Audio Review: Brian Free & Assurance – BFA Christmas

by | Nov 28, 2018 | CD Reviews, Reviews

November 23 – Brian Free & Assurance – BFA Christmas (EPCD)

Click HERE to hear the entire EP on YouTube.

BFA Christmas is a 5-song seasonal EP from Brian Free & Assurance that released to retail outlets last week. All five songs are familiar classics with fresh arrangements in the trademark hard-hitting style we’ve come to associate with Brian Free & Assurance in recent years.

“It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” and “O Come All Ye Faithful” each have a driving energy. “The First Noel” relaxes the mood a bit to feature Free and provides a stylistic contrast to the other four songs. While there are no completely new songs on BFA Christmas, “Gloria” adds a new melody on the chorus and a bridge to the well-known “Angels We Have Heard On High” lyric. The foot stays on the gas pedal for the concluding track, “It Came Upon The Midnight Clear.”

Singers often abandon the styles they are known for singing when they decide to do a Christmas recording, opting instead to try to sound like Bing Crosby or Perry Como. That isn’t the case here. The styles you’ll hear on BFA Christmas would not sound out of place at all on a regular BFA recording. I would have preferred to hear a new song or two, but if a group is going to limit a project to well-known classics, remolding the familiar material in styles the group does best is the ideal approach.

Songs: It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year; O Come All Ye Faithful; The First Noel; Gloria; It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
Rating: 4 1/2 Stars
Release Date: November 23, 2018

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David Bruce Murray

David Bruce Murray

David Bruce Murray is a church music director in Ellenboro, NC. He is the author of Murray's Encyclopedia Of Southern Gospel Music and the owner of both SGHistory.com and MusicScribe.com.

1 Comment

  1. Dave Fox

    I enjoyed it! Straight ahead BFA style as advertised. Well done in my opinion and I like the change up on the songs. Very well done

    Reply

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