Reviewed by Matthew Cordle

Named after Mark Schultz's song "When Love Was Born," this Christmas compilation comprises 15 songs (though many available on the artists' own releases) performed by a bevy of top American singers. Without exception all are performed and produced to the highest level, if perhaps sometimes demonstrating a rather sugary approach for British ears. Having said that, there are some highlights: Downhere's moving "How Many Kings" ("How many kings step down from their thrones. . . Only one did that for me") is a great Christmas song without a sleigh bell in earshot; Mark Schultz's emotive title track declares "The world was changed for evermore when love was born" in a Richard Marx-style ballad; Natalie Grant's "I Believe" poignantly reflects on the baby Jesus being born for the cross; Randy Travis' earthy country interpretation of Andrew Peterson's classic "Labor Of Love" is hugely moving and powerfully removes any trace of the sanitized version of the Christmas story; and Francesca Battistelli's sweet song from Mary's perspective, ("Look at your hands, they're still so small/Someday you're gonna stretch them out and save us all"). In contrast, Point Of Grace's "Tennessee Christmas" is simply piffle and I'm not very convinced by Needtobreathe performing "Go Tell It On The Mountain".

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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This 15-song collection features your favourite Christian artists singing their favorite Christmas songs and carols.

Five of these songs are appearing on CD for the very first time including tunes from Francesca Battistelli, Mark Schultz, NEEDTOBREATHE, Chris Sligh and Aaron Shust.