Customer Reviews

City on a Hill: Sing Alleluia

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you have heard the first City on a Hill (released in 2000), you don't even have to think twice about buying this CD. The first one really raised the bar of worship albums. As soon as I put the first one in my CD player, I heard "God of Wonders" and it blew me away.

I was thrilled to hear that there was going to be a second one - it's here and it's AMAZING! It's great to have such a marvelous collection of artists all working together on this project - Jennifer Knapp, Caedmon's Call, FFH, Third Day, BeBo Norman, Nichole Nordeman, Jars of Clay, and Fernando Ortega (there are probably some I've left out!) - oh, and Phil Keaggy!

A Choral Prelude of All Creatures of Our God and King starts this worship experience, followed by the radio hit "Sing Alleluia", sung by Jennifer Knapp and Mac Powell from Third Day. This is a really incredible song that will lead you in your worship of the Lord.

It's great to see Fernando Ortega on this album also! He wrote the words to "Our Great God" and sings it with Mac Powell. One of my favorites on the album has to be "The Comforter has Come" by Jars of Clay.

Many talented songwriters worked on this album - Nichole Nordeman co-writes "Shine Your Light", which she sings with FFH. FFH fans will love "Hide Me In Your Heart".

Jennifer Knapp puts a new spin on the Lord's Prayer in "Hallowed" - a beautiful rendering. Familiar lyrics "The Lord be with you, and also with you" take a beautiful form on Lift Up Your Hearts. The orchestration on this song is simple and beautiful and a chorus of artists sings the responses to celebrant Derald Dougherty. Finishing up this trio of "liturgical" songs is Communion by Phil Keaggy. These songs are just gorgeous!

The album ends with All Creatures of Our God and King, sung simply and beautifully, with organ accompaniment. This CD is a must-have!

On April 23rd, the creators of City on a Hill are coming out with a new album called God of Wonders, the start of a new series of worship albums. If City on a Hill - Alleluia is any indication, this will be another winner! You might want to check out my reviews of other Christian music an Christian books.

As a rule, when the second in a CD series is better than the first, it's an event as rare as Halley's Comet. Well, Halley has happened. This CD is, from the opening gun to the final buzzer, a classic. There isn't even a mediocre track on this work. Every song is outstanding. Thematically, it takes right up where "City On A Hill" ends -- with "All Creatures Of Our God And King" framing an audio painting composed of great lyrics, solid production, and sensitive vocals. The musical style is basically acoustic, but with tasty variations thrown in to the mix. Every track is so good I cannot pick one out over the others. The musicians and vocalists are all outstanding, and they play together as a team, rather than just doing their own thing as a "contribution" to the CD. The result is outstanding. The addition of Jennifer Knapp, Bebo Norman, Fernando Ortega, Nicole Nordeman, and Phil Keaggy only serve to enhance the quality of the project. From the acoustic drive of "Sing Alleluia" and "Communion" to the quiet passion of "You Are Holy" and "Hallowed" to the anthemic "Our Great God" to the contemplative "The Comforter Has Come" to the Fleetwood Mackish "Shine Your Light" to the choir singing "Lift Up Your Hearts" to the rhythmic "Holy Is Your Name" to the folksy "Marvelous Light" and "Hide Me In Your Heart" to the traditional yet inventive renditions of "All Creatures," you will be captivated, encouraged, intellectually stimulated, and emotionally moved by this project. In a word, it's one of the five best CDs I own; and I would give it more than 5 stars, if I were allowed to. Period.

Like other reviewers have already mentioned this album is better than the first City on a Hill. The line-up of artists is stronger, and the quality of songs exceeds the first album. It is nice to see that these type projects continue to be successful.

The best songs of the album include "Sing Alleluia", "Hide Me in Your Heart", "Hallowed" and "Communion". They alone make the album worth a listen. But, the other songs are also strong. In fact, there is no real weak song among the group.

If you like the Christian artists who participated in the making of this album (Third Day, Caedmon's Call, FFH, Jars of Clay, Jennifer Knapp, etc.) buy it, you will not be disappointed. Or, if you are looking for a nice mix of different talents from the modern Christian music scene, this will fit your need. Enjoy.

