He Didn't When He Could Have Passed By: Starting out the project is a fast-paced song with a country/bluegrass style. This could be one of the jazziest Greatest Vision songs to date. It was written by Rodney Griffin. (Of course! His songs are always really good.) I don't have anything special to say. Just that's it's a catchy song with a great beat and good lyrics and awesome music. 5 stars
Safe Within His Hand - This song can be compared in some aspects, to "You Were Faithful Yesterday." (Welcome Back) It's about the same pace, medium slow. And the music sounds somewhat similar. It does have more of a country flavor though. My favorite part is the end of the chorus. 3.5 stars
No Longer Chained - I love how this song is arranged. The intro is slow, with soft orchestration, leading you to think that a ballad is coming. But then the speed picks up with guitars and a nice string section. The guitars make the track feel slightly country, but with the orchestration, it's a lot different than a country song. Once again Rodney has written a winner. At the end, the singing stops, the music starts playing again, and fades out, like in the Perry's "Blue Skies Coming." 4 stars
I Know A Man Who Can - Wow. Chris Allman really gets into it. 4 stars
He's the Only Way - This is a fun song, very fast, with a good message. A lot of people are very "tolerant," saying that "all roads lead to Heaven." But of course, that's not true, and I appreciate Greater Vision singing the truth. 4.5 stars
Like I Wished I Lived - Slowing the pace, "Like I Wished I Lived," provides a nice ballad. (you have to be in the mood for something slower of course) I would like to comment on this being the radio single. My question is: why? It's a fine song, but it doesn't compare to some of the other tracks. The orchestration is rather light, and it just doesn't seem like a song to make people think: "I've got to get that album!" 4 stars
But God - Written by Rodney Griffin and Twila LaBar, this is another nice ballad. I think this is perhaps slightly better than the last one. It seems a little faster, as well. The orchestration is, once again, pretty light. 3.5 stars
We Still Have to Pray - IMO, there should been a fast song here. This makes three ballads in a row, and after "Eternity's About to Begin," there's two more. As to the music, very light, with hardly any orchestration, barely any drums. A lot of instruments come together at the bridge, but then leave, as the group sings the chorus again.
Eternity's About to Begin - This is a really fun, catchy, awesome song! The organ produces a really neat sound. The chorus, in particular, is really fun as there's a lot of words stuffed in. There's a great beat, and the production is spectacular. This would bring down the house in a concert setting, probably making at least one encore. Similar to "No Longer Chained," the track starts out slow, but this time you can tell that it's going to get better. I will definitely be listening to this a lot. 6 stars (Yes, I like it so much, that it went off the usual 1 to 5 star rating scale!)
Heaven Can't Be Far Away - I've heard a larger-scale version of this song by the Mark Trammell Trio on Once Upon a Cross, as they had a choir accompanying the group. This version was good though, and it didn't really need a choir. 3.5 stars
Another Child's Coming Home - This is, IMO, the best ballad on The Only Way. It's different than some of Greater Vision's recent hits ("God So Loves Me," "It Pays to Pray") But it's still a nice song. It's lighter. And..."peaceful?" (Sorry if I'm making no sense) 5 stars
Closing Comments:
Recently Greater Vision has put out a lot of albums with re-released songs. (e.g. Welcome Back, Nothing But Fast, 20 Years: Live in Texas, ect.) So it's about time that they put out a new original CD.
This CD has several solid songs, but it could have been improved in several ways. For one thing, I would have liked to see at least one more fast song. And I think that bigger orchestration on several songs would have been nice as well.
Greater Vision is an excellent group, and, as I was saying to somebody recently, their music is very worshipful. Let's pray that they keep up with the God-glorifying music, and not merge into more
"progressive" styles.
Favorites: "Eternity's About to Begin," "No Longer Chained," "Another Child's Coming Home"
0 comments:
Post a Comment