Sometimes I have an opportunity to listen to and review new music and because many of my friends and family love Christian pop radio music I agreed to review two new CDs. Both came with the promise of a free giveaway and because I love you, the readers of this site, here are my reviews. Comment below or on Facebook to win. Winners will be chosen at random on October 15, 2017.
Glory Song
by Matt Redman
sixsteprecords
September 2017
My biggest problem with this album and the songs on it are previous works by Redman. There are no 10,000 Reasons here. Instead, we get, in my opinion, very basic lyrics – listen to, for instance, the beginning of the song All Glory, All Glory the song. And, yes, that is an illustration, an illustration that is, – on mellow and same-ish music ready made for Christian radio. And that’s not a great thing, in my opinion. None of the songs rise to the level of interesting, creative or complicated.
That said, listeners who came looking for Redman will find enough of the same Redman to love this album. Listeners looking for “safe for the whole family” music will find it here. Listeners looking for something mellow and encouraging with easy to remember lyrics will enjoy Glory Song. And since music is mostly all about taste preferences, I’ll just agree to disagree and set this aside.
The Answer
by Jeremy Camp
Sparrow
October 2017
When I was first introduced to Jeremy Camp it was as an alternative to secular music. He was supposed to be good-for-the-soul pop rock and some of those early songs weren’t bad. Recently – say the last decade – he has become known for his worship songs and covers, Like 2015’s Same Power, and soft rock songs like, He Knows (both from I Will Follow.)
The Answer is very similar to, but not as good as I Will Follow. He has the same soft rock vibe going for the most part, but adds some electronic noise, like in the already constantly playing on radio, Word of Life, or even a Jon Bon Jovi-esq Awake O Sleeper (reminds me a lot of Young Guns.)
While some of the songs do stretch the sound of Camp, I found the album to be strongly, firmly forgettable. Obviously, I’m in the minority here based on the radio play that Word of Life is already getting. But I’m tired of songs that all sound the same and artists who don’t push themselves or evolve. I firmly believe that Camp can do better. Just my opinion.
Don’t forget to comment here or on Facebook if you think my opinion is totally rubbish and you want a copy of the CD(s).
Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.
A copy of each of the CDs was provided in exchange for a review.