Description
Christmas Songs is the eighth studio album by the American alternative pop band Jars of Clay, independently released on the band’s own label Gray Matters in October 2007. This is the first ever release from the band through their newly created Gray Matters imprint via Nettwerk Music Group. The album was recorded at Sputnik Sound in Nashville, Tennessee; with the band producing.
In 2007 as the contract with Sony BMG (and Sony BMG’s Christian sub-label Essential Records) ended, the group began recording Christmas Songs, selecting a range of established and well known Christmas Carols, some lesser known songs and some original songs to present for this project. The album was recorded in one-take recording sessions, a recording method only used once before by the band, in their prior studio album Good Monsters. This recording method meant that the majority of the time spent on the album was spent in pre-production, arranging the songs, practicing the songs before entering the studio to record them.
Previously the band had released one Christmas EP named Drummer Boy. They also contributed their original Christmas song “Bethlehem Town” to the multi-artist project It’s Christmas Time, a part of the City on a Hill series. In 2004, Jars of Clay appeared on the collection entitled Maybe This Christmas Tree with their lighter “Christmas for Cowboys” alongside artists such as Lisa Loeb, Ivy and Copeland. In 2005 Jars of Clay returned to the Christmas classics to cover “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” on the collection Come Let Us Adore Him: A Christmas Worship Experience.
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/christmas-songs-bonus-track-version/263963117)
CD tracklist:
01. The Gift of St. Cecilia – 1:22
02. Wonderful Christmastime – 3:38
03. Love Came Down At Christmas – 3:02
04. O, Little Town of Bethlehem – 4:42
05. Hibernation Day – 2:59
06. Winter Skin – 3:00
07. Peace Is Here – 4:09
08. God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen – 3:44
09. Evergreen – 2:45
10. Christmastime Is Here – 3:22
11. Drummer Boy – 4:36
12. Gabriel’s Message – 2:08
13. In the Bleak Midwinter – 4:36
14. I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day – 5:32
Note: Simultaneously released as a 12-inch vinyl double LP and CD by Gray Matters.
“Love Came Down At Christmas” (VIDEO)
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