Christmas Offerings

Third Day

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 10, 2006)
• Original Release Date: October 17, 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Essential
• ASIN: B000I0QKJC
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #19,466 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Christmas Offering, October 23, 2006

By	Mark Baker (Santa Clarita, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Third Day has released a great Christmas project. As with the first two "Offerings" CD's, this one mixes both live tracks and studio recordings. The live tracks feature very little talking, but the audience is obviously present. They hold up well to repeated listening.

Third Day has taken nine familiar Christmas carols and arranged them to fit their Southern Rock style. If this scares you, don't let it. Each song is still instantly recognizable, and I had no problem singing along on the first listen. While it sounds slightly different, it felt like Christmas to me. Of course, part of making it a Third Day song is lead singer Mac Powell's trademark deep voice.

"What Child is this?" is easily one of my favorite Christmas carols and their version is great. It starts with just acoustic guitar, but builds until the final chorus. By that point, the full band is playing and it has become a driving rock ballad. I also like the fact that they use a little known verse for their second verse.

They do a similar arrangement with "Do You Here What I Hear?" It flat out rocks by the final verse. I absolutely love it, as does the live audience.

While they speed up "O Holy Night" slightly (it works well as a rock ballad), they keep "Silent Night" slow. In fact, they have a nice violin intro on that song.

Since I have quite a Christmas music library, I always pay special attention to the new songs. Here, there are four of them. Three of them are great. "Born in Bethlehem" is a mid-tempo praise song to the Baby Jesus, while "Jesus, Light of the World" has a similar theme. "Christmas Like a Child" speaks of the longing to recapture the joy of Christmas. Not the longing for presents, but remembering that the season is ultimately about Jesus.

Which brings us to the final song. "Merry Christmas" is yet another in a long line of potentially depressing Christmas songs. Band member Brad Avery's real life wait to adopt a girl from China inspires it. While the final verse does have a happy resolution, I find the first two verses very sad. I will be skipping this track most of the time.

Still, this one track is not enough to ruin the CD overall. By putting their own sound on classic carols, Third Day has created a Christmas Offering I will look forward to listening to year after year.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Christmas Album Ever!, December 1, 2006

By	J. Allen (Alabama) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Let me tell you, I LOVE Christmas music. However, I'm very picky about my Christmas music. I love the hymns and traditional songs related to the real meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus. This album is a full album of my type of Christmas music. There are no songs of Rudolph or elves, but a glorious Christmas themed worship album about the Birth of Jesus.

Thank you Third Day for the great Christmas cd.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Third Day never, ever, ever disappoints., November 28, 2006

By	S. Ulrich "I have good taste, trust me." (Lancaster, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was fortunate enough to see Third Day in concert in Bethlehem, PA. I was even more fortunate to hear them play one of their new Christmas songs LIVE for the first time- it was very fitting, as well: they played Born in Bethlehem. This song is the stand-out of this album, which is full of one great song after another. I am glad they stuck with "proper" Christmas songs and didn't slide Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or Jolly Old Saint Nicholas in there.
The version of Silent Night is also particularly memorable, featuring a lovely guitar, which is the way this song was written. Beautiful! Brad Avery's Merry Christmas, the last and most poignant of the songs, is a real tear-jerker, as he writes for his little adopted Chinese daughter that he is waiting to bring home! Unbelievably sweet.
The weakest song is Christmas Like a Child, which is just dull. Not overly horrible or anything, but I could take it or leave it. The standards are all very well done, and they have that special touch that only Mac Powell can provide with that voice of his. If you are a Third Day fan, you MUST own this album. If you are simply looking for a great Christmas album that focuses on the REAL reason for the season- this is that album.