Capitol CMG
Release Date: December 1st 2023
Reviewed by: Jonathan Andre
Michael Tait– I Believe In Christmas (EP) (Amazon mp3/iTunes)
Track Listing:
- All I Want For Christmas Is You
- Winter Wonderland
- The Christmas Song (2022)
- Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
- O Holy Night
- O Come All Ye Faithful
One of the most inspiring, honest, vulnerable, comforting, moving, thought-provoking, comforting, and confronting artists I’ve heard throughout the almost 33 years I have been alive; is the Aussie CCM band Newsboys. Comprising of Michael Tait, Jeff Frankenstein, Jody Davis, Duncan Phillips, and now Adam Agee; this 30 + year old band originated in the Sunshine Coast of Queensland. My brother Jon wrote a blog about the group a few years ago, that you can read about here, as well as his most recent reviews on the band’s album STAND from 2021, STAND (Deluxe) from last year, and their 2019 album UNITED, which reunited long-time members Phil Joel and Peter Furler for a season- for the highly popular Newsboys United tour as well! One of the bands that I was listening to starting from back in 2006 until now- it was this band amongst others that helped me expand my musical horizons beyond just Carman and Delirious?. Not that those aforementioned artists were bad in any way (check out blogs about Carman and Delirious? here and here!); but when you look at Newsboys and their impact the humble Aussie band have had on the CCM industry as a whole (read our blog about Newsboys here!)… how could you not be enamoured and impacted by their music? Songs like “Breakfast”, “Shine”, “He Reigns”, “Love Liberty Disco”, “It Is You”, “Million Pieces”, “Entertaining Angels”, “In Wonder”, “Wherever We Go”, “In The Hands Of God”, “Born Again”, “God’s Not Dead”, “We Believe”, “Guilty”, “Crazy”, “I’m Not Ashamed”, “You Are My King (Amazing Love)”, “Step Up To The Microphone”, “Stay Strong”, “Glorious”, “Lord (I Don’t Know)”, “Thrive”, “Devotion”, “Presence (My Heart’s Desire)”, “I Am Free”, “That Home” and “Live With Abandon” have all impacted my life, and most likely the lives of many people in the whole world.
Even with Michael Tait replacing Peter Furler as lead vocals back in 2009… listeners and critics have embraced Michael and welcomed this transition of lead vocals with open arms. The result is a group that has been around for over 30 years, who has presented the word of God in their songs many, many times, and a band who is unashamed of the gospel; and whose mission is to draw people closer to Jesus, regardless of how popular that may be or look like to the modern mainstream, and at times now accepted world at large. In 2019, the group released their most ambitious project in probably CCM history. UNITED featured the return of Phil Joel and Peter Furler- and you can read all about the album and our thoughts here. If you’re fascinated about Newsboys generally and their history though, you can read their Wikipedia… but since a couple of weeks ago is when lead singer of Newsboys Michael Tait released his brand new Christmas project I Believe In Christmas; well I’d say that it’s time to let you all know my thoughts of this Christmas project, and give you all my two cents’ worth, don’t you think?
When there’s such a successful lead singer change like Newsboys have had, it’s easy to forget that the lead singer may have had an equally popular or maybe equally fulfilling and satisfying career prior to being a lead singer of a famous band. For Michael, that was being a co-lead singer of dcTalk; but he was also an accomplished solo singer as well (under the moniker TAIT), with a couple of albums (here and here) released. And such, it really shouldn’t be a surprise that Michael found the time to record a Christmas project. What does give me pause for concern, is that these 6 melodies are all covers of holiday songs and carols, with no originals whatsoever. Yet when we peel back the layers of Michael’s release, and strip away all of the preconceptions of how we want a Christmas album to sound like; then we can truly see this project for what it is- a solid, dependable holiday EP that isn’t perfect nor reinvents the wheel of Christmas music, but still shows us a professional and accomplished vocalist, and the true reason for the season. This EP has a musical undertone of jazz and R&B and gospel and soul, and I am loving the upbeat and jazzy arrangements of classics like “All I Want For Christmas Is You”, “The Christmas Song”, and “Winter Wonderland”. “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”, at just over 5 minutes, is probably the only skippable song here, as it’s overplayed immensely on many other artists’ Christmas albums; while “O Holy Night” is my favourite carol of all, and is near-flawless in its rendition here, although I do have a bias toward the worshipful melody. “O Come All Ye Faithful” ends this short but punchy EP, and though short at just over 2 minutes, reminds us that Jesus was born and is alive, and that is reason enough to praise Him and give Him all the honour and glory!
What more can I say about I Believe In Christmas, that I haven’t mentioned already? Personally, I reckon this holiday EP is a solid and powerful entry into the catalogue of Michael’s solo work. But if you’re perturbed by the fact that this is a solo release and not a band release, than this EP probably won’t work for you. But I’d say check it out anyway, as you never know if your new favourite Christmas rendition will be present on this EP or not. And so, I will say this: well done Michael Tait, for this brand-new Christmas EP, that inspires and provides hope and security in Jesus Christ. I can’t wait to hear what God has in store for you, and for Newsboys, next in the future!
3 songs to listen to: All I Want For Christmas Is You, The Christmas Song, O Holy Night
Score: 4/5
RIYL: Audio Adrenaline, Newsboys 1.0, Stellar Kart, DC Talk