Album Review - New Life Worship's You Hold It All!

New Life Church in Colorado Springs has been through some of the darkest and most difficult times a church could ever face. In Nov 2006, Pastor and church founder Ted Haggard was accused of paying a male escort for sex and also for using methamphetamine. He was dismissed from the role. In Dec 2007, a gunman opened fire in church while a service was going on, hitting four and killing two before committing suicide.

And yet, in the midst of such gruelling times, the church put out two excellent albums - My Saviour Lives and Counting On God - filled with faith-filled and faith-fuelled songs that declared their dependence on a never failing God.

You Hold It All is New Life Worship's latest offering, and while it doesn't quite pack the emotional punch that MSL and CoG did, it still retains the strong sense of faith that percolated the previous albums, and then some.

In addition to the insta-classic praise and worship anthems that New Life Worship is known for, several songs in this album have a distinctly prophetic edge - perhaps in tandem with the spiritual direction that the church is taking. Dry Bones takes reference from Ezekiel 37:1-14, where God places the prophet Ezekiel in a valley full of dry bones and commands him to prophesy life into them, and Captives Free begins with a reading of Luke 4:17-21.

There is no lack of great, congregational songs in this album - from the fiercely declarative This I Know, to the insanely catchy Lift The Name, to the quietly introspective Be Thou Exalted - these are songs that you'll find easy to worship along to.

What I really enjoy about New Life albums is how they just flow - not just in terms of arrangement, but in terms of the heart and the spirit of worship that is so tangible even in a recording. You get the sense that the team and the congregation are simply there to worship God - and not to put on a performance.

Brad Parsley (replacing his brother Ross Parsley, who went to start a new church - if I didn't tell you you wouldn't know the difference anyway, they sound and look that much alike) and the Desperation Band (Jon Egan, Jared Anderson and Glenn Packiam) are some of the best worship leaders and songwriters of our generation. I just can't emphasize enough how these worship leaders facilitate worship well - there's never a moment where it just sounds like karaoke - and I can think of quite a few other P&W albums where I got that feeling.

Here are a couple of standout tracks from the album - my favourite in particular being the supremely super awesome God Be Praised, which segues brilliantly into an old song Our God Reigns (if you're old enough to know the song, you're old).

 

Here's the link for God be Praised - unfortunately I can't embed the video here: http://youtu.be/Fd-JBnU5q5U?hd=1. Please do yourself a favour and go listen to the song!

In short, this is an album that you'll have no trouble worshipping along too. The CD went through at least 6 consecutive listens in my car, and even then, it felt fresh every single time.

If you're looking for an album that you'll not only enjoy musically, but will also challenge and stir you spiritually, then look no further than You Hold It All. Well-written songs that are beautifully arranged, and a pervasive sense of worship - these come together in a perfect package that you really shouldn't miss.

I feel like I'm rambling a bit - how do you distill such a powerful album into words? If you've got stories of how this album has affected you personally, drop us a mail and we'll post them on the site!

More reviews coming soon - I promise! =)

Album Review - Brian Johnson's Love Came Down!

This quiet and intimate offering from Brian Johnson is an excellent, excellent example of how to do an acoustic worship set right. Though recorded way back in 2009 (it only hit our shores recently), it's timely, relevant and deeply affecting.

The setting's a little strange - it's live worship in the studio (so is it a live album or a studio recording?) - but it works marvelously towards building an atmosphere of deep, reflective worship. The audio is well-recorded and perfectly mixed - every voice and instrument playing its own part but never ever overwhelming the other.

It's kinda like throwing a bunch of different ingredients into a blender and turning it into a puree - you can't tell where one ingredient ends and the other begins, but it call comes together in a tasteful package that just adds to the overall enjoyment (sorry for the food analogy, the Mrs. and I have been fascinated to no end lately by Junior Masterchef Australia).

Although every song is performed by only 3 instruments at the maximum (acoustic guitar + piano + cello/hammered dulcimer), it never sounds sparse - a testament both to the brilliant arrangements of the songs as well as the ingenious mixing. The songs themselves are well-suited for the acoustic setting, quietly restrained but never feeling as if they are held back.

