Glenn Packiam's Rumors and Revelations - First Listen!

I've always been a bit of a fan of Glenn Packiam, ever since I bought my copy of New Life Worship's My Savior Lives back in 2008 and I listened to this one amazing song he wrote called Everlasting God (nope, not the Brenton Brown one).

Rumors and Revelations is Glenn's first solo studio album, and is not exactly a new release (it actually came out last year). I didn't get it when it came out, but a friend of mine recently asked me to review the album, so I got a copy and listened to it.

Glenn does quite a number of songs that also appeared on other New Life Worship albums, like My Savior Lives, I Will Stand and Your Name. There also a couple of other originals in there that have not yet been featured on other recordings.

Now, here's the thing. Glenn is an excellent worship songwriter. His songs have been introduced and sung in churches around the world. I listened to and thoroughly enjoyed his songs on the New Life Worship albums.

Perhaps that tainted my expectations somewhat, and as a result I came away quite underwhelmed by the album.

On the whole, I found the arrangements of the songs somewhat formulaic (although he gets points for being adventurous with some of the tracks he co-wrote with others) and - dare I say it - dull.

Here and there, the album is puncutated by bright spots such as Burning In Me and Hold On, songs that have not been featured in live worship albums. This gives the whole album a bit of an uneven feel.

But don't get me wrong. The songs are well-written and are great for worship and congregational singing. Perhaps that's where the incongruity is - these songs soar when they are sung by a congregation of worshipping believers - in a studio, they only go as high as the ceiling.

So, for now, the album gets this rating:










Don't forget that these are still initial impressions, so I'll be listening to this album a lot more this week. Check back in in a week's time for a full review of the album (and perhaps a different rating)!

In the meantime, I would be utterly remiss if I did not share that amazing Glenn Packiam song I talked about in the beginning. Here it is, in all its youtube glory!