Customer Reviews

Passion: Here For You

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Passion: Here For You was recorded live in Atlanta this past January with more than 22,000 college-age students in attendance. I eagerly wait for each new Passion worship collection, From the beginning 268Generation has been rooted in the confession of Isaiah 26:8: "Yes Lord, walking in the way of Your truth we wait eagerly for You, for Your name and renown are the desire of our souls." As a result, Passion seeks to gather college and university students across the nation and around the world to seek the face of God, asking Him to ignite in our souls a passionate pursuit of Jesus Christ and a desire to spread His fame to everyone on earth. I've been collecting every Passion worship collection since the inception in 1998. The conferences have developed and introduced worship leaders David Crowder, Chris Tomlin, Christy Nockels, Charlie Hall, and most recently Kristian Stanfill.

My favorite Chris Tomlin songs have generally been the new live recordings found on the Passion worship collections, going back to "We Fall Down," "Enough," "How Great Is Our God," "God Of This City" and "Our God." This collection begins with the great new Chris Tomlin worship anthem "We Are Here For You," which I hope will soon be a song I'll be singing with fellow believers, along with the other new Chris Tomlin songs "Symphony," "All My Fountains," Lord I Need You" and "Spirit Fall." "We Are Here For You" has a great worshipful chorus and I love the crowd energy which opens this collection. There are 9 brand new songs on this 13 song regular edition collection. The other new songs "Set Free" by Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman, "Sometimes" by David Crowder*Band, "Waiting" and "I Will Carry Your Name" by Christy Nockels are all upbeat, catchy and worshipful. I especially like the musical arrangement on "All My Fountains" by Chris Tomlin.

The standout songs for me starts with one of my favorite songs by David Crowder*Band, "Shadows," which on this recording gives me chills as David Crowder*Band has a guest rap vocal by Lecrae. The energy and power of this song are amazing as a studio version, but the song was truly meant to be experienced live and loud, make sure you turn up the volume when you listen to "Shadows" and you'll be drained as you sing along with this amazing song. Lecrae is INCREDIBLE on this recording. I loved "Shadows" by DC*B before, and this version knocked my socks off. Also, Christy Nockels and Kristian Stanfill could sing me the phone book and I'd be hanging on every word. Their vocals are stunning. The new Christy Nockels song "I Will Carry Your Name" also gives me chills. I could hardly imagine Christy could out-sing herself after "Healing Is In Your Hands," but don't miss this amazing new song. You'll be mesmerized by the power and beauty of the lyrics and Christy's incredible vocals. The collection also includes great live versions of the Hillsong worship song "Forever Reign" and "Always" by Kristian Stanfill.

I listen to lots of music daily and this is on a whole level higher than most of what I've heard this past year, surpassing even Passion: Awakening which I didn't think was possible. People need to hear this masterpiece and worship "Our God" with their whole hearts, minds and souls. The digital deluxe edition ends with a new recording of "Our God" with guest vocals from Lecrae which are amazing. Chris Tomlin meets Lecrae-what a mash-up! I've got to see that version performed live in concert, and "Shadows" by DC*B with Lecrae. Basically pick any great song and add Lecrae and he makes it even better.

CLOSING THOUGHTS
After an amazing run of new worship albums to start off 2011 with Hillsong UNITED, Bethel Live, Worth Dying For and Know Hope Collective, along comes some of the best new original worship songs I've heard in the past few years. If you want to experience a spine tingling worship experience then you can't go wrong with the biggest names in the business. Tomlin, Stanfill, Crowder, Nockels, Hall, Redman, and guest vocalist Lecrae are all in top form on this excellent Passion: Here For You album, easily the best in this great series.

The newest release by Passion, Here for You, was a little more disappointing to me than originally anticipated. It was thrilling to see that all new material (for the most part) was going to be presented on the album instead of reworked live recordings of songs that have been heard before. And while the album as a whole is still fairly solid (hence the 3-star rating), there are a few things about the album that just didn't bode well for me personally. These include:

1) No Charlie Hall. While previous Passion recordings sometimes favor one artist over another (one may have 3-4 songs while another may only have 2), for the most part they have been evenly split. This newest recording includes zero Charlie Hall. The exception here is the Deluxe version, which does include 1 track by Hall.

