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SITE RATING:  4/10 SITE REVIEW:  Tom Parker, who ran the long-running New London Chorale in the late Seventies to the mid-Eighties, put together several lite-pop/classical albums during his tenure, which featured not only this version of Handel's Messiah, but also Christmas albums, and titles like Bach's The Young Matthew Passion, and The Young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  And, much like the contemporary Messiah Rocks and Too Hot To Handel re-imaginings, this album had a small following during a period of about five years, even generating a filmed concert, with many of the same artists performing.  Similarly, like its contemporaries, it's a hit-or-miss idea, with this album often failing to withstand the rigors of time with its thin, malnourished synthesizers and gospel-lite voices rarely taking flight.  The ballads come off best, with a soulful "Comfort Ye" comparing favorably with, say, its Soulful Celebration counterpart; but at every good track, it's undercut by a shrill, robotic aria, such as the oom-pah orchestration and grating turn by the female soloist on "Every Valley".  The New London Chorale is enthusiastic, but are limited in their expressions to simplistic explosions of Gospel fervor on the choruses; and every up tempo number is lock-stepped into place by machine-like drums thudding out a dance beat.  Purists will howl, young people who were turned on by this in the early Eighties will find some shallow nostalgia to enjoy, and Messiah completists will most likely find this gathering dust on their shelves in favor of better interpretations.

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