What I really really really love about this album is the deep sense of worship that pervades every song, every note, every melody. It's easy to record a bunch of songs, but to imbue the songs and the album with such a strong spirit of worship requires the artist to really be worshipping - and that's exactly what Brian Johnson and the musicians and singers are precisely doing.

Listening to the album is great, but watching the accompanying DVD makes it even easier for you to feel like you're part of the worship session.

Here's the title track, Love Came Down:



And my personal favourite song on the album, Show Me Your Face (unfortunately I can't find the full song on youtube - so go buy the album already):



All in all, this is an album I whole-heartedly recommend:









Quiet but never sleepy; intimate and deeply worshipful - this album makes a perfect companion for devotions or times when you just need to get on your knees and seek the Lord.

And for all the other times when you just want to take a break from all the typically loud and noisy P&W albums out there, this album is it.

In a time when putting out an acoustic album means replacing more instruments on the band with acoustic guitars (but still having one electric guitar - CHEATS!), and replacing electric synthesizers with grand pianos, Brian Johnson's Love Came Down is the benchmark against which all acoustic albums will be measured.

And right now, it's standing in a class of it's own.

Album Review - Soul Survivor & Momentum's Light The Sky!

This double CD features live praise and worship recorded live at Soul Survivor (CD1) and Momentum (CD2) 2010.

The Soul Survivor CD is, without a doubt, the best album to come out of the movement as yet. While SS is not generally known for their original songs - they either do covers of P&W songs by other churches/bands, or the worship leader e.g. Tim Hughes or Matt Redman usually elect to do their own songs), the original songs on this CD are well-written and arranged, and in fact form the spiritual core of the album - the main messages reside in this songs, and the other songs feel a little more peripheral.

A good example is the anthemic Praise Overflows. The utterly simple 2-line chorus is an invitation to every listener to sing along:



That's not to say that the covers on this CD are lacklustre - they are anything but. Tim Hughes' Holding Nothing Back, Chris Tomlin's Our God and Hillsong United's No Reason To Hide are perfect covers of the originals - in fact, Our God sounds better here than it did on Passion's Awakening.

But the real brilliant songs are also the most unexpected. When I first heard that SS would be covering Phil Wickham's Cielo (you can listen to the original here) on this album, I was a bit leery. It's a great song, but to do it live as part of a worship set? It'll either bomb magnificently, or it'll light up the stratosphere. Either way, it'd be a grand show.

I am very happy to report that it had the latter effect - it became a soaring anthem of worship that is at once grand and yet deeply personal:



The other unexpectedly great song is John Mark McMillan's How He Loves. How do you take a song that has been done to death and covered ad nauseum, ad infinitum and give it a breath of freshness? Simple - put Beth Croft's lovely vocals on it, and then throw in an unexpected but totally appropriate twist right at the end:



The CD does make some missteps, such as the cover of the old hymn Nothing But The Blood (sounds awfully like a rip-off of what Brooke Fraser did on United's excellent I Heart Revolution) as well as the link into Hillsong's Saviour King from Cielo - which killed the awesome vibe created by Cielo, not to mention the fact that Jamie Rodwell seemed to have forgotten all the other parts of the chorus.

Other than that, I can't really find much fault with this CD. So, in totality, the Soul Survivor CD gets:










Unfortunately, I can't say the same about the Momentum CD. Other than it being ridiculously short (5 songs?!), the quality of the songs as well as the audio engineering just doesn't quite measure up with the standard set by the SS CS. Besides totally wrecking Hillsong's Our God Is Love (to be fair, the original version is tough to beat), the cover of the Mark Altrogge classic Beautiful Beyond Description was flat and uninspired.

Probably the only saving grace is the Tim Hughes song All Glory:



Other than that, the Momentum CD is drab and pretty much a disappointment. It gets:










In all, I'd say that the album as a whole is still worth getting, based on the remarkable strength of the SS CD. If you haven't got it yet, you should.

Feel free to give the Momentum CD a spin too. If you don't like it, you can do what I did -

Delete the Momentum songs off your iPod.

Album Review - Gateway Worship's God Be Praised!