Instead a full 1/2 of the album consists of Chris Tomlin. Don't get me wrong, Chris is all well and good. But Matt Redman only makes an appearance with Tomlin, and Hall doesn't show up at all. That's not a Passion recording, that's a "Chris Tomlin & Friends" recording. If the artists all agreed that the track listing was for the best, then I'm willing to let this slide. But it would appear that decisions were made based on sales. Tomlin gets more sales, so Tomlin gets more songs on the record. Not cool. The album is supposed to be about worship...sales shouldn't be driving those decisions.

2) Little Innovation. When the Passion movement first began years ago the style of music incorporated into worship was something innovative at the time. With a few exceptions, little innovation has occurred since. Artists such as Gungor, John Mark McMillan, and the newest box set by The Violet Burning show great musical stylistic changes to the area of "worship" music. (Note: Only one album on the new TVB set should be classified as "worship".) This album, while still decent on its own merit, does little to innovate the genre.

Again, I think the album as a whole is still fairly solid, but it's not a 5-star album like "How Great is Our God" or some others from the past.

Those who disagree may want to venture out into the broader realm of music. It's amazing what can be discovered outside the musical realm of k-love favorites like Tomlin, Mac Powell & Casting Crowns. There's a world of great music to be heard, and while "Here for You" has some solid tracks that I'm sure I'll be incorporating into worship sets at my home church, I'll be spending more personal worship time with albums and artists not represented here.

Passion: Here For You was recorded live in Atlanta this past January with more than 22,000 college-age students in attendance. I eagerly wait for each new Passion worship collection, From the beginning 268Generation has been rooted in the confession of Isaiah 26:8: "Yes Lord, walking in the way of Your truth we wait eagerly for You, for Your name and renown are the desire of our souls." As a result, Passion seeks to gather college and university students across the nation and around the world to seek the face of God, asking Him to ignite in our souls a passionate pursuit of Jesus Christ and a desire to spread His fame to everyone on earth. I've been collecting every Passion worship collection since the inception in 1998. The conferences have developed and introduced worship leaders David Crowder, Chris Tomlin, Christy Nockels, Charlie Hall, and most recently Kristian Stanfill.

My favorite Chris Tomlin songs have generally been the new live recordings found on the Passion worship collections, going back to "We Fall Down," "Enough," "How Great Is Our God," "God Of This City" and "Our God." This collection begins with the great new Chris Tomlin worship anthem "We Are Here For You," which I hope will soon be a song I'll be singing with fellow believers, along with the other new Chris Tomlin songs "Symphony," "All My Fountains," Lord I Need You" and "Spirit Fall." "We Are Here For You" has a great worshipful chorus and I love the crowd energy which opens this collection. There are 9 brand new songs on this 13 song regular edition collection. The other new songs "Set Free" by Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman, "Sometimes" by David Crowder*Band, "Waiting" and "I Will Carry Your Name" by Christy Nockels are all upbeat, catchy and worshipful. I especially like the musical arrangement on "All My Fountains" by Chris Tomlin.

The standout songs for me starts with one of my favorite songs by David Crowder*Band, "Shadows," which on this recording gives me chills as David Crowder*Band has a guest rap vocal by Lecrae. The energy and power of this song are amazing as a studio version, but the song was truly meant to be experienced live and loud, make sure you turn up the volume when you listen to "Shadows" and you'll be drained as you sing along with this amazing song. Lecrae is INCREDIBLE on this recording. I loved "Shadows" by DC*B before, and this version knocked my socks off. Also, Christy Nockels and Kristian Stanfill could sing me the phone book and I'd be hanging on every word. Their vocals are stunning. The new Christy Nockels song "I Will Carry Your Name" also gives me chills. I could hardly imagine Christy could out-sing herself after "Healing Is In Your Hands," but don't miss this amazing new song. You'll be mesmerized by the power and beauty of the lyrics and Christy's incredible vocals. The collection also includes great live versions of the Hillsong worship song "Forever Reign" and "Always" by Kristian Stanfill.

I listen to lots of music daily and this is on a whole level higher than most of what I've heard this past year, surpassing even Passion: Awakening which I didn't think was possible. People need to hear this masterpiece and worship "Our God" with their whole hearts, minds and souls. The digital deluxe edition ends with a new recording of "Our God" with guest vocals from Lecrae which are amazing. