With her latest album, south-coast-based singer-songwriter Cathy Burton displays a considerable shift of focus. The songs here are more worship-focussed with explicit lyrics and choruses that wouldn’t be out of place at Soul Survivor or New Day.
Muscially, there is a solid pop-rock thread running throughout the album, veering occasionally in American Idol territory, but generally fitting well into the current mainstream contemporary worship genre, reminding me of Phatfish in their softer moments.
Standout tracks for me included Redeemer (that I may suggest introducing into our reportoire at Church), the Delirious-esqe Songs of Healing and the joyful I Will Choose.
A solid album that deserves exposure as a great worship resource for many churches.
Tagged as:
CCM,
Music,
Worship
Wow Hits 2010
Various Artists £14.99
I came to this album as someone who only has a few Contemporary Christian Music albums on my iPOD (Rich Mullins, Adam Again and The Lost Dogs if you must know). As such, the only artists on this generous double CD package that meant anything to me were those who had made an impact through their worship songs.
It would be impossible in the space of a short review to provide a review of all 30 tracks here, and as is the nature of these products there will be some that appeal and some that will leave the listener cold.
The overall stylistic theme is one of what may be described as ‘emotional pop/rock’ – lots of sincere close-to-the-mic vocals, sparsely arranged verses and chunky guitar driven choruses (such as the unfortunately titles Matthew West song ‘The Motions’ and . Those not fitting this description had a professional and familiar radio-friendly pop/soul production (e.g. American Idol finalist Mandisa with ‘My Deliverer’). The lyrics are generally very direct in either exhortation or worship – there is little of the vague spirituality that populates the charts this time of year.
CCM has never really taken off here as it has in the US, and the reasons for this have been discussed at length and this, combined with the blurring line between contemporary music and contemporary worship explains the inclusion of people such as Chris Tomlin and David Crowder.
In the end, you either like listening to this style of music (and there is a certain style to it, at least to British ears – I think every artist on the double CD is based in the United States) or you don’t. For the casual listener the format of the ‘Wow’ range is the perfect vehicle to access new artists.
There is no denying the excellent production quality and inspiring lyrics, but for me the standout tracks were those writing songs that were likely to find their way to congregational use rather than the CCM tracks. Still, it represents great value at £14.99.
Review by Ian Matthews
Released by Kingsway Music in the UK
Tagged as:
CCM,
Music,
Worship