Gateway Worship's last album, Wake Up The World, was a critical and commercial success, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Top Christian Albums chart. And why not - their fresh re-imaginings of the Doxology and Klaus' The Lord Reigns (one of my favourite praise songs of all time) literally energized the praise and worship landscape and helped introduce younger worshippers to the good ol' hymns of faith.

God Be Praised attempts the same award-winning formula, but (in my opinion) with a more mixed bag of results.

The opening songs God Is With Us Now and Praise Him are upbeat, declarative numbers that are easy to sing and praise along to. The album then segues into the mid-tempo Victory, which I have to admit I didn't like at first. I've since used it on Sunday as part of our worship setlist, mainly because there is so much meaning in the simple but powerful lyrics (also because my pastor made me do it). The congregation can really worship with this song, and I suppose that means it's purpose is well-served.

Song #4 is one that you can also hear on Klaus' brilliant album Glory. And this is where there's some contention. Rebecca Pfortmiller's interpretation of Stay Amazed is not without merit - the song is well arranged and I really liked the way the song ended, with a 'big' bridge. But having heard both versions, I can't help getting the feeling that the Gateway version simply tries too hard. They changed the melody of parts of the chorus and bridge, which I still can't get used to after repeated listens. Maybe I'm too used to the Klaus version, but the new melody line grates on the ears somewhat. Rebecca Pfortmiller has a great voice, but after a while it feels like she's yelling the song and not really singing it.

It's not bad - I guess Klaus set such a high standard that anything else just falls short in comparison. Do youself a favour and pick up a copy of Klaus' Glory - it's simply one of the best worship albums I've ever heard. But I digress.

O For A Thousand (Hallelujah) is a re-write of the old hymn O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing. I love hymns, and I really enjoy it when worship leaders re-write them for the modern context and give them a new lease of life. This is an good example of how to do it right - with a new chorus that doesn't detract from the beauty of the original verses, but fits in perfectly. It's not as impressive as New Doxology was on Wake Up The World, but it is good nonetheless.

There are some really standout tracks on this album, like O The Blood and You Are For Me, both led by Kari Jobe. O The Blood is a brilliantly written song that remembers and exalts Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. You Are For Me should be familiar to Kari Jobe fans - it was the closing song on her self-titled album, and since then, there've been various iterations of the song, each one better than the last. This is the first time the song has been recorded in a live context, and it's simply electric to hear the congregation worship along to this magnificent song of faith.

Some of the mid-album tracks are not as memorable as those I've mentioned so far - they're kind of generic, and don't have the enduring quality of The Lord Reigns or Alabaster Jar from the earlier album.

And then there are songs that will split listeners into 2 camps - Love It or Hate It. For example, One Single Drop is a classical guitar and strings driven songs that has a somewhat Latin flavour to it, and has the potential to be incredibly cheesy. It probably works better as a performance song than as part of a worship setlist. I Hear The Lord Passing By is an old school, Don Moen-ish number that works great as an altar/response song, but again it's probably better off as a performance piece than as part of worship.

For the record, I neither love nor hate both songs because I'm such an objective album reviewer. =)

The album closer is the title track God Be Praised. It's a huge, declarative song in the vein of such classics as Hillsong's Mighty To Save and Desperation Band's Overcome.

Overall, I'm guessing that the album will likely please most listeners, but there'll be some who'll be slightly disappointed. I probably fall into the latter category - I don't dislike the album, I just don't have enough reasons to love it. Other than a few standout tracks, the rest of the album feels slightly bland and predictable, and doesn't quite pack the punch that Wake Up The World had.

Their style of worship doesn't deviate much from the previous album though, and that's a good thing. There are at least 6 difference worship leaders on this album, and all sound unique. This helps inject some freshness into the songs and gives the album as a whole a bit of a boost.

So here's my final verdict:

It's still an album that worth getting - there are some great congregational songs in there which I have no doubt will be sung in churches around the world.

Here's O The Blood and the album opener God Is With Us Now for your sampling pleasure:









Next review - Soul Survior + Momentum: Light The Sky! Also getting my hands on Bethel's Love Came Down soon! Look out for these reviews and more!

Album Review - The Afters' Light Up The Sky!

The Afters have a knack for writing songs that are both straightforward and incredibly catchy.

