which person, there's nothing notable going on here.

And that's the album. Like the bows that people put on Christmas gifts, and which most of our mothers insist on saving and stuffing in the closet somewhere for God knows what reason, this album is pretty but generally useless. And that's all I have to say about that. Take my advice, and give yourself a much merrier Christmas by listening to pretty much anything else.

ALBUM WORTH:
Sanctus $.50
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord $0
Here with Us $1.50
Hail Almighty King $0
Messiah Has Come $1
King of Angels $.50
O Come All Ye Faithful -$.50
Silver Starlight $.50
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear $1
Manger Throne $1
Mary's Prayer $0
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord (Reprise) $0
TOTAL: $5.50

Recommended: No