I first heard Hillsong United, following the release of their album More than life, at the Soul Survivor conference when I was 12 years old. They really caught my attention with their high energy, passionate God-centred music style. I can safely say that Hillsong United have continued to produce high octane, Jesus-focussed worship ever since.

Fast-forward to 2006, there I was, a 15 year old adolescent trying to navigate the call to lead others (which invariably involves a platform) while trying to keep the spotlight firmly on Jesus. Hillsong United (among others) helped me to understand what this balance should look like. The album, ‘United We Stand’, was formative in helping me to understand how to lead worship without pushing myself centre stage robbing Jesus of the glory which is rightfully his.

United We Stand is a live recording of a worship set from the 2006 Hillsong Conference. The album kicks off with a soaring instrumental which then leads into the first song ‘The Time Has Come’. I love this song. The encouragement here is for Christians to take a stand for Jesus and to back up our love for him with holy and steadfast living. This is a timely encouragement in our days of compromise.

The driving rhythm and provocative lyrics, “Today, today its all or nothing” sum up the Gospel call of Christ and challenge us to live deeply, ‘If any one would be my disciple he must deny himself, take up His cross and follow me’ (Matthew 16:24).

It is rare to find an album (much less a worship album) this consistently excellent. There is much here to satisfy the ears and the soul.  ‘From the inside out’ speaks tenderly of God’s mercy and grace towards his people even though all seems to be fading, ‘Your light will shine when all else fades.’ The reminder here is that God works in our lives to bring change at the deepest level and the evidence of this is then seen on the outside in transformed lives. Personally speaking, this is a significant song which God has used to challenge and provoke me. It is most certainly up there in my top-ten.

United We Stand contains the similarly excellent, ‘Fire fall down’, ‘From God above’, ‘Revolution’ and the stripped down, ‘None but Jesus’, ‘Came to my rescue’ and ‘Sovereign Hands.’

There is variety here also with both male and female lead vocals and, throughout, the music is both intricate and yet immense, veering from the delicately intimate to the thumping drive of abandoned celebration. United We Stand captures the heart of Hillsong United: passionate Jesus-centred, Christ-exalting worship.

The album ends with, “The Stand”, and I honestly couldn’t think of a better way to finish than with a song which calls us to surrender completely and utterly to our God and King. The line, “All I am is yours,” echoing the key theme across this album, here takes on a new and startling significance.

United We Stand is available on both CD and DVD. On DVD, in particular, communicates something of the thrill of thousands of people gathered to praise the Living God. This is a brief glimpse of all that awaits those who love him and who will spend eternity gathered around the throne of God singing praise and worship songs to him and Him alone for all of eternity.

Andy Smith

Andy regularly plays with the band and leads worship at Firwood Church.

Click here to purchase United We Stand.

I was recently sat in my favourite burger establishment with my wife when we realised that it’s becoming a little uncomfortable there. Turns out that we go waaaaaay too often. You know that things are bad when you are pretty much best buds with the staff. We’re long past being on first -name turns. We walk in and they give us a little nod which we return in kind. Then we chat about our day and what we’ve been up to since we were last in there (this is usually approximately 36 hours previous).

Anyhoo, something marvellous happened on our last visit. We took in a voucher which entitled us to a burger and a drink for a discount price. When our meal came, it included a whole heap of fries. I’m not talking about those short stack puny McFries – these are seriously chunky, gut-busting chips. Being a thoroughly good chap and not wanting to inadvertently steal from our best buds, I approach the desk and explain that we got some fries that we didn’t order, or pay for. She says that it was a mistake, but not to worry about it. She then refuses to take my money. Moments later she utters a statement that I’ve longed to have said to me in any food related establishment.

“It’s on the house”.

Result.

Truth is that everyone loves getting something extra. A brucey bonus, if you will. Well, good news readers: you are about to partake in a bonus review.

This is not just a review of Matt Redman’s album, Facedown, but it is likewise a review of his DVD which, rather cunningly (and conveniently), is also entitled Facedown.

