Leaving Eden - Brandon Heath ( Review)

Brandon Heath Leaving Eden Artist Info: Discography Album length: 11 tracks: 43 minutes, 43 seconds Street Date: January 18, 2011

When you've got a year's second most played radio single to your name, there's much that can be expected for the future. "Give Me Your Eyes," one of the biggest Christian radio hits of the last decade, took Brandon Heath from a lesser-known singer/songwriter status to Christian music staple, and for fans of both the song and the artist alike, Leaving Eden was earnestly awaited, and the result leaves few surprises behind. From a commercial standpoint, Leaving Eden is nothing but a home run. Taking a cue from the style of the most successful song of Heath's career, this is a much more produced record than his previous work, and given who the target audience is, it triumphs. "Leaving Eden" is especially comparable to "Give Me Your Eyes," as it follows a very similar style using people-watching skills to convey the message of the world's falseness ("I just waved to a stranger, he didn't wave back.../teacher is hiding her Bible, but at least she's got a job/my local Salvation Army just got robbed"). The simple upbeat hip-hop drum style found in adult contemporary music is preserved all the way through (as well as some unfortunate auto-tune usage), especially with tracks like the already-runaway-hit "Your Love," "The Light In Me," "Might Just Save Your Life," plus others. Basic themes in Leaving Eden include recognition of Christ's contagious sovereignty in the believer ("The Light In Me"), the captivating power of Christ's love ("Stolen"), and the Christian's ability to make a difference in their world ("The One"). Most material here is pretty typical of Heath's songwriting technique - straightforward while leaving room for art to shine through, though not terribly profound. While the acoustic-driven approach has been forsaken for a more produced pop style, some tracks opt for the organic approach characteristic of Heath, namely "Only Water," "It's Alright" and "As Long As I'm Here." Maybe it's the stripped back stuff that Heath is best at, because these tracks are some of the strongest of the set. The arguably best track onLeaving Eden, "Only Water," uses the element as a chief compound of Jesus' work, leading to a highly effective and moving song ("And it washes over me, like a single river's stone, changes everything, but has no power on its own, it's only water".) Usually, ballads are thrown in the mix to change up the album's variety, but because they sound the most like Heath's original approach, they seem strikingly more accomplished in their execution. Listeners have to take in Leaving Eden with certain expectations. Recognizing the success radio-friendly material has brought him thus far, this feels like the natural next step in Heath's career for it to continue to thrive and sell records. As a result, this isn't a boundary-breaking release, but it's far from a miss. Joining the ranks of artists such as Tenth Avenue North, Leeland, and The Afters as the best of what Christian radio has to offer, Heath keeps things somewhat fresh but pulls no punches. Leaving Eden may not be destined to be hailed as a masterpiece by the year's end, but it's full of truthful optimism that will stick around on the radio long into 2011 and beyond. - PReview date: 12/28/10, Review date: 1/16/11, written by Roger Gelwicks of Jesusfreakhideout.com

 Record Label: Reunion Records
 Album length: 11 tracks: 43 minutes, 43 seconds
 Street Date: January 18, 2011
 Buy It: Amazon.com

Leaving Eden (5:15) Your Love (3:38) The Light In Me (4:26) Only Water (3:57) Stolen (3:43) Might Just Save Your Life (2:57) It's Alright (3:41) It's No Good To Be Alone (3:30) Now More Than Ever (4:03) The One (4:16) As Long As I'm Here (4:22)

  

Christ in Me: The Annual - The School Of Worship Review

Artist: The School Of Worship                      

Album: Christ in Me: The Annual

Release Date: September 28th, 2010

Style: Pop / Rock / Worship / Acoustic

Label: Eetaow / Teen Mania Ministries / EMi
Location: Lindale, TX

   

About:

Acquire the Fire Band’s are from Teen Mania’s very own School of Worship. The School of Worship is a 3 year track of the Honor Academy with the focus of training and raising up worship leaders and musicians to glorify the Lord with their musical gifts and talents. This is done through a variety of ways from class instruction, live performances, workshops from famous song writers and musicians, and more!

From that amazing opportunity of discipleship and in the security of one of America’s leading youth ministries, here is the sound of what God is doing in that ministry…the School of Worship’s debut national release. These guys lead worship at every Acquire The Fire, this last year to an amazing 250,000 + people at over 30 US cities. We know that songs may not change peoples lives, but we do know that God does and often uses songs as the soundtrack to a change….The School of Worship is there to be that vehicle at multiple live events, in churches across the globe and now as the soundtrack to the movement of Teen Mania’s Acquire The Fire by way of a recording.

