Any fan of Third Day knows that the band has some excellent worship songs couched in between the southern-styled modern rock of the their first three albums. Many fans also know that they are an excellent live band, putting on an energetic show without forgetting their roots and their connection with the audience. As the band explained several times before releasing Offerings, fans have been asking them for years when they plan on doing a live album, as well as a worship album. The band decided to reward their devoted fans with this disc - a collection of new studio tracks and live versions of fan favorites, all of which center around a worship theme. It seemed like a pretty good way to keep everyone happy, and heck, they did it within less than a year after the release of their excellent third album Time, so it wasn't like they made fans wait even longer for another studio album (they're due for one later this year). Unfortunately, this little bonus had its downside - out of so many great songs, there was no way they could have chosen enough of them to keep all of their fans happy.

Who here remembers U2's Rattle and Hum? The story here is so similar - a deeply spiritual and incredibly popular rock band puts out the album of their career (The Joshua Tree, in U2's case), and out of the performances and experiences of the following year, they decide to put together a montage, a sort of still photo of the band's current state of mind. of course, the analogy is not perfect. Third Day hasn't reached anywhere near the audience U2 has, and Third Day didn't go out and film a movie. But consider the similarities. A patchwork album of new tunes, many of which branch out into a different sound, and live fan favorites. Both did a song with a gospel choir. Both let their guitarist take lead on a song. Heck, they even both covered a Bob Dylan song. Eerie, huh? I doubt Third Day really had U2 in mind, but it's a fitting comparison. Third Day is riding the crest of the Christian music wave right now, as U2 was in mainstream music ten or twelve years ago. The band faces multiple Dove Award nominations this year - so much that they have topped Michael W. Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman, et al, in the sheer number of nominations received. But I'm not here to tell you about Third Day's immortality in the Christian rock hall of fame. They're just five guys who wanted to worship, to offer something to God and allow their fans to participate. What they have here is a good start.

King of Glory leads the album off on a soft note, which shouldn't surprise fans at this point, since Time opened rather unassumingly with the band's smash hit "I've Always Loved You". This is a very long praise anthem based around the simple question "Who is this King of glory?" (and which of course answers it with Jesus - duh, this is a worship album.) It builds quite nicely, eventually incorporating a Gospel choir, against which singer Mac Powell fits quite nicely (he's managed to stand out on his own despite the constant comparisons to Darius Rucker and Eddie Vedder). The only thing that bugs me about this song is the cheesy Christmas bells which shake in the background here and there. Okay, maybe they're tambourines, but this sounds a little too much like a Christmas song to me. It probably won't faze most people, so don't let that deter you. It's just me nit-picking again.

These Thousand Hills brings the tempo up a little, though we're not into full-on rock territory just yet. This song was originally recorded in the early 90's by fellow Atlanta band Jacob's Trouble, and it describes the grand landscape of God's Kingdom and the jubilation we will experience in heaven. I haven't heard the original, but I know that the catchy "la-la-la"s that tie the verses together were added in by Third Day, to allow a little more participation when they premiered this song in concert (and a fine concert it was, but that's another review). Like the previous song, this one builds in intensity as it goes, and the guitars get a little rougher as well, allowing the song to really let loose. It's a bit unfortunate that this one ends so soon - I guess they had radio playability in mind. Perhaps it would detract from the worship focus, but I would have liked to hear an extended jam type of ending with a guitar solo or something.

Your Love Oh Lord is the first of the live tracks, fading in on its familiar programmed beat (something Third Day uses quite sparingly - it works well here). This is the only song from Time that gets rehashed here, and it sounds more or less the same, if you can tune out Mac's occasional prompting the audience with the next line of the song, and his speech at the beginning about how worship is an essential part of a Third Day concert and we're gonna have church now. It's a nice thought, but I'd rather not have to hear it at the beginning of this track each time. Long bits of talking are usually a complaint of mine with live albums.

