Christmas Music from Phil Keaggy!

An Introduction
-- by Stephanie Bargenquast

For a long time, Phil Keaggy was one of the few musicians who, in his 30 year recording history, hadn't jumped on the Christmas music bandwagon. Well, that has changed. Since 1998 Phil has released three Christmas albums, A Christmas Gift, Majesty and Wonder (An Instrumental Christmas), and An Angel's Christmas.

Even for this die-hard Keaggy fan, things can get a bit confusing. So, here at Phil Keaggy Fans Online, we are going to attempt to clear things up a bit.

The first album, A Christmas Gift, was released by Canis Major Records (the record label of the Phil Keaggy Club) in late 1998. ACG is basically Phil and his Rolland GR30 Guitar synth plus a bit of percussion. In general, it has more of a "jolly" feeling. This album is very fun to listen to!

Majesty & Wonder (An Instrumental Christmas) was released by Word Records in Late 1999. Imagine removing all the synthesized instruments mentioned above and instead using the London Festival Orchestra! Now, throw in a few new tracks and some minor rerecording of Phil's guitar and you've got a fine album!

An Angel's Christmas is a bit of a rare find. It was released very briefly by Unison records before their break-up. You might think it would be a mixture of A Christmas Gift and Majesty and Wonder as some fans have suggested, but I assure you, it's not. It is more of a slightly remixed version of A Christmas Gift with the only major change being the artwork and removal of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen".

Now that you know a bit of history, I'll let Andy Luddy take it away and give you his reviews on A Christmas Gift and Majesty & Wonder.

Go to the review of A Christmas Gift
Go to the review of Majesty and Wonder
Go to the review of various Keaggy Christmas projects

Page Last Updated: December 15, 2001