I’m so conditioned to expect mediocre releases from Hillsong that I was really taken aback while listening to their latest CD Faith + Hope + Love. This is by far the best Hillsong album in recent memory. I’m not sure what happened between the recording of this release and their previous effort, Across the Earth: Tear Down the Walls but the material is so much stronger this time around. Casual listeners may not notice a difference since the song arrangements and the overall sound mix are pretty typical for a Hillsongs recording. But the well crafted song structures and the depth of the lyrics take this Hillsong release to another level.
And for a change of pace, a Brooke Fraser Ligertwood song isn’t the major highlight of the album. It’s a song by Jill McCloghry titled “We the Redeemed”. The powerful worship anthem will most likely be a congregation favorite for years to come. And there’s plenty more on the album for worship leaders to use with their respective teams. Be sure to check out: “The First and The Last”, “For Your Name”, “Yahweh” and “The Wonder of Your Love”
It’s also great to hear Darlene Zschech’s lovely voice again on “The Wonder of Your Love”. No longer the main worship pastor at Hillsong Church, Zschech has taken a lesser role on recent Hillsong recordings. Even so, there’s no replacing that remarkable voice of hers which will be forever linked as part of that classic “hillsong sound”.
RetroGrade: A
— Hillsong Live – Faith + Hope + Love released: August 2009
recorded during the month of March 2009
label: Hillsong Music/Integrity
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”
It’s unfortunate that the latest Hillsong Live release, This Is Our God has been stained by Michael Guglielmucci deceiving people into believing he had cancer. The CD turned out to be one of their stronger efforts in recent years. OK, admittedly, that’s not saying all that much since the last few Hillsong Live albums have been pretty lackluster. But with long time leader Darlene Zschech taking a less prominent role in the worship team, the line between “Hillsong Live” and “Hillsong United” has been blurred. What you hear now as “Hillsong Live” is pretty much what we’ve been hearing on “Hillsong United” albums – a straight-ahead, no-nonsense alt-rock approach to worship music. And there-in lies the problem. I’m not sure if it’s simply the limitations of the musicians in the band but the instrumental arrangements to every track are blandly similar. I can see that the songwriters have written some great material this time around but frustratingly, the band interprets the songs in the same fashion every single time. Frankly, they desperately need to find better musicians because the guitar player can’t play a decent lead to save his life. And the piano is relatively non-existent in the mix. So, what we end up here on the album is a wall of sound created by a whole bunch of guitars strumming basic chords for 70-plus minutes which is pretty tedious listening. And that’s a shame because some of these songs deserve better treatment. Once you get past the run-of-the-mill playing, you can find some mega-church filling anthems like “He is Lord”, “Your Name High”, “Stronger” and “You Are Here (the Same Power)”.
retroGrade : C+
This is Our God
Artist: Hillsong Live
Featured worship leaders: Darlene Zschech, Brooke Fraser, Joel Houston, Matt Crocker, Mike Guglielmucci, Sam Knock, Jad Gillies and Reuben Morgan
label: Hillsong/Integrity
released: August 2008
Official site: Hillsong Music Australia
TrackListing: 1 Your Name High (Houston) 3:54
2 Run (Houston) 3:20
3 Desert Song (Fraser) 4:10
4 This Is Our God (Morgan) 5:48
5 He Is Lord (Fielding) 4:54
6 High and Lifted Up (Guglielmucci, Zschech) 4:36
7 Stronger (Fielding, Morgan) 4:26
8 Healer (Guglielmucci) 7:04
9 You Are Here (The Same Power) (George, Pankratz) 2:50
10 You Deserve (Crocker, Dunlop) 4:36
11 Across the Earth (Crocker, Guglielmucci, Morgan) 4:28
12 Where We Belong (Davies, Morgan) 5:31
13 Sing to the Lord (Crocker, Guglielmucci) 6:43
14 You’ll Come (Fraser) 5:03
15 Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus (Lemel, Traditional) 1:45
16 With Everything (Houston) 7:54
While doing some prep work for my upcoming review of This Is Our God by Hillsong Live, I came across this news item from Christian Music Today that was posted back in September. Apparently, Pastor Michael Guglielmucci, who wrote and performed “Healer” on the album, deceived thousands of Hillsong church members about his battle with cancer. He flat out lied to his family, friends and followers about having the disease. In reality, Pastor Guglielmucci was dealing with 16 year porn addiction. What a tragic fall from grace. and it’s truly sad to think about how this selfish act negatively affects the faith of thousands of believers who sincerely prayed for, put their trust in and contributed their hard earned money to this man. Hillsong reacted swiftly by pulling the song off of their website and plans to remove the song off of future pressings of This is Our God. That’s too bad since the song was one of the featured highlights on the album. Look for my review of the album in the next few days.
I’m so conditioned to expect mediocre releases from Hillsong that I was really taken aback while listening to their latest CD Faith + Hope + Love. This is by far the best Hillsong album in recent memory. I’m not sure what happened between the recording of this release and their previous effort, Across the Earth: Tear Down the Walls but the material is so much stronger this time around. Casual listeners may not notice a difference since the song arrangements and the overall sound mix are pretty typical for a Hillsongs recording. But the well crafted song structures and the depth of the lyrics take this Hillsong release to another level.
has been stained by 
