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“Born Is The King” Hillsong (Christmas) – CD Review

Posted by AllAboutWorship on Nov 18th, 2011 in Christmas, Reviews | 0 comments

The team from Hillsong Music has done it again with the latest batch of Christmas music found on their Born Is The King which released this month. This condensed collection of seven Christmas songs recorded by the Hillsong team has an organic, fresh and almost folk like sound. The overall sound is very appealing, although it does not sound like any other Hillsong recording that this reviewer has heard.

Born Is The King contains many of your favorite Christmas carols such as “Joy To The World”, “We Three Kings”, “O Come Let Us Adore Him”, “O Holy Night” and “Silent Night”. There are also two original Hillsong tunes, one that is a new arrangement of a previously released song and one that is brand new. We first heard “Emmanuel”, written by Reuben Morgan, on the God He Reigns album. For this updated version, they have changed the meter from 4/4 to 6/8 and added a slew of interesting instruments, dynamics and sounds.

The title track, “Born Is The King (It’s Christmas)”, is one of my favorites from the whole album! The sound of this track is infectious with a Gungor/Leeland-like driving, percussive tone and rhythmic lyrics. You can’t help but tap your foot and sing along with this one, especially when the children’s choir comes in!

There are a few other standouts among the traditional carols, although none of them actually sound very traditional. “We Three Kings” has a very cool vibe, with it’s The Civil Wars-like sound. “O Come Let Us Adore Him” is another favorite, sometimes sounding like the traditional a capella candlelight carol, and then at other times sounding like a huge march-like processional from The Lion King. Each arrangement is well thought out, and very creative in its use of instruments, rhythms and layers.

Born Is The King gives these familiar carols a fresh, new creative approach, which is a joy to listen to but potentially challenging to put to use in a worship service, although the deluxe version of this digital download album does come with instrumental tracks and lyric chord charts. This is definitely an album to get to add to your personal Christmas playlist!!

-Reviewed by Barry Westman

(Review copy provided by EMI)

“God is Able”, Hillsong – CD Review

Posted by AllAboutWorship on Aug 2nd, 2011 in music, Reviews | 0 comments

Paul’s impassioned address to the church of Ephesus in Ephesians 3:12-20 speaks of the assurances we should take from the sheer love of God, that through Him we have a love so deep that through Him we are able to accomplish anything – because He is able and good.

Encapsulating the passion, the glory, and the awe of this message through sung worship would seem a tall order for many. For Hillsong, in whom we ﬁnd 20 years worth of anointed live worship (and a movement that has changed the way the world thinks about worship), this is another step on the road to living and breathing the love of God through worship.

The album starts in a way we’ve come to expect from Hillsong – a sumptuous blend of ethereal delayed guitars, a pounding rhythm unit of drums and bass, and Joel Houston’s rugged vocal sitting nicely atop the mix. In Joel’s rousing opener – ‘Rise’ – we ﬁnd a worship song speaking of the desire for more understanding, more intimacy, and more depth to our relationship with Him. I particularly like the bridge (“Swing the doors wider”
etc…) – the reﬂection of freedom we ﬁnd in Him is awe-inspiring.

The seemingly never-ending songwriting gifting that has been bestowed upon Reuben Morgan continues in ﬁne tradition with ‘With Us’ (a co-write with Hillsong guitarist Dylan Thomas). The beauty of this one for me lies in the fact that the overall message of the song is one of comfort – a God that is with us always – and yet, the lyrics of the song are almost pure praise – it is not about who we are, but about who we are in Him. Again set to
an energetic backdrop, the searing guitar riff on this one is particularly catchy – technically simple though very effective.

Another personal favorite on the album for me is ‘The Lost Are Found’. This message of salvation, hope, faith and healing is overwhelmingly powerful – especially in the second part of the song. This song carries all the hallmarks of previous Hillsong classics as ‘From the Inside Out’, ‘Came to My Rescue’ and ‘The Stand’, in that the sections are well constructed, and the rousing, repeated chorus forms the bedrock of the song. The ‘live
worship’ feel comes across particularly well on this track, with a nice mix of highs and lows of texture and dynamic.

