A while back Bob Kauflin mentioned on Worship Matters that his church was working their way through memorizing several great hymns. What an amazing idea! Even more amazing is what the church did to help the congregation memorize. They produced their own CD of all the hymns that the people would be memorizing. They then made it easily availble to the congregation (and to everyone else in the world) by offering it on Noise Trade. I’ve had a chance to savor the album for a while and wanted to give a quick review.
While this album is far from my favorite praise and worship album, it is rock solid in many ways with just a few minor things that don’t seem to fit. Modern, fresh arrangements help timeless hymns come alive for our generation and generations to come. From probably the most well-known hymn of all time, “Amazing Grace” to “Before the Throne of God Above,” a hymn that should be more well-known, Covenant Life did a fantastic job of making these hymns accessible and easy to listen to.
I was also happy that they came out of their doctrinal roots and included “A Mighty Fortress is our God,” a hymn very familiar to Lutherans but one that I agree should have been included.
For the most part the updated arrangements work quite well. Amazing Grace has been updated into a 4/4 meter which I find makes the song seem much less cheesy. I hate to give that adjective to the amazing words that John Newton penned, but sometimes arrangments of the hymn are just that – cheesy. Covenant Life’s arrangement is far from it.
The first four notes of “Praise to the Lord” are turned into a fantastic hook that defines the arrangement. “And Can it Be” features a gorgeous string arrangement that is enjoyable over and over.
The only tracks that I get tempted to skip are “Be Thou My Vision” and “Be Still My Soul.” The interesting chord progression in “Be Thou My Vision” feels a little forced to me and I’m not sure I can get used to a Latin arrangement of “Be Still My Soul” or the bluegrass version of “How Firm a Foundation” (however, the vocal harmonies are stunning on this track). These aren’t complaints against the writing necessarily as much as my personal preference.
Regardless of the minor dislikes I have of this album – Covenant Life did an outstanding job and produced an amazing album of hymns that should be in every worship leader, even every Christian’s collection. I hope our church can produce something of this quality someday. Feel free to get the album from Noise Trade below.
