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Review: We Are Alive, Elevation Worship
August 8, 2008
Yesterday I received my copy of Elevation Worship’s We Are Alive from Wade Joye. I first got hooked on Wade’s blog praying for his daughters, and thought it was quite gentlemanly of him to shoot out a free CD to 100 worship leaders. I’ve only listened a few times but here’s a review based on my first impressions:
I love this CD! The music is a high energy blast of catchy hooks, down stroked eighth notes and delay driven octave chords. (Translation for non-music speak: it rocks!) The overall sound reminds me a lot of Seven Places, and for me that’s a good thing. The unity of sound is surprising considering three different worship leaders’ creative talents went into it: Wade Joye, Chris Brown, and Mack Brock. Steven Furtick was the executive producer on the project. Here is a lead pastor who really supports his worship department. I seldom listen to music in my car - usually talk radio, but I like this so much I took it with me on the road.
My favorite song so far is Undivided. The keys and guitar create a counter melody to each other that sweeps me in. I find “Undivided here’s my heart it’s yours, it’s yours” stuck in my head long after the song has stopped.
At a first glance I didn’t find anything I could use on Sunday morning. I’ll definitely keep listening, but there are several reasons this CD doesn’t fit:
- Lead Singer Vocals: We Are Alive features vocals that are mostly one singer pop-style vocals like you’d hear on the radio as opposed to traditional church “choral” style harmony. In general there’s very little harmony on the CD. We are transitioning our ministry towards incorporating more of the “one singer” style, but we aren’t there yet. When I walked into this role the heritage here was a style of a Soprano, Alto, Tenor 3-part harmony on every song (as it is in many churches). I’ve only recently starting putting vocalists on a song by themselves without harmony. It’s made a powerful impact, but it’s still new.
- Electric Guitar: I’ve found I really need to ration how often I put electric guitar into the mix. (This is despite sermons encouraging otherwise.) Nothing splits a congregation like distortion - some people desperately love it and others can’t stand it, I’m selective and intentional about how often I put songs in the mix that need to be driven by electric guitar. On We Are Alive There’s only one song, “Here In This Place” where you can even hear an acoustic guitar. The same reason I love this CD is what makes it unusable in my current context.
- Intricate melodies and instrumentation: The multilayered sound is beautiful and interesting. It also take extra effort to scale down for a smaller band. This doesn’t rule it out all together, it’s just becomes an extra barrier. Like most guys with volunteer musicians I look for simple songs that don’t require professionals to pull off. I do intentionally place a few songs into the rotation that are musically intricate in order to challenge the band. On We Are Alive every song fits this description. That means the whole CD get relegated to a list with very few open slots rather than the “good old standards I can pull out any time” list.
Bottom Line: We Are Alive is a great CD with radio friendly hits that is worth picking up for your personal listening pleasure. If your worship band is doing a lot of Steve Fee, Lee McDerment, Deluge and Hillsong United then you will probably find some gems here for your Sunday morning. For everyone else it’s stylistically beyond what will make sense for your congregation.
We Are Alive sounds nothing like a “worship CD.” That’s probalby the best compliment I can give it.
Developing A Songwriting Community Through Your Church, part one
August 6, 2008
“I had tried to visit Woody (Guthrie) regularly… I would usually take the bus there from the Port Authority terminal, make the hour-and-a-half ride and then walk the rest of the half mile up the hill to the hospital, a gloomy and threatening granite building…. Usually I’d play him his songs during the afternoon. Sometimes he’d ask for specific ones–”Rangers Command,” “Do Re Me,” “Dust Bowl Blues,” “Pretty Boy Floyd,” “Tom Joad,”… I knew all those songs and many more.”– Bob Dylan, Chronicles, Vol. 1
What an image: a young, pre-celebrity Bob Dylan traveling 90 minutes one way to trudge up a hill and play a few songs for his dying hero. Many hold Dylan as the archetype for the modern model of the artist: a reclusive rebel, peerless and owing nothing to artists who have come before. The truth is that not only did Dylan feel a heavy gratitude toward his musical forebears and mentors, but he constantly surrounded himself with others in his set, trading notes, swapping tales, helping with gigs.
From the Publisher - Site News
August 5, 2008
Dear Worshipers,
What an incredible few weeks we’ve had since our launch of Version 2 of TheWorshipCommunity.Com back on July 8, 2008. Since the “v2″ launch nearly a month ago, we’ve supplied articles, reviews, and insights from over fifteen different contributors. As we’ve said before, one of the things that is so special about TheWorshipCommunity.Com Read more
YouAreTheAmp - Saturday Sept 20
August 5, 2008
Presented by theAMP, the first ever AMPsaturday conference, Sept. 20th at Midtown Church in Atlanta, GA, USA with special guests: Carlos Whittaker, Casey Darnell, Aaron Keyes, and many more…
Church’s Got Talent - Hiring a Worship Leader
August 4, 2008
Face it. It’s bound to happen at some point. Maybe your church is beginning to grow and the needs cannot be properly fulfilled by a volunteer. Perhaps you have a staff transition and you find yourself in need. Maybe that talented high school student is graduating and moving away to college and you find yourself ….
Review: Joel Augé - On the Blue
August 4, 2008
It’s pretty interesting that music seems to go in cycles. There seems to be many bands that come out that point to some of the greatest musicians of our time.
Joel Augé is one of those guys. A veteran in the industry, he has learned to hone his sound. Most have not heard of him because he played in a few little known bands before getting signed as a solo artist with Integrity.
Good to Great: Onscreen Lyrics and Notes - Part 2
August 2, 2008
In Part 1 of this article we explored Contrast, Alignment, and Font Choice. You can start there and catch up.
The Purpose of Backgrounds = Enhance ≠ Distract
The whole purpose of backgrounds - loops or still graphics - is to add visual interest to the screens and to break up the monotony of plain black behind the lyrics.
On the flip side, many churches drank the kool-aid and now believe that worship can’t happen unless there’s some sort of motion - whether abstract or video - behind the lyrics. Backgrounds were never meant to become the focal point of the music set (unless of course you want them to be the focal point on special occasions). If at any point in time they become the focus, pull a “Heart of Worship” and get rid of them for a time. They cannot become a crutch.
Review: Klaus - Glory: An Evening of Worship with Klaus
August 2, 2008
Recorded LIVE at Christ For The Nations Institute, Glory combines well known Klaus songs with some great new tunes.
Klaus was born in Germany and currently lives in Canada with his family. He is a graduate of CFNI and following his graduation he returned to be the morning worship leader there from 2003-2005. Klaus produced two album’s during that time.