Before you congratulate yourself too vigorously, I should point out that the track list is almost identical (there is a golden-oldie added to the DVD). There are, however, additional features to the DVD, but I will return to this in good time.

First off, let’s start with what they have in common, the music.

There are thirteen tracks and let me state my position immediately. Not only is this the best live worship album that you can buy, it is also Matt Redman’s best album. Now, there may be some that would quibble with this statement and question its validity. However, those folks are wrong.

Dead wrong.

It may be a live album, but the sound quality is easily comparable with a studio album, in fact it is produced to a much higher quality than many Christian studio releases. This is helped greatly by the inclusion of Tree63 guitarist, the always excellent Jon Ellis. Every track is performed to a magnificent standard and the benefit of the live recording is that you get to see these worship songs perform the function for which they were crafted, to lead us in worshiping and giving glory to King Jesus.

The album begins on a high with one of my favourite worship songs, Praise Awaits You. From the soaring guitar riff to the anthemic chorus, this is a fantastic song with which to open an album. Other notable songs are the tremendous Nothing but the Blood, the second verse of which magnificently captures the wonder of the cross.

Your cross testifies in grace
Tells of the Father’s heart to make a way for us
Now boldly we approach
Not by earthly confidence
It’s only by Your blood

It is a little unfair, however, to point out the “stand out” tracks as everything, with the partial exception of the spontaneous Lead us up the mountain (which is still pretty good), is excellent. From Worthy, You are Worthy to the achingly beautiful Facedown the songs are not simply well-crafted and melodically interesting, but lyrically powerful.

Two other songs are of special note. Firstly, Dancing Generation is truly unique. There are a many praise songs which are lively and “dance” orientated. They’d be the fast paced tracks that you’d tend to pull out for a large congregation. Oftentimes, these songs aren’t particularly deep, but convey a simple gospel message in simple terms. Tim Hughes’ Joy is in this Place and Matt Redman’s own Undignified would most likely fall into this bracket as would the classic Lord of the Dance which contained that gem of a line “Get in the Holy Ghost”.

However, despite Dancing Generation being a fast, frantic song, there is a depth and profundity uncommon in such exuberant, high-energy songs (there is a pleasing absence of  “la-las”, “na-nas” and “tra-la-las”). Dancing Generation focuses on the sheer mercy of God displayed towards unworthy sinners like you and I and understands that worship is then a heart response of gratitude in the light of such grace and mercy:

For it’s the overflow of a forgiven soul
and now we’ve seen you, Lord
our hearts cannot stay silent

The last song I’d like to highlight is Breathing the Breath.

From purely a musical point of view, this song is interesting:  from the simple piano intro to the distinctive and delicate melody reaching a crescendo with the powerfully insistent repeating phrase, “We are breathing the breath that you gave us to breathe”. The first time I heard this song, I was wowed. The simplicity of the musical setting somehow underscores the profundity of the lyrics and results in a heart-rending worshipful heart-response to a Creator God who is at work and intimately involved with all that he has made.

However, it was on hearing Louie Giglio’s sermon on the DVD which spoke about the meaning of the song, of God breathing life into Adam in Eden, that I was blown away. It brings a whole new dimension to the song and the more I hear it, the more I am convinced that this is Redman’s finest song to date – which is a statement indeed.

Which brings me nicely onto the DVD.

Ok, briefly, the DVD contains the same songs as the CD (less the spontaneous, “Lead us up the Mountain”), which is nice, and also the “bonus track”, Heart of Worship (which is probably Redman’s most well-known song).

As the live footage is filmed at worship conference, the setting is intimate and the filming “feels” sensative and unintrusive. Such is the setting and the skill with which the DVD is pulled together, I personally favour watching the DVD over listening to the CD.

In addition, the bonus features of the DVD are terrific. Overall there is close to 4 hours of content. Apart from the live worship, it contains three excellent sermons from Louie Giglio given at the Facedown conference. The first of these sermons contains the section about Breathing the Breath and given a choice between the CD and the DVD, the sheer volume of content on the DVD makes it a no-brainer.