Agnus Dei keeps with the mid-tempo feel of most of the album, this live version also feeling quite similar to the album version. It's nice to see it here, since the band originally recorded the song on the Exodus worship album, and fans didn't have a way of getting it on a Third Day album until now. For those who are unfamiliar with the song, the band took what once was a pristine choral piece penned by Michael W. Smith and turned it into a fiery rocker (albeit a repetitive one, but once again, this is a worship album). Third Day's version has a number of nice touches to it, since as the dramatic pause between the second verse and chorus, the muscular but somehow still reverent guitar ending backed by repetitions of "You are holy", and as a bonus on the live album, it very suddenly segues into a quiet, solemn version of Don Moen's praise standard Worthy (they sing the second verse, "Holy, You are holy" to keep with the theme of the song). This track is an excellent transition between two very different songs, and it also transitions quite well out of track three and into track five.

Saved takes us back into the studio for the aforementioned Bob Dylan cover. This song is at least twenty years old, and I commend Third Day for employing modern production values while remaining faithful to the original. Complete with a little piano playing and some soulful female backup vocals (think back to "Mama", "Have Mercy", or "Took My Place"), this is a fun, upbeat track that would work perfectly on a summer road trip through the country. This song, along with the album of the same name, shocked Bob Dylan fans when it first came out (they weren't used to his lyrics being so overtly religious), but in Third Day's repertoire, it's right at home.

My Hope Is You is another live track (the trasnitions back and forth start to get a little disorienting for me), taken from their second album Conspiracy No. 5. This was probably one of the few tracks from that album that has lasted beyond the band's brief "let's be experimental and not try to sound too Southern" phase, which resulted from the Hootie comparisons I alluded to earlier. Like "Your Love Oh Lord", it's based on a Psalm, it keeps a slower pace, and it was made to be a worship song. it also suffers from the same problem: Mac's need to speak in the middle of the song. Here he does it just to make sure that the audience is ready to sing and that they know the words, which is annoying, because he kind of half-sings a few choruses. Some people that they don't but live albums to hear the audience sing, and others, like me, can appreciate those moments during a live version of a song where the focus is turned away from the band and towards the band's fans, especially on an album like this where the words are directed to God and not just back to the band. But this halfway approach generally gets on my nerves. If Mac was concerned that the audience didn't know the words, the band should have brought an overhead projector.

You're Everywhere is another new studio track, though it's not really all that new - just unreleased until now. They recorded a demo of the song during the sessions for Conspiracy, but it didn't make the final cut because they felt something was missing. Now, they've decided that the demo version was good enough to be released to the public, despite the fact that it's fairly slow and musically dry. I've heard that it was meant to be an upbeat song at first, but the band was so amazed at how well the demo came out that they left it unfinished. It just doesn't work for me, especially because some sounds at the beginning lead you to believe it is an upbeat song, before it winds down into more of a dirge. I'm sure it was a raw, beautiful and worshipful experience for the band, and many critics have hailed this song as one of their best. I frankly don't see it.

Thief is a curious inclusion on this album - it's by far my favorite Third Day song ever, and since it was never a radio hit (that I can remember), I figured they'd probably phase it out of their set list over time. It's not really a worship song (though the subject matter definitely inspires worship). It's a gut-wrenching, piano-driven power ballad written from the point of view of the thief on the cross beside Jesus whom Jesus promises will be in paradise with Him later that day. When I first heard this song on Third Day's label debut nearly five years ago, I very nearly cried. Though the live version isn't quite as tight, it still holds the same power.

Of course, most fans who have worn out the band's first album (many still consider it their best) will think back to the track order on that album and recall that the song that put the band on the map came next: Consuming Fire. If you listen closely, you can hear audience members screaming for it. Of course, they all go nuts when Mac starts in with his famous "1-2-3-4-5-6" intro and finally, the band starts rocking full throttle. They explain in the liner notes that though this one wasn't written as a worship song per se, they felt it worked well as one after having played it for so many years, and hey, it's their signature song. Again, they stick close to the album version, soaring and grinding simultaneously, complete with a guitar solo in the middle that evokes a mental image of God burning through everything in His path. It still works well in this context, and it gives fans a reminder that not all worship songs have to be simple, slow, and pristine. I thought it was a bit silly to keep "Thief" and "Consuming Fire" back to back; I generally like hearing things in a different order on live albums. But once again, I suspect that won't bother most fans in the slightest.

