So who remembers Christine Glass?

Nobody? Okay, how about Common Children?

Still nobody? Okay, how about the song "God of Wonders"?

Yeah, that's what I thought. Sometimes an artist can toil in relative obscurity for years despite garnering a lot of critical acclaim. And sometimes, all it takes is one really good song to jettison that artist out of the dark corners of the music industry and into the spotlight. This seems to have been the story for songwriter Marc Byrd.

As the story goes, Marc used to be the lead singer (and I'm assuming songwriter as well) for the short-lived Christian rock band Common Children. His wife-to-be, Christine Glass, had a modest solo contract (sort of a chick-rock-lite thing that resulted in a criminally overlooked album called Human) on the same label, Tattoo Records, which folded not long after both artists had gotten off the ground. Common Children pretty much dissipated, and somehow Marc got hooked up with Christine, producing for her second album, Love and Poverty, which was rather languid in comparison to her first. But that phase of Christine's life, despite the impending doom of yet another record label to which she belonged, seemed to be a good one, because she and Marc were soon hitched, and her new hubby managed to strike gold out of nowhere by working with Steve Hindalong, a former member of The Choir, to spawn the massively popular City on a Hill series of modern worship albums. Simplistic in nature, but appealing to CCM fans across the board due to its eclectic roster of participating artists - it created a true community feel. Christine sort of played second fiddle on those records, singing backup while more well-known acts like Caedmon's Call, Jars of Clay, FFH, Third Day, etc. took the lead. Amidst all of the songs that those artists contributed for that project, it was a song that Byrd and Hindalong co-wrote, "God of Wonders", that struck a chord with the most listeners, and which is being sung in contemporary churches across the country today.

You can see where I'm going with this one, can't you? Marc and Christine decided to team up and record an album together under the name GlassByrd, and of course it's a modern worship album. My, how these things are perceived differently now than they would have been five years ago! Don't take that to be another cynical rip on the modern worship trend - it's produced some good songs and albums in the last few years. I actually think "God of Wonders" is totally worthy of its status as a modern classic. I liked a few other tracks on the City albums as well, but let's be honest, none of the rest of them were written or co-written by Marc. So I was kind of banking on Christine to flex her long-dormant songwriting skills for the duo's debut album, Open Wide This Window. After all, she had some interesting things to say about God and her relationship with Him on her solo albums. Maybe that talent would reprise itself here.

I'm sorry to say that it hasn't. Christine has writing credits on roughly half of This Window's 13 tracks, with Marc co-writing on all but one of them, and Steve popping in for a few as well. As with the City albums, Steve and Marc are producing as well, and for those of you who are looking for a change from the sometimes-bland acoustic guitar driven sound of the City series, you'll be happy to know that it's been replaced by a bland, not driven sound. (Note my sarcasm.) Put quite simply, Open Wide This Window makes a great sedative. Much of the press on the album is accurate, because it sure doesn't sound like your average modern worship album - most worship albums these days are a little more rock oriented. Perhaps it's a good thing that the duo would try to have their own sound and not be so trendy, but then I still can't see anything terribly innovative here. Normally you'd think that when you take a guy who used to be in a semi-aggressive alternative rock band, a girl who did the quirky electronic pop thing, and writers capable of penning a classic hymn or two (well, maybe not two), you'd get something more flavorful than plain vanilla. But that's what you get here. These two have taken City on a Hill and turned it into City in a Rut. The effect is so mind-numbing that it makes me want to ram my head against a wall so that I can remember what it's like to feel something.

This Window
The first few seconds of the album actually seem quite promising. A pleasant mid-tempo beat, a little bit of keyboard-generated electronic noise in the background, and then... a dull electric guitar strum. We're introduced to both singers' vocal styles here... Marc has a hushed tone that is difficult to explain... it's not quite scratchy like Michael W. Smith, but not terribly smooth, either. It's just kind of gray. He and Christine trade off lines during the verses - she has a gentle, angelic quality that isn't as quirky as Leigh Nash, but also not as memorable. Even Christine's solo work, which mostly depicted her as this sort of gentle pixie, had its gutsy moments - she's even more reserved here. It doesn't help matters that the first words we hear out of her mouth are such a banal line as "I want to thank You for the way You're blessing me right now." The song has a fairly catchy chorus about letting God shine into their lives, but it's not enough to save the title track from mediocrity. I had been hoping this was just a misfire and I was still for some greatness...