                                     Track Listing:                                           

1. Christ In Me                                                          

2. Evermore

3. The Cure

4. Nothing But The Blood

5. Sit Enthroned

6. Matchless Grace

7. Resonate

8. King Of The Broken

9. Fully Known

10. Come Back Home

11. Rise Up

12. With Everything

Review: Sanctus Real – Pieces of a Real Heart

Sanctus Real – Pieces of a Real Hear

 Artist: SANCTUS REAL | Format: Audio CD

    

Album length: 11 tracks: 39 minutes, 16 seconds
Street Date: March 9, 2010

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Sanctus Real – Pieces of a Real Heart – Sparrow Records – Released March 9 – Reviewed By Tyler Hess

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THIS ALBUM :-

                                                                                

There are times in life when a person no longer relies on what got them to where they were.  Perhaps an actor who can no longer rely upon his good looks to get him by, so he has to learn to act.  Maybe a basketball player who no longer has the hops to slam it home, so he develops a cool as ice jumper.  Adaptations in music, however, can be far more dangerous.  A band takes the chance of alienating fans in the name of trying something different, creative integrity or maybe just trying to make what sells.

Sanctus Real, coming out of the Christian music hot bed of Ohio (don’t ask me why, but there are some amazing bands out of that place), have developed their sound in a way that will probably sell a lot more albums, but loses most of that dynamic energy that came with their pop rock hooks, settling for a more contemporary sound that probably skates a bit too far away from their earlier audiences preferences.  This is best evident in their first single, “Forgiven”, which tends toward lukewarm when compared to the upbeat sound that can be found in songs like “These Things Take Time” and “Take Over Me”.  The differences really tear me apart, as it seems like they have the tools to sound anywhere from Anberlin to Stellar Kart, but settle for a mediocre Starfield sound.

Grade: C+

Tracklisting:

1. Forgiven
2. These Things Take Time
3. The Way The World Turns
4. Lead Me
5. The Redeemer
6. Take Over Me
7. I Want To Get Lost
8. Til I Got To Know You
9. Dear Heart
10. I’ll Show You How To Live
11. Keep My Heart Alive

  

Review: "O Come All Ye Faithful" BEC RECORDINGS

O Come All Ye Faithful

 Artist: Various artists | Format: Audio CD

    

Released September 28 2010

Label: BEC Recordings

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CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THIS ALBUM :-

                                                                                
Christmas albums come, Christmas albums go, Christmas albums come back again and again and although some would prefer they didn’t come so early, they are always a welcome sight in my eyes.  Not to be outdone by the compilation by their sister label Tooth and Nail, BEC Recordings attempts its own collection of Christmas tunes from their biggest and up and coming artists.

Jeremy Camp gets the honor of taking on the title track to start off the compilation with his typical straightforward worship/rock version of “O Come All Ye Faithful”.  Bebo Norman steps up next with the first of his two songs, as “Joy To The World” brings about a folksy charm to the cover.  Chris Tomlin invites a choir of angels, or, maybe just a regular church choir and absolutely nails his rendition of “O, Holy Night”, a song that almost always gets a thumbs up from this guy.  My other favorite “night song” follows naturally, with Amy Grant putting up “Silent Night”, featuring a scenic intro and her seasoned contemporary vocals.  Last year I recall saying that Kutless doing worship songs by far outmatched their rock albums, but their Christmas songs might even be better, as “This Christmas” shows more vocal and musical range than I ever remember hearing from them anywhere else.  ”Downhere” busts out the title track from their Christmas EP with a whimsical number, followed by The Museum’s pounding “What Child Is This”.  Jadon Lavik then decides to change things up a bit with his acoustic guitar and a soulful voice on “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”.  Shane and Shane take that cue and bust out their down and moody version of “White Christmas”.  Seventh Day Slumber let’s us know for sure what they’re singing about with their rocked out “Away In A Manger”, before we get a couple of repeat artists in Bebo Norman’s “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” and the Kutless re-tread “Mary Did You Know” to cap off the album.

When you have the time to do just one or two songs and they’re covers it would be really difficult to flub it up too bad, so it shouldn’t be any surprise that O Come All Ye Faithful is about as strong of an effort as you can see out of this A-List of contemporary Christian music artists and will surely be heard at many gatherings around the fire this Christmas.

Grade: B+
Reviewed By Tyler Hess

Tracklisting:

1. Jeremy Camp – O Come All Ye Faithful
2. Bebo Norman – Joy To The World
3. Chris Tomlin – O, Holy Night
4. Amy Grant – Silent Night
5. Kutless – This Christmas
6. Downhere – How Many Kings
7. The Museum – What Child Is This
8. Jadon Lavik – O Come, O Come Emmanuel
9. Shane and Shane – White Christmas
10. Seventh Day Slumber – Away In A Manger
11. Bebo Norman – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
12. Kutless – Mary Did You Know