Louder Than The Music

The 'Church of Christ the King' (CCK) in Brighton is a hot bed of talent for British worship leaders, having brought us such established names as Stuart Townend, Lou Fellingham, Phatfish, Paul Oakley and Newday worship leader Simon Brading. Have You Heard? is a new album recorded live at CCK in March 2009 featuring songs led by Stuart, Lou and Simon.

Simon Brading sings lead vocals for three of the songs: You Reign, a steady tempo track with a catchy chorus, plus God Of Compassion and Have You Heard which were both co-written with Graham Kendrick. The latter is extremely strong lyrically, as you might expect from the Kendrick pen, and achieves a contemporary sound with its enjoyable guitars.

Newcomer Rebekah Cox performs This Is For Me, which is sung superbly and has high quality guitars and drums, making it very easy to listen to. The four songs featuring Lou Fellingham are clearly the strongest on the album, with most of the album's highlights coming from her. Breathe is a brilliant song, although maybe a little high pitched for many to match. But it is God Immortal which is the ultimate track on the album. It is both good to listen to and easy to sing along to which, for me, is exactly what this album should be aiming for.

As the senior song writer on the album, Stuart Townend's four songs appear a little uneasy alongside some of the more modern worship songs. That is not to say they lack in qualty, just that they have more of a 'modern day hymn' feel to them. Stuart's songs come across more simply here than on his solo album, placing them in more of a church based setting. Gethsemane starts with a reading of the passage in the bible where Jesus is praying in the garden of Gethsemane, and then opens with a stirring string section. It is an intriguing ballad and broadens the appeal of an otherwise youthful album.

My biggest surprise with this album is that it is mainly an album of background music rather than an album you can worship along with, which is what I had anticipated it would be. This might explain the apparent quietness of the crowd on what is billed as a live worship recording. Overall it is a perfectly enjoyable album, but never really comes alive and doesn't provoke a sense of excitement.

Review by Dave Wood

Rating 3 out of 5 Stars
Stand Out Tracks
God Immortal
Have You Heard
Breathe

To buy this album click here.