A Unique Perspective for a Worship Release | Posted March 26, 2013
This Baptism Unplugged release by 1211 can essentially be summed up in short as a worship service in an album format. It's a live recording and the quality of the recording is superb. It feels like you're there but it also sounds great as a recording.
Musically, there are common worship staples here in "Lead Me To The Cross," "Beautiful One," and "Angus Dei." All are covered successfully here. There are even some horn accompaniments in some of these to help add some interesting musical layers to it all.
There's even a Coldplay cover thrown in at the start, in the form of "Brothers (Lovers in Japan)." The lyrics are adapted to be Christ-centered and this clever transition fits well and is surprisingly effective where it could've easily been cheesy. This is ironically probably the best song on the record. Perhaps it's the surprise of seeing a mainstream pop song adapted for a worship service, but it's musically very urgent and genuine.
There's a roughly 10-minute story by Eric Bryant in the latter half that's quite inspirational. It might slow down the project's feel as a music album, but it fits well enough in the context of a worship service.
The album closes out with a cover of "Manifesto" by The City Harmonic. It's a fitting closer to round out what is an effective and uplifting worship service.
It's clear that this album won't be for everybody. Musically, it mostly covers territory covered many times before. But if you're looking to feel part of a big crowd gathering together to worship Christ in music, this release does an effective job of capturing that.
Closing Thoughts:
There are some surprisingly well-done musical gems here. The music and vocals are solid throughout. There's little to complain about if you take the release for what it is. There's nothing here that doesn't work and it's hard to find anything legitimately wrong with this release. Its appeal might be fairly limited, but those to whom it does appeal should definitely feel fulfilled and satisfied with this release.
Song to Download Now:
"Brothers (Lovers in Japan)" ( Get it from iTunes here.)
Comments (0) | Add Comment | Is This Review Helpful? Yes | No |
to add lyrics if not listed.
