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Joy to the World is Mike Boelter's labor of love. Over a period of 14 months, Boelter assembled synthesized versions of beloved carols, bringing to life some of his favorite holiday memories. This instrumental easy-listening music largely consists of well-familiar traditional Christmas songs, but a few are lesser-known Polish carols that Boelter sang as a young child.

Boelter's childhood memories likely coincide with those many of us share. The 14 tracks (did Boelter work on one track per month?) guide listeners through mostly familiar territory, and the synthesizer treatments are creative, but generally reverential. This is not a novelty album; there is nothing hokey or strained about these moving arrangements. The synthesizer mimics a broad array of instruments from horns and strings to keyboards and bells to alien sound effects and more. Boelter has a skilled touch at handling the entire range, layering the sounds in a pleasing fashion. For me, his approach is particular effective on classic numbers such as "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring."

The CD arrives in a slimline plastic case with essentially no liner notes, except a brief recitation of the tracks and a short story from Boelter's childhood. This simple presentation is probably appropriate; after all, Joy to the World is quite beautiful in its simplicity--just one man's homage to the holidays and his childhood memories.

--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2005)

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From the liner notes:

It happened on the Friday after Thanksgiving when the children of St. Mary Magdalen, 125 of us, were separated in four groups to learn Christmas Carol. For the next three weeks, twice a week at 2PM, each group would learn their parts. Then, the Friday before Christmas, the nuns hustled us all together in the Church eager to hear the sounds of their labors. All 125 of us sang the carols in complete, angelic 4-part harmony. Not expecting such a blend of 125 young voices, the sounds were so overpowering and moving that the nuns ran into the streets, knocked on doors and invited the women of the neighborhood into the church for our impromptu concert. The tears of joy and surprise as to what they heard stayed with me--40 years later, I remember it like 2PM yesterday.

Mike Boelter

Joy to the World

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Track List