The title track has a certain familiarity to it – it’s one of those songs that sounds as if it has always been around. The feel of the song is representative of that – parts that you would expect to ﬁnd in your average church band are all there – acoustic & electric guitars, bass, drums and keys can all be heard well in the mix. The song itself ﬁts perfectly into the themes of hope, trust, faith and assurance that come across in abundance on this album.

Lastly and of particular note is Darlene Zschech’s poignant and reﬂective heartfelt song “Cry of the Broken”. If you’re looking for a heart’s cry to the Lord, to feel acceptance, to feel love, then this is the song for you. Almost poetic lyrics set to a subtle backing of piano and strings, this song draws on Hillsong’s more traditional, reﬂective side, and is a worthy conclusion to a great album.

-Review by Ed Rotheram
(review copy provided by Kingsway)

Hillsong Chapel “Yahweh” – CD Review

Posted by AllAboutWorship on Oct 31st, 2010 in Reviews | 2 comments

Unplugged albums were vastly popular in the 90′s – artists would strip down their songs and present them in an intimate, acoustic setting. The best of them (think Eric Clapton’s reboot of “Layla”) completely re-imagine and reinvent their songs. The worst demonstrate just how many sins the producer managed to cover.

Enter Hillsong Chapel, the latest iteration of the hugely successful Hillsong “brand”. Hillsong Chapel is essentially “Hillsong Unplugged”, and Yahweh is the first offering – a collection of favorites from the Hillsong Live and Hillsong United catalog, recorded live and unplugged in their chapel, a small (by their standards) sandstone building.

I can tell you that, having been a Hillsong fan for many years, I was excited to get my hands on Yahweh to hear how some of my favorite songs translated to an acoustic environment.

My home congregation (like many of yours) has less than 200 members and is easily overwhelmed by much of what contemporary worship has to offer. For example, “Mighty to Save” has general appeal, but folks would be lost within the layered guitars and pounding bass drum of “The Time Has Come”. Plus, I don’t have the space or worship team prepared to recreate the sound. In listening to Yahweh, my hope was that it would demonstrate the true cross-generational appeal of Hillsong and perhaps inspire my own acoustic arrangements of these songs.

Are they successful? You bet. While it’s not a home run, it is a stand-up double.

First of all, the song selection is stellar. They’ve included a nice cross-section of the Hillsong catalog featuring recent standouts (“You Hold Me Now”) and CCLI performers (“Mighty To Save”, “From the Inside Out”, “Hosanna”).

It’s definitely not a snoozer. Yahweh doesn’t fall into the trap (as unplugged albums occasionally can do) of assuming that upbeat numbers are to be avoided or used sparingly. The album flows nicely from song-to-song, moving gracefully between ballads, mid-tempo numbers, and high-energy foot-tappers.

Yahweh demonstrates how well these songs stand up to the stripped down, acoustic environment. The arrangements are multi-layered, the lyrics and vocals stand out. As is to be expected, not all of the songs respond as well to the treatment. “Hosanna” and “Salvation Is Here” shine, but a few songs (“The Time Has Come”, “From the Inside Out”, “Came to My Rescue”) do little to differentiate themselves from the originals in this setting.

If I were to fault the album, I would argue that it lacks a certain warmth. Hillsong Chapel falls just short of delivering a real living room worship experience. While 300 worshipers may feel diminutive in comparison to the 20,000+ that attend weekly Hillsong Australia services, it’s still a pretty large gathering in my book. There are some wonderfully subdued, intimate moments – just not as many as I had hoped. They don’t quite get away from that arena feeling. It’s a minor gripe but still a consideration.

Ultimately, Hillsong Chapel and Yahweh is a keeper. The acoustic arrangements are easy on the ear and present familiar songs in a different light. If this foray into the unplugged arena is any indication of the future, Hillsong has another winner on their hands.

Track list:

1. Hosanna

2. You’ll Come

3. Run

4. The Time Has Come

5. Saviour King

6. Yahweh

7. Came To My Rescue

8. Stronger

9. This is Our God

10. You Hold Me Now

11. From the Inside Out