Customer Reviews

Brighter Visions Beam Afar

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The music of Innocence Mission sounds like memories. If photographs could sing, this is the music they would make. This is partially due to the sweet, soft voice of Karen Peris; and equally due to her husband's sparse, but skilled accompaniment.

In "Brighter Visions Bean Afar," we have only the second half (Don Peris), but it is sufficient. His light, almost reverent, touch renders these familiar tunes fresh. It is as if they are stripped down to the bare essence of the music, not bones, but spirit. Peris has done for these tunes what Vince Guaraldi did on his instrumental versions for the "Charlie Brown Christmas Special."

Although I am a bit perturbed they included "Little Drummer Boy," I can overlook that slight faux paux and just be grateful that he didn't include "Do You Hear What I Hear."

If you like inflatable snowglobes and Santas, the Tori Spelling remake of "A Christmas Carol," and/or the Kathie Lee Gifford renditions of Christmas tunes; this is not the album for you. But if you like driving on a moonlit night when the ice has covered the trees and snow covers everything else, the 1951 Alastair Sim version of "Scrooge", and "Gymnopedie" by Eric Satie; this is the album for you.

This album, unlike many seasonal offerings, is a very understated affair, and that is precisely why it works. Don's simple but sincere playing captures a more subdued side of Christmas. When the presents have all been opened, the friends and family have come and gone, and you are sitting in front of the Christmas tree with the lights out and the last log on the fire slowly burning out, this is exactly what you want to hear as you count your blessings and reminisce about similar days in the past.

What makes this album even more wonderful is the fact that it benefits families in need. It is a great album and it makes a wonderful gift.