REVIEW

Chris Tomlin - "Hello Love" Released September 2, 2008

There seems to be a pattern to Tomlin's musical life. It goes something like this - Chris releases a studio record. Chris tours that album. Eventually, Chris shows up on a live CD, most likely a Passion release, with 2 or 3 brand new tunes. Historically, those 2-3 live tunes have been AWESOME. Next, Chris releases a newer studio album that includes studio remakes of his previous live hits, four or five new ballads and a couple of rock songs.

It's not a bad pattern...it's created a lot of hits for Chris and affords him the opportunity to play and sing before thousands of people each year. With Hello Love, the pattern continues. Some live favorites are there, some fresh new ballads pop up and a couple of standout rock and roll tunes round out the record.

For this review, I figured it might be fun to take it song-by-song. Hang on...here we go!

Track 1: "Sing, Sing, Sing"
I had not heard this song before Passion: God Of This City. While I tend to prefer Tomlin's live tracks to his studio ones, I do think the studio version of this tune is much stronger. Personally, it seems a bit more solid and thought out. Tomlin is great at these high energy tunes. I did notice on this track (and the whole album, really) less in the way of programming. The opening track has plenty of synth stuff, mind you, but pre-programmed rhythm stuff is noticeably absent. (Tomlin seemed to start stepping away from this with the last record...and apparently is continuing to do so.) This one is a great opener and a fun listen. As to playability, I'm not quite sure - there's a lot going on in the tune, but not a lot of chord changing, which can be frustrating for bands not used to learning parts note for note.

Track 2: "Jesus Messiah"
A friend of mine had mentioned this tune awhile back and I was able to find in on the "New Song Cafe" over at the www.worshiptogether.com website. As an acoustic number, it didn't too much for me, but the studio version is strong. It's a pretty straightforward "Tomlin" song - pretty simple melody and predictable arrangement with lots of power in the chorus. I'm still not crazy about the song, but it is interesting to see what production can do to an otherwise simple tune. I think lots of churches will be drawn to this one - lyrical imagery is strong, song is easy-to-emulate, over all production level is pretty ear-catching.

Track 3: "You Lifted Me Out"
Let me see if I can accurately describe this song: imagine the opening power chord hit from the Foo Fighters' 'Long Road To Ruin."' As it fades, the song explodes in your face, a strange hybrid riff that sounds like Crowder-meets-The Killers.

Got your attention? Track 3 is great. Definitely a rocker of a different feel for Tomlin. I like the jazzy chord inversions in the verse and the straight-ahead rock groove on the choruses. Lots of folks will also gravitate toward the reverb-piano-syncopated-Coldplay attack of the bridge section.

As to application, I'm not sure. There's lots of stellar playing here and this may end up one of those songs that was built for radio.

Track 4: "God Of This City"
This song may well be my 'worship find of 2008.' The live Passion version has encouraged and inspired me more than I can say. I absolutely love this tune.

I had hoped the studio version would stay close to the live one, but that doesn't happen. There are a lot of absences here - first off, the signature piano riff is absent from beat one. (I think it may show up later in the tune, but it's mixed very low.) Secondly, Chris plays with the melody in the second pass of the song. Through some research, I've read that this second verse melody is the original take as composed by the writers in a band called "Bluetree" who wrote this song. While it might damage some of the congregational feel of the tune, this variation does make for more interesting listening. I also loved the live version lead section. The studio version lead is very different and just didn't carry the same power for me, personally.

This is undoubtedly a song churches will do, but I think we'll find most of them doing the Passion version rather than this new take.

Track 5: "I Will Rise"
This song really hits two different ways for me. On one hand, I love the fact that it's a modern worship song about Heaven. (Ask any worship leader...there aren't many of those floating around.) From a songwriting perspective, I really appreciate the obvious time and effort put into this tune. On the other hand, it felt a little to predictable for me. Chris has done lots of piano ballads in his career and I think this one suffers for it's familiarity. I've read a couple of reviews of this record that make much of the "standard" nature of Tomlin's material - a "if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it" type of deal. I think there's some truth to that, but this song didn't really impress.

Track 6: "Love" (with Watoto Children's Choir)
I hope somebody gave Chris Tomlin a high five after he wrote this one. Or a pat on the back or a hug or something, because this has to be one of the most creative songs I've ever heard. Sure, adding an amazing, famous children's choir from Africa doesn't hurt, but even so, this marks a departure for Chris.

This may sound weird, but I think Tomlin picks up a mantle here - I think this song could set him up to be the next generation's Stephen Curtis Chapman. Regardless of your feeling about Stephen Curtis Chapman's music, he has consistently produced anthemic, creative, epic songs that hook us in. Tomlin's "Love' is just that epic. And I have no idea whether or not this was the plan, but this song could easily fit into secular radio play. That does speak to an absence of "Jesus" phrases, but I wonder what the worship-marketing-machine will do with this song.

I doubt any churches will pick this one up. It's definitely a performance piece, but one so refined it may remain performed only by the guy who wrote it.

Track 7: "Praise the Father, Praise the Son"
Again, far too predictable for my taste. I thought it take more of a hymn-like approach, but this one fell flat for me. I'll be interested to see if this one catches on.

Track 8: "God Almighty"
I really liked the orchestral opening on this one - very reminiscent of Rich Mullins. Overall, the song feels a bit like "Famous One." It's certainly different, but the waltzy-feel and lyrical direction seem very familiar. I wonder if churches could pull this one off without a string section...

Track 9: "My Deliverer"
My absolute favorite track on this record. My favorite Tomlin tune of all time is probably his version of "Everlasting God" from the last record. While I like the Brenton Brown and Lincoln Brewster versions, I thought the mellow, jangly take from Chris and band was an awesome version.

"My Deliverer" has those same qualities. I love the tempo, the guitar groove, even the chord voicings through the chorus are simple yet surprising at the same time. My fear is that this song will get overlooked by other tracks that are a bit more produced or flashy, but I sure hope not. This is an amazing tune.

Track 10: "Exalted (Yahweh)"
I never could get into this tune. It's another piano ballad. It's got some good stuff, but I just couldn't dig into it very much. Maybe just a personal preference, but this one didn't really register on the radar.

Like any record, there are highs and lows on Hello Love. I feel the highest points are where we hear Chris and the production team branching out...experimenting...taking ownership of new arrangement ideas or styles. Some folks will dig the more familiar stuff - the "old standby" idea - but I think these represent the lower points on the record.

All in all, I think it's a good worship record. I think it's a great listen for worship musicians...it offers some interesting points of discussion and analysis for those of us who make music on a regular basis.
Track 11: "All The Way My Savior Leads Me"