Pros: A great compilation of original worship songs done by the artists themselves
Cons: One of the songs really used too much reverb
The Bottom Line: Overall, this is a great CD with artists who are known for their worship styles and hearts. They accomplished all they had intended and more.
LifeStar's Full Review: City on a Hill: Songs of Worship & Praise
Please leave feedback and let me know what you think of this review!
My first review after GreatPiligrim trusted me! That really made my day! YAHOO!!!
I caved in…
It happened almost half a year ago. I was down in the dumps in my walk with Jesus. A lot of problems had arisen and I found myself in a self-pity cesspool during the summer of 2001. For quite a # of months I’ve found myself being totally ungrateful and mad at just life overall. Good thing I didn’t write any reviews during that time! LOL!!!
Anyways, a friend of mine told me that he was going to try and visit a church that we both know of in CA. The great thing about this church is that they do live web broadcasts of their services on Sundays, so I naturally logged in to see if I might be able to see my buddy. Little did I know God was going to slap me upside the head as I watched. To be brief, that was the start of my spiritual walk picking up again and me getting out of the mud pit.
During the process, I listened to a song that I had never heard of. It was sung in that church and I was quite intrigued by it. You might have heard of it, it’s called God of Wonders. What an amazing song it is! MAN! I was knocked off my chair as I listened to the song and just how beautifully it revealed the wonder of our God!
Naturally, I was really interested in getting a copy of the chords for the song. I mentioned this song to a buddy of mine and he informed me that the song actually was part of a worship compilation CD. Guess what I did?I bought the CD!
After 6 months…
This CD is part of my top 10 list of favorite albums in my collection. This was also the first worship album I had outside of the Passion CDs. I had been very adamant in not buying tons and tons of worship albums that really had no purpose but just make money. Let’s be real, this whole “worship” groove that the evangelical church has found itself in is pretty ridiculous in my opinion. It just seems like every Christian artist and group has to do a worship album these days. It somehow has become the 2nd standard thing an artist got to do… the 1st being popping out a Christmas album.
Not to say that I don’t love worshipping our God in music and song, but it just seems to have gone a little too far at times. I tried to stay within certain groups, such as Passion, because they had a clear agenda and outline on what their ministries are about. Passion, for example, is a college ministry that desires to see people my age actually change their world for Christ. I have no idea what a lot of other groups do besides ”lifting the name of Jesus on high!”.
However, this CD overall, I have to say is a very good and inspirational CD. The execution of most of the music is flawless and they have groups on here whose music already is very geared toward worship songs in a church service… like Third Day & Caedmon’s Call. This CD, though is a compilation, I got to admit was produced professionally and I can’t wait until the follow-up of this comes in around February!
Song Reviews!!! WARNING!
God Of Wonders - This is the best song that has come off this album! Plus, it’s the first track! We are treated to an opening of string instruments that slowly usher into a worshipful environment. The acoustic and other instruments join in and Mac Powell, the lead singer of Third Day opens up. The slow intro and the one vocal solo at the beginning really added a sense of quietness and stillness to this song. Another thing I liked about the execution is how they incorporated Cliff & Danielle Young (Caedmon’s Call) as we hit the chorus.
Throughout the song you have all three vocalists utilizing those God blessed lungs for their appropriate sections. When I thought about it, it does help this song amazingly to have 3 major singers. Each person can hold his or her own throughout the song, but with 3 great singers all supporting each other, the song, vocally is something to behold. The instrumental execution was wonderfully done too!
God Of Wonders is a pure praise song. By that I mean the song deals totally with the glory, the attributes of our God! It’s a rare find to listen to a worship song that has a true 100% sola Deo focus and not mixing in 50% of ”And I did/do/come/bring/love” type of attitude. Throughout this song, it just declares that God is holy, that He is beyond comprehension, and that He does indeed deserve all honor and praise.
God of wonders beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
The universe declares Your Majesty
The Stone - After the airy sounds of God Of Wonders fade away, we hit a meditative, groove moving song written by Jars Of Clay. Yup, the Christian group that many consider to have turned the whole CCM world upside down with their self-title album is on this album!
Overall the sound of the song is very simple. We have the drums and the bass in the song be the lead instruments as JOC want to have a drum beat, via the sounds of rocks and boulders hitting each other. Get it?
The message is simple as well. The gist of the song is it’s a call to worship by JOC. Basically, Jesus has sacrificed so much for us, and He is so worthy of our all, that they call all peoples to give Him glory. It also declares that the reason why He is even worthy more so is that people before thought he was not worthwhile, but it turns out that He has become the Cornerstone of our lives.