Tonight (I Wanna Live in Your World)
The album's second track is about as close to "greatness" as this album ever comes. It's very upbeat, the kind of radio-friendly pop/rock song that a lot of bands would put on their album just to give Christian Hit Radio a "safe" single to play. The guitars are still somewhat muted and the drums do little other than pounding out a simple beat, so the only thing this song has going for it other than a decent melodic hook is the occasional lyric that hints at the grandeur of a starry night spent contemplating the vastness of the universe that God created. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on earnest lyrics, even if they aren't exactly poetry. There's a little bit of guitar/vocal fuzz on the bridge which I suppose makes the song "hip" and "edgy" and whatever else.

Weight of the World
Track three and we're already back into lagging mid-tempo land. Marc and Christine trade off vocals once again, but I can already see a trend developing that involves too much of him and not enough of her. The song is basically a less interesting recast of "Precious Jesus" from the first City Album, a promise that "I will not forget the way You took the weight of the world." Could have been a great metaphor for Jesus carrying the cross, if it had been explored further, but with a healthy dose of praise & worship cliches and rather unimaginative guitar and drum parts, it doesn't really get anywhere.

I Stand Amazed
This song marks the beginning of a trend that makes many of the songs on the album run together - it starts off immediately with Marc's vocals. I suppose that might work for an urgent rock number, but when you're running at low bpm's, it doesn't really do much for me. Marc's voice mostly dominates this one, and it's one of the most heavily cliche-ridden tunes on the project - "And I lay it at the cross where I'm surrounded by Your grace, and I marvel at the wonders of Your love." Sure, those are worshipful words, but just about anyone could have written them by taking phrases from the songs they sing in church every Sunday and drawing them randomly out of a hat - why do these guys get signed to a record label for doing it?

Everywhere I Turn
This one sounds a little more like one of the typical pop/rock numbers from Christine's Love and Poverty album - a strong but uninteresting electric guitar strums along as she sings to a somewhat upbeat tune. It's a very basic song about God being everywhere, even the dark places we don't want to deal with, and it might have some potential if the lyrics were more vivid and the chorus wasn't so clumsy (the words "You meet me there" all seem to fall on the wrong beat, making it one of those songs like "I Love You Lord" that are sure to confuse worship leaders as to where the next measure actually begins).

I Love You More
This is a short but pretty little song that shows some potential. It's the only one on the album that Marc co-write or sing on - it's entirely Christine's baby. Appropriately, it's got more of an ethereal atmosphere to it, with Christine musing in her breathy voice, "I cannot capture any part of You, but I will try." A programmed beat serves this song a little better, even if the end result still isn't anything mind-blowing. I suppose it might stand out a little more if it were the contemplative break in the midst of more forceful songs, but force doesn't seem to be a word that this couple is acquainted with. Perhaps a little help from Leigh Nash or Michelle Tumes would do the trick here - they understand how to be quiet and yet passionate at the same time.

Mercy
Another bland slow song with a predictable melody and chord structure here. I'm starting to have trouble even finding anything that stands out about these tracks... the fact that I can't find any lyrics online (I was sent a pre-release, thank God I didn't buy this thing!) doesn't help matters much. It's mostly a Marc-dominated song, and it comes off like one of the tracks I would skip on one of the City albums to get to a more interesting one.

Wake Up
Well, here's an upbeat song that almost rocks. Again, I'm not expecting that rocking out is the only way to make a good worship album, but if you're gonna stick to a bunch of mediocre melodies and lyrics everyone's heard before, you don't have much other than the beat to keep people interested. Actually, this one's less of a song about praising God and more of a pick-me-up sort of song directed to a down-and-out believer. I actually like how Marc mentions to this friend he's trying to encourage, "Still what I'm telling you know, I'm saying more to myself", acknowledging that he's been through similar struggles. The chorus has just enough punch to make it sound like it would be a decent hit in the hands of a band like Audio Adrenaline, but with Marc at the helm, it pretty much sounds like it might have been a demo he had recorded to shop to one of those more well-known bands. It's almost laughable that this is the bone they threw us in place of a really solid pop/rock number.

Hang On
This one's another song of encouragement... the poppy keyboards at the beginning take on such saccharine atmosphere that I have to ask myself how this could possibly be the same man who once sang the words "I hate myself" as the front man for Common Children. Here, he's offering rest to the weary, which is fine and all, but I don't really appreciate that the chorus is almost a direct rip-off of Cheri Keaggy's classic worship tune "There Is Joy in the Lord". Sure, I can hear a memorable worship song and write a clone of it, too, but that doesn't make me worthy of a record deal.