However, like I said – this is the review that keeps on giving. I have searched high and low (by that I mean that I performed a simple google search) and have found a fantastic CD & DVD bundle package here

To be honest, I’m not quite sure why you are still reading this. By now you should have clicked the link above, or headed out to your nearest retailer, to buy Facedown. That way you should either be watching it right now or sat by your letterbox with a sleeping bag and a flask of hot Vimto, waiting for the postman to deliver it.

Jonny Evans

So,

A good friend happened to ask me the other day, “have you heard the new Tim Hughes album?” Now, to be totally honest with you, the question was a little misleading.

Let me explain.

A “new album” is by definition an album of new content. Tim Hughes’ last album release was April 2007 and you’d be forgiven for thinking that he’s due to release a new album sometime soon. Unfortunately this latest effort sure isn’t it.

There is a statement you may hear floating around Firwood Church from time to time. It’s what my brothers like to call “Jonny Justice”. Rumour has it that if ever you are on the receiving end of “Jonny Justice”, not only are you to be greatly pitted, but it is also possible that you may never be seen again. Anyways, that’s how the rumour goes; I neither confirm nor deny it.

I should point out, lest you think that I’m about to unleash “Jonny Justice” in this review, that I am a great fan of Tim Hughes. I use the word fan begrudgingly because it makes me uncomfortable and I’m fairly certain that Tim Hughes would feel likewise. I’d use the word admirer but that risks strolling into the fruitier realm of descriptive words and that is something with which I am even more uncomfortable. I’ll stick with fan because it’s short and conveys the general impression that I do actually like Tim Hughes.

I’ve been in workshops led by Tim Hughes and he seems like an extraordinarily kind and warm individual. I’ve heard him talk about Jesus and it’s clear that he is a passionate and devoted follower of the Lord. I’ve been at events when he has led worship and not only is he a gifted songwriter and accomplished musician, but he is clearly an anointed worship leader. Also, I hold his album Holding Nothing Back in incredibly high regard and would strongly recommend that you purchase it. In fact, I fully intend to review it in the coming weeks because if you are going to own a Tim Hughes CD, it should be Holding Nothing Back and certainly not Happy Day.

The first problem we come to is the title: “Happy Day”. You may ask, “Isn’t that the first song on his previous album Holding Nothing Back?” Yes. Yes it is.

Unfortunately, it gets worse. There are 12 tracks on Tim Hughes’ “new” album, Happy Day. Three of those songs are from his 2004 album When Silence Falls. One of the songs is from his 2001 album Here I am to Worship. A further three songs are from his excellent 2007 album Holding Nothing Back. Add one traditional song, When I Survey, and you are down to only four original songs.

Over the years, Tim Hughes has written some absolutely fantastic songs, yet I’ve been slightly disappointed in the past when his albums haven’t always contained a lot of new material. If you’ve been to Soul Survivor or other festivals for a couple of years, usually those songs would end up on his album, with an odd older song such as Holy, Holy (When Silence Falls) and in this case When I Survey mixed in for good measure. However, when he released Holding Nothing Back in 2007, it was not only a collection of fantastic worship songs, produced to a high quality, but it also contained only one or two songs that I’d heard before. It was an excellent resource for worship leaders all over the world.

Unfortunately Happy Day is little more than a “greatest hits”. After only three studio albums (we won’t include the 1999 Reward album); this is a little disappointing. Chances are that if you have Tim Hughes’ previous CDs or a good collection of Soul Survivor live albums, you’ve no real incentive to buy Happy Day.

A fair comparison would be Matt Redman’s album, Facedown. Like Happy Day, it was a live worship recording. However, if I remember correctly, I’d only heard previously one of the songs before I purchased it, and none of the songs could be found on any of his studio albums.

To be fair, Matt Redman did also release a “greatest hits” album entitled; Blessed Be Your Name: The Songs of Matt Redman (2005). However, this was after releasing seven albums AND it was sandwiched in between the releases of original albums Facedown  (2004) and Beautiful News (2006). Unlike Happy Day, it was also clearly marketed as a “greatest hits” album. Truth be told, if someone from our congregation were to ask me to recommend a decent worship CD, my first suggestion would be Blessed Be Your Name because it has such a wide range of songs.

