Christmas Music from Phil Keaggy!

This feature is divided up into three sections, a review of A Christmas Gift, a review of Majesty and Wonder and a review of some of Phil's other Christmas projects.

Majesty & Wonder (An Instrumental Christmas
by Andy Luddy

And now for the question that tugs at the heart of every hard-core Keag-head: Would you rather hear Phil with well arranged orchestral accompaniment, or keep Phil's guitar on center stage, but at the expense of synth accompaniment? And the answer is: It depends. See below.

What Child is This? (aka Greensleeves)# - Improved over the A Christmas Gift version, but not changed much. Mostly just real strings and such instead if guitar synth. Phil's guitar is still beautiful (big surprise). And the jangly chimes are gone.

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring - Two or three guitar parts, plus string accompaniment. The strings do not attempt to overpower the guitar, which is of course as it should be.

Good Christian Men Rejoice# - The synth-sounding synth is replaced by flutes and stuff. This song is much improved, and more Celtic-folk sounding than spacey, like on A Christmas Gift. Reminds me a bit of Enya.

Silent Night# - Not changed much. Maybe a little smoother.

Coventry Carol# - Well the real flute is an improvement, but they got a little heavy handed with the strings, and it sort of overpowers Phil's guitar some. This sounds more like an orchestral arrangement of the song featuring the guitar prominently. Which is not a BAD thing, it's just that we Keag-heads are a greedy lot...

O Come O Come Emmanuel# - The opening (which I mentioned above) is improved with a clearer mix, and the addition of low strings. There is some of what sounds like Harp (but not a Glass one) added as well. A good song is made even better.

For Hearth and Home# - Basically the same version, it seems to me. Maybe a cleaner mix, which brightens the sound (in fact that appears to be the case in general).

Do You Hear What I Hear?# - The orchestra adds just the right touches to this song. It maybe downplays the march sound just a bit (which I had liked on A Christmas Gift), in a few spots, but in others the horns emphasize the militant sound. It now makes me think for some reason of Tchaikovsky. Hmm, can you imagine the 1812 Overture with guitars???

The First Noel# - The strings are well used here, adding just the right touch. Say, can you imagine a new version of The Wind and the Wheat with the London Symphony Orchestra?

Nativity Suite
- Visitation - A very nice clasical-sounding piece. The sound puts me in the mind of Spring, which if Christ was born in December (I know, he probably wasn't), then the visitation would have occurred in the spring. In fact, Catholics celebrate this on March 25th (nine months before Christmas, get it?).
- Shepherd's Song - I like this piece, but it somehow doesn't convey shepherd's to me at all. It has a sort of Summer's day feel to it,, IMO.
- Flight into Egypt - This starts off sounding like the song "Carol of the Bells", then moves into a fast paced bit that somehow has a Middle Eastern sound to me. It captures the subject much better for me. The mix of orchestra, acoustic guitar, and electric guitar is excellent! It has a movie soundtrack feel to it.

O Holy Night!# - I think some different guitar parts were recorded for this, rather than just adding orchestra over what Phil had done. I like it better. It just seems to work, where the A Christmas Gift version just didn't quite (for me any ways. YMMV)

# also on A Christmas Gift

Find more information on Majesty and Wonder.

Back to the introduction
Go to the review of A Christmas Gift
Go to the review of various Keaggy Christmas projects

Page Last Updated: December 15, 2001