You are a sanctuary
A shelter and a shade from the heat of the day
…my rock and foundation
You have become my salvation
With Every Breathe - Honestly, I was skeptical when I saw that the album had Sixpence None The Richer on it. I just have had problems with their stance of faith a lot of times when they started to become popular amongst people my age. Not that their music wasn't good, it was just how they portrayed their faith to others during those early years and how in some ways they didn’t like carrying around the Christian name on them.
I have no idea if they did this on purpose, but the intro of this song has a similar sound to Kiss Me. It has an acoustic intro and it also has a raspy and whispery sound because of Leigh Nash’s vocal talents. It truly took a while for me to get pass that initial impression and was able to enjoy the other sounds incorporated. There are also electrics and an orchestra in the background too.
The song is just a declaration that every breathe that we breath, we must use it to praise our God. We got to praise Him with our lives. We got to praise Him with our times of joy and our times of despair. It’s a lovely reminder that for those of us who have placed our trust in our Lord, that we are to serve Him, worship Him with our whole beings… thus with every breathe.
Let everything, let every breathe praise the Lord
I Remember You - I Remember You is the shortest song on this album. In 2 minutes, Mac Powell (Third Day), sings a song that speaks from the perspective of a witness of Jesus’ death on the Cross. The singer actually doesn’t sing, as so much he tells the facts that he still remembers the Day when Jesus died. It’s reminiscent of how, even today, most Jewish homes, when they celebrate the Passover, that the elder family members will speak of the Exodus in the first person, as though they were actually there to witness what God had done for His Chosen people. Wow…
I remember You
And I remember that Your body was broken
And I remember that Your blood was spilled
Then You defied death and You ascended into the sky
Precious Jesus - This song was one of the weird surprises for me on this album. For one thing, I never heard of the Choir. Another thing is the song starts of with similar lyrics to the previous song. Finally, the sound of it was different as they employed, no better term, over saturated the use of vocal reverbs on this song! I honestly thought I would not like this song when I started listening to it.
I still don’t like the reverb! It’s really annoying on my ears and it really does take away the power of the voices, especially Leigh’s, since her voice is already raspy too! However, overall, I did enjoy the execution of the song. The increase in the tempo helped and the reverb, despite its flaws, did convey a sense of awe and wonder before our God.
Precious Jesus runs along the same lines as I remember You. Both songs deal with the first perspective, the only difference is Precious Jesus actually goes more in-depth into the life and death of the Messiah. The climax with the vocalists all coming together to sing the final chorus was VERY SWEET touch to the song.
And we remember You
Precious Jesus, we remember You
…Jesus we love You
You’re Here - I’m sorry to say, but this is probably the least liked song on this album for me. The sound, the rhythm to this song is very choppy and not comfortable to listen to. It has a slow intro and its choppy sound is consistent, but just the overall feel to it doesn’t leave a great aftertaste for me. We have a constant drumbeat and strings mixed into the fray, but to me the song just sounds like it wasn’t really well thought out through. Another thing is Leigh’s voice here really doesn’t make it sound better either… oy vey
Lyrically, I’m not that impressed either. The point of the song is about Jesus telling us that He is with us all the time. However, that’s all there is to this song! This song also uses one of the most cliché Christian sayings I’ve heard too many times, “All I need on this earth is You”. Though it’s a true statement, but the very fact that it was incorporated into this song, and then looking at the rest of it, it just really makes my mouth dry… man…
My life is up and it is down
I try to keep both feet on the ground
Your Love is all that gets me through
All I need on this earth is You
Where You Are - After the slow, methodical sounds of the precious song slowly (and thankfully) fades away, we hit the FFH block of songs. Where You Are is a beautiful ballad song that transmits the deep longing that many believers have felt at least once in their lives. The longing for home, a place where we know we belong, and a place where our peace and our joy resides. FFH did a great job with this song and it’s one of the reasons why I was interested in listening to their albums as well. Sorry Victoria!
What I also love about this song is their use of an acoustic and accordion! With the constant, low drum beat, and smooth acoustic playing, this is a song that just screams, mediate on God’s goodness people!
Where You are is where I want to be
In Your arms You will comfort me
Far away from everything I used to be
You know I have come so far
To be where You are
Merciful Rain - We are immediately greeted with an ear-tickling electric intro by FFH. The instrumentals stay relatively simple for most of the song except the chorus parts. At those moments there are some really good electric playing. The other instruments blend in nicely as they also use some really high acoustic chord sounds and the percussion and bass are restrained to help emphasize the high-end sound in this song. It seems that FFH was trying to portray a sound imagery of a light sprinkle or shower on a sunny day. Add that with the wonderfully done vocals by Jennifer and you have a very catchy and foot tapping song.
