::ALBUM REVIEW::

Who would have imagined in just one year, renowned pastor/prophetess/psalmist/teleevangelist Juanita Bynum released two albums of music ("Piece of My Passion", "Gospel Goes Classical"). Now add a holiday project, "Christmas At Home With Juanita Bynum", to the bunch. It may be reasonable to think Bynum may be quickly approaching overload status, but she delivers a smooth, radiant project styled in the fashion of nostalgic traditional Christmas records.

This nine-track collection disappoints immediately from its lack of song selections, but there's great music to filter through. Guided by Myron Williams and Robert "JoJo" Hill's production, this collection features a joyous fest aided by Lovell Bradford and Natalie Ragins' piano, Kemmerin Blalark's drum work, Brandon Gilliard's bass and enriching layers of string and brass arrangements from the renowned Lloyd Barry. And while most of the recording and post production takes place in multiple locations, the final product feels warm and effortless.

"The First Noel" is engaging from its first listen. Lead guitar enhances from Timothy Mole spice up the uptempo arrangement and the vamp is punctuated with the right dosage of excitement while using familiar contemporary gospel loops. "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" allows Bynum's voice to soak into a cozy, jazzy arrangement that will definitely work wonders around the fireplace. Polished music with proper placements from the musicians on this rendition launches this cut to sensual heights. The unforgettable "Mary Did You Know" is juiced with a relaxed contemporary jazz foundation and shows strong belting from Bynum on top of arousing background harmonies. Scattered within the album's list are nice renditions of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and a six-minute worshipful "O Holy Night".

A big part of the album's shortcomings lean on the void of original material. There's only one fresh cut presented here, "It's Christmas Time" and feels as if it was thrown together at the last minute. You can easily hear that weakness in the chorus ("It's Christmas time/Time to let it go/It's Christmas time/Time to let love show/It's Christmas time/Time for us to say/It's Christmas time/And Christ will have his day"). There is also a lack of uptempo cuts presented. And then there's the world introduction of Micah Stampley II on "I Stand In Awe Of You". The song is clearly a worship track and has no connection to the Christmas theme presented. That mistake alone may have been suffice if one could battle the undeveloped vocals of Stampley II. He's just too young-sounding for the mature lyrics and almost sounds as if he is forced to deliver an Easter speech. Bynum isn't the strongest ballader either - showing as she has on her previous albums that her wavering vibrato can take a turn for peculiar listening situations. Her strongest element lies in her preachy belting, but is stabilized greatly on "Christmas At Home With Juanita Bynum" to create a chemistry with the warm musical backdrop.

Even though the album is uneven in most places, the album relies on good music and mellow interpretations. While it may not be one of the better packaged holiday albums, Bynum does a good job renewing the standard pop signatures of holiday albums from yesterday and keeps the Christmas spirit alive.