There are, of course, some positives about Happy Day. As a live worship album it is a good listen. Most of the songs are good and it’s produced to an excellent standard which, thankfully, we’re seeing in more and more releases from Christian artists. It also contains a DVD which is worth a watch. Hughes’ band is comprised of talented musicians and everything sounds pretty great. If you haven’t bought any worship albums before then you’d probably be delighted with this purchase. It does also contain four new songs. The first being Jesus Saves which has a fantastically distinctive Stu G riff (for all those Delirous? fans) and is probably up there with some of  Tim Hughes’ best songs.

The song Give Us Your Courage is a strange animal. I’d heard it on the way home in a friend’s car and when I put the album on at home for a second listen, I instinctively skipped the track because I could not bear to endure it again. However, I rebuked myself and gave it another listen.

The first 26 seconds are an excruciating experience. In fact I could go so far as to say that I hate the first 26 seconds. I may be at odds with every 13 year old in the country when I say that I don’t particularly like the Kaiser Chiefs, but I don’t really care. I don’t like squeezing my 27 year old body into skinny jeans or wearing a cap at a jaunty angle. Even more, I don’t like shouting WOAAAAAHHHH OOOHHHH  OH, WOOAAAAAHHH OHHH OH, WOAAAAHHHH OHHHH  OH repeatedly, because those ‘words’ don’t mean much to me. I didn’t like it when the Kaiser Chiefs did it. I didn’t like it when David Gate did it (All the Kings Will Bow) and I didn’t like it when Hillsong United did it (Your Name High). Unfortunately Tim Hughes has contracted the WOOOAAAAHHH OHHHH bug. For this reason I hate both the opening 26 seconds of Give Us Courage and the last 1 minute and 23 seconds of the song. Fear not, the track is actually quite long, so if you cover your ears for the opening 26 seconds and skip the last 1 minute and 23 seconds, you are left with a pretty good song. It’s an enjoyable melody to compliment well crafted lyrics about standing firm to proclaim the gospel, even when under heavy attack.

Another new song, Remember, is less effective. It’s OK, but doesn’t really stand out as being anything particularly inventive. It would be a “filler” on Tim Hughes’ previous albums but, unfortunately, being one of only four new songs, it needs to be better and never quite reaches the standard of Jesus Saves or Give Us Your Courage.

The final new song is We Won’t Stay Silent which touches on a similar theme to Give Us Your Courage. It calls for the Church not just to sit back, but instead to cry out to Jesus and to have a longing to see the things of God in our cities. I particularly like the melody of the chorus. The arrangement, like on the rest of the album (ignoring the woooahhh oohhhs), is flawless. Lyrically, the verses seem to be a little muddled and not as strong as the chorus, but it is growing on me the more that I hear it.

I should at least mention When I Survey, simply because it’s a song that I like very much. Tim Hughes reverts to the traditional melody, but puts his own stamp on the song by adding a bridge; all in all the track is one of the highlights of the album.

To wrap it up, Happy Day IS a good album. Almost all of the songs are good. Some of them are excellent, in fact some of them are among my favourite worships songs of all time, the problem is that I’d already paid for them when I bought Holding Nothing Back.  I’d hoped that they’d be songs on this new album to rival my favourites (Everything, Happy Day & God of Justice). Unfortunately, with the exception of Jesus Saves, the best songs on this album are also the best songs on Holding Nothing Back.

If you are only going to buy one Tim Hughes album, buy Holding Nothing Back.

Jonny Evans

Now, if one was to take the David Crowder Band circa 2005, crush their mostly tiny bodies into a mushy pulp, filter out the teeth, hair and bones (stay with me here for a moment) and then distil the remaining mousse-like matter down to its quintessence, you would be left with pure, undiluted hillbilly.

You see, the spirit of hillbilly pounds through the veins of A Collision. Fiddle, check. Raggedy snare drum, check. Faded oversized dungarees, check. Banjo, check. Yeehaws-a-plenty, check-and-double-check…

But this is hillbilly infused with attitude and a glorious preoccupation with all things Jesus.

