''The Magic of Christmas'' is an album by

Joy Electric Joy Electric is the brand label for a series of electropop/synthpop productions by Ronnie Martin. Martin began producing music under the Joy Electric name in 1994, after the demise of Dance House Children, a band Ronnie was in with his brother ...

. It was released as a digital-only album in October 2003, by

Tooth and Nail Records Tooth & Nail Records is a Christian rock record label founded by Brandon Ebel in California in November 1993. The label later moved to Seattle, Washington where it is situated today. It is home to many well-known musical acts, including Underoat ...

Release

''The Magic of Christmas'' was released on October 21, 2003, by Tooth and Nail Records, available only as a digital download. The album's release was promoted in ''

CMJ New Music Monthly CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

''. The album is Joy Electric's first holiday record. Nine of the ten songs are covers of Christmas classics, while "Lollipop Parade" is an original composition. "Winter Wonderland" and "Lollipop Parade" had been featured on previous albums.

Critical reception

Trae Cadenhead, writing for The Phantom Tollbooth, awarded the album a score of 2 out of 5, and felt that "most of the album's songs are tolerable," highlighting "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "Holly Jolly Christmas," and "Frosty the Snowman" as standouts, but criticized the album's brevity and the fact that two of the songs had been featured on earlier Joy Electric records. In contrast, Matt Modrich, also writing for The Phantom Tollbooth, awarded the album a score of 3 out of 5; although he questioned the album's focus on secular songs and likewise criticized the album's short length, he concluded that the album is "a synth-pop delight that may be the thing since Amy Grant's '' A Christmas Album''."

Track listing

#"Angels We Have Heard on High" (1:48) #"Deck the Halls" (1:43) #"Have Yourself A Merry Christmas" (2:11) #"Winter Wonderland" (2:20) #"Holly Jolly Christmas" (2:42) #"Lollipop Parade (On Christmas Morn')" (3:08) #"Frosty the Snowman" (2:16) #"Let It Snow" (2:25) #"What Child Is This?" (2:22) #"Here We Come A Wassailing" (1:11)

Credits

Adapted from Tooth and Nail's website. *Ronnie Martin — vocals, synthesizers

References

Joy Electric albums 2003 albums Covers albums Tooth & Nail Records albums {{Christian-album-stub