Hillsong United – Across the Earth: Tear Down the Walls
It was hard for me NOT to just CUT and PASTE my last Hillsong review for this review of a_CROSS//the_EARTH: Tear Down the Walls, especially since the majority of their releases are *SO* cookie-cutter like. I know, I know, praise & worship music inherently limits the songwriters to basic chord progressions in order for congregations the world over to be able to sing-along during services. But even so, I expect a little more from Hillsong United, who are touted as the most popular youth worship band in the world. The new live recording just feels like they’re filling an obligation. The songs don’t feel inspired and are pretty much by-the-book. All the elements of a Hillsong recording are here: upbeat rockers (check!), introspective contributions from Brooke (Fraser) Ligertwood (check!), bland mid-tempo strum-alongs (check!, check!), and futile attempts at another “Shout to the Lord” mega-smash (check!). Two songs from last year’s This is Our God needlessly appear here in this collection – “Desert Song” and “Your Name High”. Both songs were performed better on the previous CD. Brooke Ligertwood as always delivers the standout cut, this time called “Soon”, arranged in a low-key manner which is pretty unusual relative to Hillsong’s bombastic tendancies. Other songs that have potential to catch on with congregations hungry for new material include: “Freedom is Here”, “Tear Down the Walls”, “More Than Anything”, “You Hold Me Now”
retroGrade: C+
a_CROSS//the_EARTH: Tear Down the Walls
Hillsong United
released: May 2009
label: Hillsong/Integrity
TrackList:
1 Freedom Is Here (Ligertwood, Morgan) 5:40
2 No Reason to Hide (Crocker, Houston) 4:43
3 More Than Anything (Davies, Lang) 3:53
4 King of All Days (Thomas) 6:19
5 Desert Song (Ligertwood) 4:40
6 Oh You Bring (Crocker) 7:03
7 Tear Down the Walls (Crocker, Houston) 10:22
8 Soon (Ligertwood) 5:48
9 You Hold Me Now (Crocker, Morgan) 8:28
10 Arms Open Wide (Knock) 6:01
11 Your Name High (Houston) 5:21
12 Yours Forever (Davies, Lang) 3:39
—
—
—
Related posts:
for those that are interested, here’s my recent review of Hillsong Live: Faith+Hope+Love