Customer Reviews

City on a Hill: Songs of Worship & Praise

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(8)
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Recently there has been a trend of various artists working together and producing compilation worship albums. Some of these compilations have been tremendous (for example, "Exodus") while others have fallen far short of expectations. "City on a Hill" is one of the compilations that works. The entire album is extremely worshipful in a "Sixpence None the Richer" / "Caedmon's Call" style. There are new songs from Third Day, Sixpence None The Richer, FFH, Jars of Clay, and then compilation songs from The Choir, Sonic Flood, Peter Furler (Newsboys), and the late Gene Eugene. The songs work well together, flowing both in lyrical theme and music style. If you are a fan of any of the artists the CD is well worth getting but it also stand alone as a superb worship album.

I bought this CD based on the list of artists who participated in the project. Although the album is more mellow than I expected, overall, I was impressed with it. The concept for the album is interesting...bringing together modern Christian artists to collaborate and write new worship songs. If you think about it, that is a pretty big challenge given the diversity of artists and groups on this album. Luckily, they pull it off very well.

The songs I liked most on the album are "God of Wonders", "The Stone","With Every Breath", "Merciful Rain", and "City on a Hill". The others are good, but most are a little softer than I typically like.

I recommend this CD to anyone looking for an album full of good (and mellow) worship songs. If you are looking for an album of modern Christian worship songs that will get your blood pumping this is not the best album to get. But, if you enjoy a more acoustic approach to worship music, you will most likely enjoy this album.

"City on a Hill" is an awesome CD produced by Steve Hindalong, percussionist and chief lyricist of The Choir. The recording features collaborative efforts by outstanding artists such as Caedmon's Call, Jars of Clay, Sixpence None the Richer, Third Day, FFH and The Choir. Leigh Nash, vocalist for Sixpence, opens the CD with a lovely prelude on "God of Wonders." This track written by Marc Byrd and Hindalong also features terrific vocals by Mac Powell (Third Day) and Cliff and Danielle Young (Caedmon's Call). Byrd also penned "With Every Breath," a song of hope and encouragement, which features Nash and Dan Haseltine (Jars) on vocals. The late Gene Eugene appears on two tracks including "I Remember You" on which he plays the piano to Powell's stirring vocals that remind us of Christ's death and resurrection. My personal favorite of this 13-track recording is Hindalong's "Precious Jesus." Derri Daugherty (The Choir) handles the guitars, and he a Nash team up on the vocals. To hear Daugherty and Nash together is a tremendous blessing in itself, and the passion with which this number was written and performed makes it a perfect song of reflection and communion. Whether you regularly invest in worship CD's or not, "City on a Hill" is a recording you will find entertaining, moving, worshipful, and full of praise. This is not just a great worship recording; this is a great recording.

This CD is not about artists getting together to upstage one another. No one on this CD is trying to have the "best" song. Everyone that participated in this CD had one goal in mind and that is to worship and praise God. The songs on here are very meaningful and deep.

Inevitably there will be some songs that you will enjoy more than others. The two that stand out for me are the opening and closing tracks. The opening track, "God of Wonders" has Leigh Nash, of Sixpence None The Richer fame, singing a haunting opening. While Danielle Young of Caedmon's Call sings background, Mac Powell from Third Day sings the lead but then the vocals change to Cliff Young, also of Caedmon's Call. It is true to the spirit of the CD that no one is trying to "shine through." Then the closing track, "This Road" from Jars of Clay is a wonderful song that wraps up the CD very well. The lyrics are deep and emotional which is typical of Jars of Clay. The accordian, guitar, and mandolin provides a really unique and awesome sound.

Over all I'd have to say this is a perfect CD. Perfect in respects of what they went out to do and what the accomplished.

From the liner notes: "It has been said that when our fire burns brightly and warm enough, those who stand in the dark and cold will be drawn to it. It is my hope that as you listen to the songs on this project, you too will become a part of the community, and that together, our fire will burn more brightly. Then we will indeed be "a city on a hill cannot be hidden." (Matt 5:14)

The artists who worked together on this project indeed formed a community. They sang on each other's songs, sometimes just one person from a group would do a solo on another group's song. These unique mixtures of talent and their dedication to the Lord Jesus Christ result in the most incredible worship album I've seen in quite some time.

This is a hard album to describe - the best comparison I can make would be to Exodus, which was released a couple of years ago. A similarity to Exodus (besides the compilation type of album around a current theme) is the outstanding artwork on the cover and in the pages of the liner notes. Jimmy Abegg did the Exodus artwork and Kim Thomas did the cover art and textures on "City on a Hill" This project also includes photos by Kristin Barlowe and others.

When I listened to the beginning of this CD in the Christian bookstore, I was only about 30 seconds into the first track "God of Wonders" when I decided to buy the album. The prelude to the first track features Leigh Nash (Sixpence None the Richer) and she does an incredible job of leading you into this song. This song is already getting airplay on Christian radio.

The second song, "The Stone" was written by Jonathan Noel, Margaret Becker's keyboardist and Christian artist in his own right. These simple, repeating lyrics are POWERFUL - "The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone," (2 Peter 2:7b. This song can also be found on Jonathan Noel's own indie album (with Margaret Becker singing background vocals!). This album can be purchased only on Jonathan Noel's website. If you like the version of "The Stone" on "City on a Hill", you'll love the other version as well!