As you move to the sweet groove, one immediately understands the gist of this song. It’s a word imagery of what happens when we accept Jesus as our Savoir. This song focuses the specific ministry of the Holy Spirit as He baptizes those who place their trust in Christ. It is a shower, or a baptism into the body of Christ. It’s a very cool song and I love how they really bring out, in a clever way, how the Spirit works His work and love in us!
Let the Holy Spirit come over you now
…See the Holy Dove descending over you now
…Merciful rain fails over the children
Unified - Here we have a very different worship song. This is more of a Newsboy song with the hippy and weird sounds of the new SonicFlood. This was truly a weird combination in my mind as the song sounded like it was a Newsboy song, but not… It’s hard to describe how I feel about this song. Musically it doesn’t really appeal to my taste. It isn’t bad, it just relies heavily on a dance like groove to carry the song through.
Lyrically I do like this song. It speaks about something that not many Christians have ever tried to reconcile. The “something” is the truth that all those who have placed their trust in Jesus are all part of one body.. It’s a reminder that there is only one thing that truly does unite all Christians together and get us to be at the same table, it’s that we all have one Savoir and Lord who gave up His life so that we might have life.
We are one body
Of one spirit
With one hope
That carries us all…
Covenant Song - A while back ago I did a review on Caedmon’s Call first worship album. In my opinion, Covenant song was a foretaste of “In the Company of Angels". It utilizes the fully instrumental and vocal talent that CC has to offer. We have the use of acoustics, the occasional electric, bass, drums, percussions, and the Cliff and Danielle singing together.
Covenant Song is about how we all belong to Jesus Christ. It’s a call for worship and to honor Him because He has kept His promise to us and gave us a new covenant in His blood. It is also a call to carry our hope to those around us and bring the passion that is in our eyes to their hearts. Simple message, but needed as well.
Raise up His name of high
Raise up you people of His pride
Raise up and bear the fire that’s in our eyes
And in our lives that shows we are not afraid
City On A Hill - As we near the end of our journey for this album, we are treated to one last fast song, and none done better than by Third Day. This is where the album’s title comes from and it is another great song too! This is a song that one could have found on any other of their CDs and it’s a great example of their workmanship. I loved how they had Mac Powell, the lead singer, do the whole song through without any backup vocals once. It really gave this song some significance that the lead singer can truly carry this song through with only his vocals. Naturally to add more flavor the other vocalists join in and make this song sound even sweeter.
City On A Hill is a repeat of what Jesus told his disciples about what they are to be in this world. We are to carry the light that He has given us and let our light shine forth to all men. We aren’t supposed to hide it or hoard this treasure of ours for ourselves. We need to let others know, and just like how city on a hill can be seen for miles at night time, our lives need to be something that draws and attracts people to the eternal city that all of us in the family are heading to.
You are the light of the world
A city on a hill cannot be hidden
Shine your light before all men
That they might see your works and then
Praise Your Father up in Heaven
Marvelous Light - This is the beginning of the end of this album. The last two songs are essentially one song as Marvelous Light leads directly into the message of This Road. The basic gist of this part of the message is that Jesus is the light of this world. It’s a simple declaration and repeat of His own words about Himself. Jesus is the light, He is the Truth, The Way, and the Life. The unique part of this song is we have all the vocalists in the past 11 songs all join together as one choir of angels for this song.
You are the light of the world
You are the Way, the Truth, and the life
This Road - We close off with Jars Of Clay as they perform a folksy/country sounding type song. The song employs mainly a couple of acoustic guitars, other string instruments, and an accordion. The overall sense is of a man walking down a dusty old country road with the sun setting in the horizon.
The ending message of this song is may God grant us the strength and the resolve to live each day as we walk this road we’re on. Let our resolve, our love for our God, keep us on this long and narrow road, that may at times be lonely, but He has promised that He will shelter, guide, and love us as we travel this road.
This road that we travel may it be the straight and narrow
God, give us peace and grace From You, all the day through
Conclusion
Overall, City On A Hill accomplishes its purpose of having a group of very talented Christian artists come together to express their hearts in worship. The artists themselves wrote every song on this album as they performed these songs. The point of this album is to stop talking about worship so much and emphasis worship. What a simple concept and it actually worked! I was quite surprised to hear a good worship CD compilation and I am looking forward indeed to hear what the hearts of these God-centered, and worshipful artists have in store for us with the follow-up. Blessings.
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