Consider if you will, A Beautiful Collision or again, Wholly Yours, tackling respectively the grand themes of the holiness and immanence of God and the doctrine of total depravity, but all this encapsulated within refined bluegrass infused pop-ery.

Then there is Our Happy Home (used for the recent Songs of Ascent sermon series intro video), a glorious and soaring rock anthem reminding believers in Christ that this earth is not our home and death is not the end and that one day we will join with the saints in the New Jerusalem where ‘God alone is King’.

This is the strength of A Collision and the David Crowder Band’s output in general (consider also their most recent offering, Remedy, reviewed here). The David Crowder Band are imbued with the gift of presenting, unpacking and celebrating profound biblical truths within three-ish-minute tracks which combine the listenability of sing-out-loud pop with a musical invention normally reserved for those artists tagged ‘alternative’.

And let us reflect upon this quirkiness. Much of A Collision appears to lean heavily on the revived alt-country scene and an obvious reference point would be Bright Eyes’ 2002 offering, Lifted or the Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground. Both albums blend a fresh, cut-up, electro-pop vibe with traditional folk-country sensibilities.

With regards to A Collision, the result of all this is a compelling quirkiness disguised as pop-rock (see the video for Foreverandever, etc. above). There is a sense of originality and adventure here in both the music and the lyrics. Consequently on the first listen, Here is our King, sounds to be our typical contemporary worship song. On listening more carefully, we find that the depth and texture of interlaid loops and samples is reflected in a depth of lyric,

And what was said to the rose
To make it unfold
Is said to me here in my chest
So be quiet now and rest

Now there is a glorious turn of phrase here that takes the miracle of regeneration and presents it in an altogether fresh and illuminating light. Come Awake begins with the beeping of a heart monitor asking, ‘Are we left here on our own…?’ before swelling into another one of those surging choruses, ‘Come awake from sleep arise, you were dead now come alive.’

This album is filled with such moments of brilliance which cause the listener to marvel again at the wonder of the gospel and the truth that there is indeed a God and this God speaks dead people into life.

Andy Evans

To purchase A Collision, click here.

This is important, because although I greatly admire and respect Matt Redman as a worship leader and songwriter, his studio albums have never quite captured the vibrancy and energy of the live congregational worship setting of, say, Facedown, the early Soul Survivor live albums and the recent Passion offerings. It is not that the studio albums have been poor, but they have been a little understated for my tastes (I am into ’90′s grunge rock, after all).

This is not the case with Beautiful News. The first thing to note is the production: much of the album is guitar driven and the sound is rich and raw. The richness is largely a result of John Ellis’ (of Tree63 fame) densely layered guitar work. The title track is a case in point; the signature riff waxes, surges and crescendos into the bridge. Similarly Shine and All Over the World are enhanced by big guitars and big choruses which leads me into my second point.

Matt Redman is perhaps the most gifted songwriter of congregational worship songs of his generation and has blessed the church with songs like, Heart of Worship, Blessed be Your Name, Facedown, Lord Let Your Glory Fall, among others. It is on the song writing front that Beautiful News really excels. Redman’s gift is focused on writing timely, distinctive and yet congregational songs. If I think back to the first time I sang Heart of Worship or Blessed be Your Name, I was struck by the originality of the lyric in as much as few other songwriters were producing that kind of song. There is also a prophetic element to Redman’s songwriting, when, as a church, we sang Facedown for the first time, it felt as if it were our song, expressing our genuine heart-cry to God.

The skillfully crafted pop anthems of the title track, All Over the World and Shine are brilliantly counterbalanced by the beautiful and understated Yes and Amen and the stirring You Never Let Go. The refrain, ‘I’m alive, I’m alive’ on Thank You for Healing Me‘ is another highlight.

Other than the misstep Kaiser Chief refrain on Take It To The Streets and the filler-lite, A Greater Song this is a near flawless album which melds worship with a 21^st Century pop sensibility.

