Former SWV member and current gospel/soul singer Coko has released a holiday album. The album, A Coko Christmas, is nine tracks of new and old put together with Christmas cheer. It's unfortunate that out of the nine tracks, only four are new.

The new tracks are produced well. Each song is a good break from the traditional Christmas songs. They all have a great, positive message. The song, "Give Love on Christmas Day," features former American Idol contestant George Huff, and it's nice to see his continued success. His smooth voice complements Coko's shrill voice. The clear standout is "Silent Night" because of all its family ties; her mother, Lady Tibba, and her younger brother are included in the track. It shows that the family is talented.

The problem with Coko's album is that it's too short. With digital albums and deluxe releases, this album could have benefitted if it was a "Deluxe EP" that had some bonus tracks. It also seems as though this album was just capitalizing on Coko. Three songs are from back in the day when Coko was still part of SWV. Unfortunately, two of the SWV tracks, "O Holy Night" and "The Christmas Song," are some of the strongest tracks on the album and they are more than 10 years old. Two tracks, "Grateful" and "Hope," are off of Coko's second album, Grateful, and although both are good, they were from several years ago. Coko's producers were fortunate enough that she sang gospel music that could pass for Christmas music, but it wasn't intentionally penned as such.

The only positive that emerges from the recycling of most of the tracks is that you could see the evolution of Coko, almost like a greatest hits album. Coko was good in SWV, but she's grown into a strong gospel singer.

Overall, A Coko Christmas is a good album, but way too short. This shouldn't be called an album, rather an EP. Coko is soulful and uplifting for the holiday season. It's just a shame that this album was too short. The CD does give some hope for SWV fans and the small possibility for a reuniting.