The Now And Not Yet, Jeremy Riddle’s eagerly-anticipated sophomore release, is a reflection of how God is moving in the life of this artist and worship leader.
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Jeremy Riddle [The Now And Not Yet]| Posted April 09, 2009
Jeremy Riddle is the writer and singer of the amazing worship song ?Sweetly Broken?, a Vineyard Worship song and one of the great songs on Jeremy?s solo debut album on Varietal Records ?Full Attention?, which was one of my top 10 albums of 2007. He has an earnest, sincere songwriting and singing style that will immediately remind you of Bono from U2, Chris Martin from Coldplay, and also worship leader Matt Redman and Martin Smith from Delirious?. Since I love those artists and alternative rock style praise and worship, I?m predisposed to like Jeremy Riddle.
?The Now And Not Yet? is Jeremy?s newest album, released March 3, 2009. ?Christ Is Risen? is the first song and just like ?God Of All Glory? on ?Full Attention?, it sets the tone for this catchy and worshipful album. The music is even more upbeat and rock-oriented which is an improvement over ?Full Attention?. The vertical worship and number of songs I could imagine singing in union with fellow believers in a corporate worship setting is another highlight of this very solid album. The songs that would be great additions to church services are ?Christ Is Risen?, ?Bless His Name?, ?Prepare The Way?, and ?Surrendered In Praise?. ?Prepare The Way? puts Isaiah 40:3 ?In the desert prepare the way for the LORD? to song with a great rhythm and ?Yahweh, Yahweh? chorus with a U2 style. ?Bless His Name? is one of my favorite songs of the year with the call to worship: ?come let us sing for joy, let us shout aloud to our King, come let us worship God, lifting holy hands to Bless His Name?. There are also some great calls to action with the songs ?Prayer For The Church? and ?Among The Poor?.
If you like the song ?Sweetly Broken?, you?ll love the album ?The Now And Not Yet?. If you like Brit-Rock style praise and worship artists Matt Redman, Tim Hughes, Tree63 and Delirious?, then you can?t go wrong with Jeremy Riddle.
An encouraging and underrated album| Posted March 13, 2009
One of the many noticeable things about Jeremy Riddle’s new album right off the bat is the cover: sitting in front of presumably apartment buildings is a lion and a lamb. This picture clearly represents the latter part of Riddle’s new album title, The Now and Not Yet, where the peace between the animals may come from Isaiah 11:6. But there is a more significant meaning behind the cover: the architect of the hit single “sweetly broken” has broken his silence with his sophomore album.
One of the biggest mistakes a person could make while scouting this CD out is assuming that the song titles portray the depth of Jeremy Riddles album. This could not be farther from the truth. It’s true that the CD does have downfalls musically with “prepare ye the way of the lord”, a pretty weak upbeat worship song which makes Lincoln Brewster look like a master, and the weak ending song “I am redeemer” which is almost as dry as toast. But beyond some other simple and unoriginal praise and worship songs (“as above so below” and “one thing”), there really isn’t that much to complain about considering the probable low expectations on complexity.
Furthermore there are some unexpected highlights which show up and peak with the piano fueled “prayers for the Church”, a surprisingly good, emotional, adult contemporary ballad. The emotion in “The one the only” may lack haunt and a major distinguishing musical component it’s a fine song like guitar driven “one thing” where Riddle’s vocals shine. The most up-tempo song in the album is “joyful noise”, (which is on par with a Lincoln Brewster song) a song which cleverly starts with nothing but Riddles voice before taking the same words and speeding them up.
“Bless His Name”, “Prepare Ye the way of the Lord”, and “surrendering in praise”; with song titles like these a person (the same person) would assume ‘been there done that’, however the messages of The Now and Not Yet are more complex than face value. The singer in “Surrendered in praise” wisely puts his faith in Christ (‘My strength it fails and my courage fades /In my distress I cry aloud to You’), and “the one the only” represents Riddles very passionate and reverent approach to song writing.
Surrender to God is a reoccurring theme on the album with “as above so below” (‘Whom else can we look to' /There is no help but You’) and “to be like you” (‘Broken am I /Full of discord am I /Hungry for change’). Whenever Riddles mentions himself it isn’t a positive as he leaves that for the God of the universe; a God which he yearns to know on “the one thing”: ‘This one thing I much desire /And to this end to never part /A devoted and simple life /A focus of mind and heart… I want to know Jesus’.
The Now and Not Yet is good sophomore album, but one which lacks a wide selection of solid radio singles. And Jeremy Riddle does fall for clichés and runs into lyrical shallowness (“joyful noise”, and “bless his name” among others) but the overall theme of this CD is God is everything, He is worthy to be worshiped, and we are helpless without him. Those are lasting messages that we should never forget.
:)| Posted September 15, 2011
Awesome awesome album. My favourite song from this album is Prepare The Way of The Lord .. Because it is kinda different compared to others. But all songs are awesome and the whole album is worth listening ! :)
Trumping U2 - Can't Believe It| Posted March 13, 2009
Who would have thought that a CD could trump the new U2 in my car in the Month of March? The new Jeremy Riddle album has done just that. What a phenominal singer with great lyric and an incredible band and production. Most bands want to say, if you like U2 or Coldplay then we're your band, and we find they are mistaken, but let me tell you: If you're a U2 fan, you must check out this Jeremy Riddle record. The lyrics are spot on gospel, energizing, and thought provoking. The music is stellar. Beyond words, I so highly recommend this CD. I only pop it out to listen to "Magnificent" from the new U2, and "Unknown Caller," then it's right back in for "Prepare the Way of the Lord", "As Above, So Below", and "Christ is Risen" from Riddle, and it keeps going. Seriously, it's under the radar and it's awesome. Check it out.
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