The real testing ground for this collection of songs, however, is the local church. We have been singing Beautiful News, You Never Let Go and All Over the World at Firwood Church for some time now and they have begun, like all great congregational worship songs, to take on a life of their own. No longer do they feel like Matt Redman songs, but rather songs which express our thanksgiving, praise and gratitude to King Jesus. And ultimately, this is the end of any worship song: to lead the people of God in the praises of God. This album is packed with songs that do just that.

Andy Evans

To buy Beautiful News, click here.

Let’s make one thing perfectly clear from the off:

There are no musical skeletons lurking in my closet. Although, perhaps I should clarify. I don’t want you to get excited by the implausible prospect that one day you may open your large, oakish closet to be greeted by a multitude of all-singing, all-dancing skeletons in the midst of a Mary Poppins or a Phantom number.

When I say that there are no “musical skeletons in my closet”, I’m referring to the simple stone cold fact that my musical taste, throughout my entire life, has been nothing short of perfect.

Perhaps you wonder aloud, “that’s a bold claim”. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I am that bold.

This doesn’t mean that each and every vinyl (yikes – before they were deemed cool & vintage!), tape cassette and CD I’ve owned has stood the test of time. They aren’t all assigned pride of place on my alphabetized/genre-arranged CD rack and they absolutely haven’t all made it onto my iPod. Truth of the matter is that some of them, well, probably most of them, I don’t really like anymore. In fact, if you’re my age and still listen to Bon Jovi and Michael Jackson then we should probably be praying for you.

However, my musical back catalogue is without need for excuse. When you line up my musical collections with the date that I actually owned them and enjoyed them, you’d agree that I was one pretty darn cool cat.

Whilst other kids in the playground were listening to Adam Ant and applying make-up to the whole of their face, fore-head, neck and ears; I was listening to Off the Wall.

Fast forwards and you’ll find that some folks were prancing and dancing along to the Locamotion whilst I was sated by the rocktastic prowess of Jon Bon Jovi & co.

In my teenage years, girls would faint and swoon over Take That or whatever boy band had reared it’s ugly head whilst the boys would pretend that they’d simply bought the album for their sister/ friend/ mother. All the while, I’d dress in black like a sullen but fashionable Johnny Cash.

Yep, I realize what you are thinking and yes, you were wrong to doubt me. I accept your apologies and we can all move forward in the comfortable knowledge that when Jonny Evans recommends a CD, you can rest assured that it is indeed excellent.

Now, to business:

When David Crowder Band released A Collision in 2005 (reviewed here), it raised the bar for all Christian artists worldwide. It was an album not only produced to an excellent mainstream standard, but it also contained a near flawless track list that could compete with any other release that year.

Any concerns that the band might struggle to follow the critical success of A Collision are dispelled within a matter of seconds. Opening track The Glory of it all (which first appeared on the Passion ’08 album) is as good as anything the band have produced previously.

Opposed to the diverse and quirky sounds of their earlier work, Remedy takes a more simplified pop-rock approach. Songs like Can You Feel It & Neverending dare you to tap your feet and grin like an idiot. Pure, exciting and uplifting electro-pop which make this undoubtedly Crowder’s most accessible album.

Whilst not as complex or down right “odd” as A Collision, Remedy still manages to effortlessly fuse together melodic anthems such as We Won’t Be Quiet with achingly beautiful tracks like You Never Let Go and, of particular note, the title track Remedy. It would be impossible to place Crowder’s latest into a particular genre. With Remedy, Crowder once again pulls off an album full of mainstream standard popular hits which sit perfectly and comfortably alongside powerful worship songs. I can’t think of a single other Christian artist who has managed to achieve this so successfully.

On a practical note, I’ve found Remedy to be a valuable resource for the worship band here at Firwood Church. You’ll recognise how a few of the songs have already found their way into our morning & evening services. Crowder brings a freshness to the traditional with O, For a Thousand Tongues To Sing and, with the excellent song Remedy, he leads us into a place of worship where we, above all else, realise that we stand as a broken, wounded and rebellious people before a perfect and holy God. He is our rescue and our remedy.

I wholeheartedly recommend this album to you. You can buy the limited edition version (with bonus dvd) here

Jonny Evans