NehoSoul Christmas!

Description

NehoSoul Christmas! is a Christmas album by Bryan Duncan & The NehoSoul Band, independently released on Red Road Records in 2005. The album was produced by Phil Curry. Mixed by Randy Thomas.

A staple of CCM radio in the ’80s and much of the ’90s, Bryan Duncan continues his journey on the comeback trail (after a live album earlier this year) with a NehoSoul Christmas. Whether or not it solicits new business, Duncan should have no trouble ingratiating himself with his old fan base.

Though a blurb on the front insert insists that Duncan and his Neho Soul’sters proffer “100% authentic Holiday soul music,” they get more diverse than that appellation implies. For starters, the set opens with the Amos Milburn oldie «Christmas Comes but Once a Year», a lament for the holiday’s monetary toll that could do Brian Setzer’s swing band proud as it’s heard here.

Toward album’s end, Duncan sounds to be making plays for smooth jazz radio spins. His smoky vocals and subdued arrangements make that a possibility on what they do with «Oh, Holy Night» and Beth Nielsen Chapman and Michael McDonald’s «Peace» make that a pleasant possibility.

Elsewhere, Duncan sounds to be all about paying homage not so much to the baby Savior, but some of his (not His) R&B influences. Their «Winter Wonderland» finds the middle ground between Stevie Wonder’s «Higher Ground» and «Isn’t She Lovely». The charts they bring out for «Have Youself a Merry Little Christmas» bear some resemblance to those for Natile Cole’s mid-’70s debut hit, «This Will Be», but that’s no bad thing.

Duncan does well by songs that few should dare try, if only because definitive versions already exist. A NehoSoul rendering of Vince Guaraldi’s «Christmas Time Is Here» may not have you forgetting the original children’s chorus version from the first Peanuts cartoon special, but Duncan does it justice. Ditto «What A Wonderful World», though anyone would be hard pressed to top Louis Armstrong at it.

Though not quite packing the resonance of hits like «Blue Skies» and «Love Takes Time», Duncan’s NehoSoul Christmas present is not a waste of good aluminum. Here’s to hearing him back in regular rotation soon. [Jamie Lee Rake, The Phantom Tollbooth, 11/30/2005]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/a-nehosoul-christmas/718379864)

CD tracklist:

01. Christmas Comes but Once a Year – 4:12
02. Silent Night – 4:36
03. This Christmas – 4:09
04. Winter Wonderland – 3:06
05. Christmas Time Is Here – 4:10
06. Little Drummer Boy – 4:39
07. Oh, Holy Night – 4:41
08. Peace – 4:36
09. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – 3:22
10. What a Wonderful World – 3:00