Light Up The Sky is an incredible pop-rock offering from the band that is destined for extended airtime in your car stereo and/or iPod. Marrying a modern OneRepublic-esque vibe with irresistably catchy lyrics and melodies, LUTS is one of those albums you fall in love with at first listen, and can't get enough of for quite a while.

In a day and age when singers and songwriters all seem to be trying to outdo each other in writing the most artistic and difficult to comprehend lyric, LUTS is a breath of fresh air in its lyrical simplicity and honesty. There's no need to scratch your head and wring every ounce of brain juice trying to decipher what they're singing about. The message of each song is clear and unmistakable.

What really carries this album though, are the vocal and music arrangements. Josh Havens' voice has a distinct edge to it that's never unpleasant, and when he switches to falsetto (which happens pretty frequently in this album) it only serves to add emotion to the lyric. Coupled with modern rock beats, driving guitars, and the occasional piano riffs, LUTS has 'radio-friendly hits' written all over it.

In fact, I was in my car the other day with a couple of colleagues, and this album was playing. My colleagues were instantly drawn to the music (the title track was playing I think) and I had the opportunity to introduce the band and album to them ("Are you serious?" one of them said, "they're called The Afters? Like, not before, but after?").

Here's the official music video of the title track - which, I have to say, almost made me cry, especially towards the end:






Here's another standout track from the album:






All in all, this is one album I won't hesistate to recommend.









I daresay that these songs will stick with you for quite a while, even after you've stopped the CD.

Here's an idea: if you have a pre-believing friend whom you're trying to share the love of God with, but haven't been able to do so, you could consider gifting this album to him/her. The music is relevant enough to catch their attention, and the lyrics are simple and meaningful enough so you can start a God-centered conversation with them. In fact, I think I might just try this myself...

Happy New Year! :)

Hi everyone!

It's been a while (quite a long while actually). December's been an absolutely crazy month... TheEDGE conference, jetsetting to Taiwan with the Mrs., planning and running the Christmas outreach at my home church, planning and running my office's year-end event, planning and running my brother-in-law's proposal to his girlfriend (now fiancee!)...

In the meantime, I've been listening to lots and lots of Third Day's Move, which I'm just loving more and more with every listen. Mac Powell + strings = AWESOMENESS! The proof is in the super track Surrender, which you can listen to in my initial impressions of the album.

I've also gotten my hands on the latest offering from The Afters, titled Light Up The Sky. It's an addictive album, has a very One Republic feel and vibe to it. I'll try and find time to review it soon!

Of course, I still have outstanding my reviews for Chris Tomlin's And If Our God Is For Us... and Charlie Hall's The Rising, I'm sorry!!! Please be patient and those will come real soon.

In the meantime, I just thought I'd share a little song called Sometimes By Step by a great Christian music pioneer, the late Rich Mullins. You would have heard that famous chorus in Hillsong Australia's latest offering A Beautiful Exchange - Brooke Fraser covers it in her beautiful song Like Incense.

I bought this album called Here In America, a collection of previously unreleased material by Rich Mullins quite a few years back (I think it might have been 7 to 8 years ago). While the CD was pleasant enough, it was the accompanying DVD that was a real treasure. On it was a full-length mini-concert of Rich singing his songs and sharing stories and Biblical insights, just months before his tragic death in a car accident in 1997.

I lent it out to a friend (I don't even remember who now) about 3 years back and it disappeared after that. Recently it re-surfaced and came back to me on 31 Dec. I was so elated I forced my wife to sit down with me and watch clips from what must be one of the most phenomenal Christian music performances of all time.

There was no hype, no lights, no big sets. There was just Rich, the Ragamuffin Band, a small audience and the indescribable sense of history being made in that small studio. And everytime I watch that DVD, it sends chills down my spine and gives me goosebumps. And occasionally, I cry.

Ok, fine. Frequently, I cry.

You have to watch it to know what I mean. Before he sings, Rich shares a bit about the nature and character of God, and there's no mistaking the earnestness and the pure, absolute genuinity of his words.






I might just organise a screening at home soon, so if any friends are interested, let me know and I'll give you the details! As soon as I get down to organising it, that is...