Wounded Healers
Okay, it's getting really hard to tell these intros apart and to say something meaningful about each song on the record here. Again my mind is wandering back to a few of the pop/rock filler tracks on Love and Poverty - apparently Christine likes that style most out of everything she's done thus far. This is another not-quite-worship song about believers interceding for each other even though they are imperfect and sinful - a great concept when it was the title of a book, but not that interesting of a song. Sarah Masen could've worked wonders with such a theme. Christine tries to perk it up with a few "ba da ba"s, but it comes across as tired and half-hearted. There's a nice little acoustic guitar break at one point, but then the song just ends. I suppose I shouldn't complain.

God of Wonders
Here it is, the classic tune that gave Marc license to create this album full of tunes that never would have made the cut for City on a Hill. I love the way Third Day and Caedmon's Call perform this song on the original recording, and I've heard both artists do it by themselves, Rebecca St. James has taken it on, and a number of worship leaders have offered their take as well. Nothing's ever gonna beat the original, but I'll admit I was intrigued to hear the original author's take on it. I really should have known to contain my excitement. Marc even manages to make this song boring. It starts promisingly with an airy echo of "water, earth and sky" from Christine, but Marc pretty much deadpans his way through the verses, coming nowhere close to the passion of the original. Come on, dude, you wrote the song, sing it with a little more feeling! I also noticed that at one point, he changes the word "holy" to "hold me", which I guess he has the right to do 'cause it's his song, but it just sounds contrived.

Jesus You Are Beautiful
Hmmm... Sara Groves had a much better song by the same name. Here, Christine tries the same vocal approach that worked on "I Love You More", but the words just come out too slowly, and the beauty she speaks of isn't effectively captured. The producers try to spruce it up with a little piano, a mechanical beat, and echoing background vocals, but there ain't much you can do with a melody as dull as pretty much everything else on the album.

Peace to You
The record's closing track, which is as slow tempo-wise as most of it, is wise in its use of a hopeful statement about looking forward to gathering as one in Heaven, beyond the war and strife that plagues us here on Earth. Unfortunately, the net result is pretty much an uninspired rip-off of "Peace" by the late Rich Mullins. The gentle chorus that comes in at the end and lingers after the rest of the music fades out is pleasant, and makes for a nice doxology, even if that trick's been pulled a million times before. I think I'm just happy to hear it because it means the CD is about to stop spinning.

So there you have it, an analysis of an altogether forgettable record (I would call it an in-depth analysis, but that implies that there's some depth to go into). I can't fault Marc and Christine for their desire to worship and to share their songs with people... I am sure that God is honored no matter how many human critics there are that pan an album like this. But I also believe that musicians were given talent for the purpose of being creative and not just rehashing the same thing over and over. If these two were indies, I probably wouldn't be so hard on 'em; I just can't figure out how the heck they scored a record deal. I'm sure it had to do with past successes (mostly "God of Wonders"), combined with the fact that press materials could easily spin this as an innovative new worship album from two recognizable names and cash in. But when you look beyond all that at the actual substance presented here, there's no way GlassByrd would have scored a record deal if they were fresh new faces (well, unless perhaps Christine was a teenager and she was really cute). Sorry to be so harsh, especially against Christine, since I loved her so much when her first album came out. (Maybe I'll make it up to her by reviewing that one someday.) My beef is mostly with Marc Byrd, who I'm starting to think of as Christian music's Mutt Lange due to his inability to take anything unique about his wife's musical style and make it as bland and poppy as possible. (Apparently he's managed to further jack up SonicFlood in his spare time.)

Could you enjoy this album if you're different from me, if you listen to mostly straightforward worship music and don't mind hearing the same words - even the same songs - over and over, set against a relatively sterile musical backdrop? I guess so. But trust me, you've probably got quite a few Integrity and Maranatha albums in your collection that are way more exciting and fulfilling than this. Save your money - this stuff isn't exactly in short supply.

ALBUM WORTH:
This Window $.50
Tonight (I Wanna Live in Your World) $1
Weight of the World $0
I Stand Amazed -$.50
Everywhere I Turn -$.50
I Love You More $.50
Mercy -$.50
Wake Up $.50
Hang On -$.50
Wounded Healers $0
God of Wonders $.50
Jesus You Are Beautiful $0
Peace to You $.50
TOTAL: $1.50

Website: http://www.glassbyrd.net

Recommended: No