All the Heavens is the band's attempt at writing a song in the style of a hymn, which slightly more complex and archaic lyrics. It doesn't work as well as say, "Hymn" from Jars of Clay's Much Afraid album (but then, I'm a bit biased when it comes to Jars of Clay), however, it's really a pretty song, only slightly blemished by Mac's inconsistent switching back and forth between "You" and "Thee". They probably could have left the "Thee"s out altogether and just called it a normal Third Day worship song, minus the electric guitars. Don't get me wrong - this is one of the standout tracks on this CD. It actually reminds me a lot of "What a Friend I've Found" by Delirious?, now that I think of it. But I can see why it hasn't gained as much popularity as some of their past efforts.

Love Song is the last song listed on the album, yet another classic from the band's self-titled debut. This song is all acoustic guitar - an almost country-sounding message from God back to man, confessing a love that surpasses all human love. It really is a brilliant and heartfelt song - an obvious fan favorite. Mac Powell's voice really wrings every last drop of emotion out of this song, ensuring that the message "Just to be with You/I'd do anything/There's no price I would not pay" stays with you long after the music fades away. A little bit of banter between Mac and guitarist Mark Lee at the beginning of this track about how tired he is detracts only slightly - it's nice to see a little of the band's personality, but it's slightly out of place before a song like this.

After a few minutes of silence comes the hidden track, starting very suddenly with an unfamiliar voice singing over an acoustic guitar (it turns out to be Mark Lee, who wrote the song). I believe this one is called Don't Let Me Go (probably because even though he sings "Take my life" many times in this song, that title was already taken by a Third Day song). It's nice to see another band member step up to the plate, even though this song isn't really anything we haven't already heard from the band. It has some nice, subtle, bluesy electric guitar in the background, and it serves to end the album in a quiet and reverent fashion, but once again, the music is a bit dry.

Don't take all of my criticism the wrong way - I've always loved Third Day. I own all of their albums and still enjoy them quite a bit. I appreciate that they put in some extra time in the studio to give their fans a nice little bonus. I just wish this has been labeled as an EP instead of an album, because it doesn't feel complete. I would have rather they waited, fine-tuned some of their lyrics, made the music on a few of these songs more interesting, and given themselves some time away from crowds and the need for radio hits, and then put together a double disc with a full concert on one side and a full worship album on the other. So many of my favorite Third Day worship songs are missing here, such as "Took My Place", "Your Love Endures", and "Praise Song" Perhaps that last one wouldn't have sounded as good without Rich Mullins' dulcimer, but it's not like they insisted that the sound on all of the other songs be top-notch - they just put them out as is. I can't explain it. They get kudos for including "Thief" and "Agnus Dei", though. Now we have to hope that they haven't lost their knack for writing more interesting, less repetitive rockers like "Alien", "What Good", "Nothing at All", etc. that cover broader subjects. Third Day is too good to be seen solely as a worship band, and this phase was fun while it lasted, especially because worship music helps a band to keep the focus off of themselves and on God.

So, let's pray the band goes back to recording full-length albums after this. (And that they don't go through a weird techno phase.)

TRACK REVIEW SUMMARY
Excellent: These Thousand Hills, Agnus Dei/Worthy, Consuming Fire
Good: King of Glory, Saved, Thief, Love Song
Decent: Your Love Oh Lord, My Hope Is You, All the Heavens, Don't Let Me Go
Weak: You're Everywhere
Skippable: NONE

Band Members:
Mac Powell: Lead vocals, acoustic/electric guitar
Tai Anderson: Bass
Mark Lee: Acoustic guitar, dobro, vocals
David Carr: Drums
Brad Avery: Electric guitar

Website: http://www.thirdday.com

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Driving