The original City On A Hill CD brought together several of today's top Christian artists to glorify God through their musical gifts, and the results were amazing. It easily became one of the most artistic, creative, and original worship albums ever made. Now the second volume is out, and it proves to be just as good, if not better, than the first! Sing Alleluia features several artists from the original -- Caedmon's Call, Third Day, FFH, The Choir, and Jars of Clay -- and brings in Christian music heavyweights Jennifer Knapp, Nichole Nordeman, Fernando Ortega, Bebo Norman, and guitar legend Phil Keaggy. Like the first record, this one contains many artist collaborations, such as Jennifer Knapp and Third Day's Mac Powell on the title track (What an awesome pairing! It's great to have Miss Knapp around this time), Cliff & Danielle Young of Caedmon's Call and Phil Keaggy on "Communion" (another great pairing; I love both of these artists), and Mac Powell and Fernando Ortega on the power ballad "Our Great God" (definitely the best song on this album...gives me goosebumps every time!). These collaborations give the album the same sense of community that is present on the first. This album also has more of a church feel to it, opening and closing with the traditional church hymn "All Creatures of Our God and King", and ending with songs like Jen Knapp's "Hallowed" (based on the Our Father prayer), "Lift Up Your Hearts" featuring The Choir's Derri Daugherty, and the aforementioned "Communion" which leads directly into the closing hymn. Every song on this album is magnificent; there's not a filler track on the entire cd. Not only that, but all the songs are original; no rehashing of overdone praise and worship songs like most worship CD's have. The songs also flow beautifully together from one to the next to give it a feel of continuity. Forget the guy below who says the songs aren't singable; I think songs like "Sing Alleluia", "Marvelous Light" (which also appears on the first CD, but this time has more lyrics and is sung by Caedmon's Call's Derek Webb with wife Sandra McCracken), "Our Great God", and Nichole Nordeman's beautiful song "You Are Holy" can easily become praise and worship favorites, much like "God of Wonders" did on the first album. But even if you don't find the songs singable, you can't deny the artistic quality that shines through on each song. Overall, this CD is definitely a must-have for anyone who enjoyed the first CD or anyone who just loves worship music that is artistic and original. I'm already looking forward to City On A Hill III! (I would love to see artists like Andrew Peterson, Ginny Owens, Jill Phillips, Waterdeep, and even the return of Sixpence on the next album. If only Rich Mullins were still around...)

I've had the COAH 2 disc for a week or so, and find myself listening over and over to this incredible musical offering. Steve Hindalong (along with Marc Byrd) once again has delivered a God-honoring work that moves the listener to praise and worship. A few things that cause the COAH2 CD to stand out from others worship oriented discs:
(1) The focus in on praising God. Many of today's worship albums overuse the word "I", to the point you wonder who is being praised. COAH2 (as well as COAH1) is focused on the word "You". God is the One who gets the attention on this disc
(2) All sorts of instruments are used, from pipe organs, bells, guitars, etc. I've never seen a producer do as well a job at blending the contemporary with the traditional.
I could go through and list the outstanding tracks, but they are ALL GOOD! Because of the nature of COAH 2, no artist grabs unnecessary attention. God receives the glory. Whoever put the songs in order did a great job. Each song fuses into the next. Especially noticeable is the transition from the song "Communion" to "All Creatures of our God and King" at the close of the album. It is wonderous. Even the album's artwork (kudos to Kim Thomas) is totally in tune with the music. Listen to the third verse of "Our Great God" and then look at the CD cover and you'll see what I mean. Tom Howard, who develops the orchestration does another fine job, just as he did on COAH 1. Just how strongly do I feel about this work? "City on a Hill: Sing Allelulia" has become on of my "desert island CDs!"

As a long time fan of Jennifer Knapp I had to buy this album when I learned that she had two songs on it. One of the more overlooked songs is "Hallowed", which is the Lord's Prayer put to song and done with a slight change (breaking up the song every two lines with either "hallowed be thy name" or "hallowed, hallowed"). This is a very beautiful song, peaceful, and reminding of the power of the Lord's Prayer. The big song from this worshipful album is the title track "Sing Alleluia" by Jennifer Knapp and Mac Powell (Third Day). This title track is the absolute highlight of the album. It is powerful, beautiful, and directs the heart to the purpose of worship. The album is bookended by two versions of the hymn "All Creatures of Our God and King". The two versions of the hymn, and the two above listed songs are, unfortunately, the only songs of note for me. The rest of the album (including the Jars of Clay track) sound like bad Christian radio. The heart is in the right place, but the delivery is just off. I'll give this album high marks because what is good is very, very good.

I found this work absolutely amazing! Every song made me want to burst into praise to God. Each track was new and refrshing. The artists who contributed to this album each gave some of the best recordings of their careers. From upbeat praises to tranquil hymns, it left me breathless to the end.

I need to preface this by saying that I LOVE many of the artists on the record. So this will be somewhat biased. That said, I have to say that this is a wonderful CD and I believe would be a valuable addition to any Christian CD collection.

As one who is pretty picky about what Christian CDs I purchase, I have to say that this is well worth any money you would spend. I will not put up some great bit of Ebert-esque of the character of sound or artistic interpretation or any of that filler. This is just good music with some wonderful lyrics.

As you can probably tell from the title, this CD is pretty worship-oriented. The first song, "All Creatures..." kind of sets you up for being in a reverent state of mind when listening. The second song, "Sing Alleluia!" is probably my favorite and just draws me in. When I hear the song, I just drop what I am doing (except when driving) and just listen in awe. To me, the song is beautiful. But all the others are very good as well.

To those who are familiar with the kind of music that Bebo, Caedmon's, Mac Powell, Jars, and Nicole Nordeman puts out, I think you won't be surprised with this record. You can hear a lot of their recognizable sounds, with a tint of praise and worship with it.

One of the strong points of the first City on a Hill disc was it's true collaboration between disparate groups of artists. Although that tradtion continues into this disc, one of the points where it falls short, in my mind, is that the majority of the disc is done by one backing band made up of Nashville studio musicians. Instead of a community of sound, you end up getting one sound throughout the disc that is forgettable at best. Also, the music is not nearly as engaging as the first disc. Songs that are memorable, worshipful and inspiring are no where to be found short of track 2. A better follow up is "Enter the Worship Circle 2".

This CD was in great condition when I got it, but unfortunately the sender did not include enough postage to get it here. I had to pay the remaining amount at the post office to be able to pick it up.