FFH has two songs on this album and fans of this relatively new group will definitely want to get this CD if only for those two songs - but will find themselves loving the whole album.

Without going through each song in detail, I just want to say that all the songs are just great and together, the 13 tracks weave a beautiful tapestry of what it means to be a community, a body of believers shining the light of Jesus Christ our Lord, from A City on a Hill, into a darkened world.

(Mat 5:14 NIV) "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden."

City on A Hill is a musical praise project featuring a blending of 80s and 90s progressive Christian artists. I will not pretend to write anything new that the other reviewers have not already contributed, but I do feel the need to add a strong 5-star rating to what is one of the best praise albums ever to be released from the Christian music community. Produced by Steve Hindalong (The Choir), a well accomplished producer, the quality of this recording is perfect.

One of the strongest features of the project is the combination of older and newer artist. Gene Eugene (of Adam Again) playing with Third Day's Mac Powell is soul warming and reminds us why we miss Euguene so much. Hindalong and Derri Daugherty's (The Choir) effort with Leigh Nash is brilliant. All of the artist (Jars of Clay, Third Day, Caedmans Call, Sixpence None the Richer, FFH, Sonic Flood, and even some individual performances from other progressive artists) creates a whos-who of contemporary Christian music. Each has written these new songs for the album.

But here is the best part of the album - none of the artist steals any of the attention away from the Person who is the subject of the recording. You cannot help but be drawn to God and think of Him and His holiness when listening to each song. You will likely spend much of the time listening to this album in prayer, on your knees or with a tear in your eye. It is that moving and that unique of a contribution to today's CCM scene. There is a good mixture of slow and medium paced songs, but there are no hard-edge songs here. It is not the place for it. The lyrics, recording quality, talent and packaging all make this a Praise album that is worthy of your ears and time.

As soon as you hear the first twenty seconds of the opening track, "God Of Wonders," you KNOW this CD is light years better than any previously-released compilation of Contemporary Christian Music. The reason? Teamwork, passion, and production quality. This is not a work of great artists showing off their greatness -- although that adjective could be applied with a great deal of accuracy to Jars Of Clay, Sixpence, FFH, Third Day, and Caedmon's Call. Instead, what you have in this CD is great music, combined with great production and a passion to help the listener focus on the greatness of God rather than on those who make the music. Hightlights include "God Of Wonders" (the best cut on the CD), "With Every Breath," "Where You Are," "Merciful Rain," "Covenant Song," and "This Road." This CD is a sonic and soul-stirring wonder, encouraging, and well worth making every effort to purchase.

I have to honestly say that this cd went way beyond my expectations. I had thought we might get a couple of good songs, but this cd is full of them - with dream team-ups from some of the biggest Christian bands out there. "God of Wonders" starts this off and blows it out of the water. I also loved "I Remember" with Mac Powell's soulful vocals bringing the song into the level Gene Eugene wanted it to be when he wrote it. There are just too many good ones here to mention, but I have to say that if you like this sound, you should check out the two bands that the producers (Mark Byrd and Steve Hindalong) are in ("Common Children" and "The Choir" respectively). Both bands continue this vein of deep lyrics and great guitar work. While there just aren't any hard rockers on this cd, it's great for insightful lyrics and music for devotion time. Highly recommended!

Much like you see in other the people's reviews, this could very well be one of the best CD's of the year. Once you are captivated by "God of Wonders" (Mac Powell, Cliff & Danielle Young), you will find yourself addicted as you further immerse yourself in this wonderful collection of songs. Jars of Clay, Sixpence None the Richer, The Chior, FFH, Sonic Flood & Peter Furler (of Newsboys), Third Day, and the late Gene Eugene round off an "All-Star" cast. Yet despite all the "heavy-weight" name dropping, nobody makes an attempt to steal the show or stand out of the crowd. The whole album flows smoothly from one song to the next in reverent worship.

The styles mostly flow in that classical mix of pop/folk with a worshipful slow tempo vein (but NOT boring!), plus there are a couple of mid to up-tempo rockers as well (Sonic Flood, Third Day). The slower songs are simply gorgeous blends of top-notch instrumentalists and popular vocalists. The rockers do not explode annoyingly against the grain of worship and actually fit in quite well. This is a very well produced collection of songs, and it had to be no small effort trying to make it work.

While I can not speak for God, I would like to think that He inhabits in the praise coming from this record. You will find yourself singing along and praising Him too!

The first time I listened to this album, I was thoroughly disappointed. I bought this album with expectations about what it would be. Shame on me for confining these artists to my expectations! It was one of those albums that you listen to, even though you think you don't like it, and the more I listened to it, the more I loved it. Now it ranks as one of my favorites, I just had to get over my conceptions of what this album Should be, and appreciate it for what it IS. I agree with other reviewers that this is a mellow CD, but sometimes mellow is good. I expected passionate rocking songs in the tradition of some of the artists on the CD that I admire, what I found were honest, vulnerable songs about living the Christian life, faith, and God's love. It makes a great addition to any music collection, no matter what type of music you love. Go buy this; you won't regret it!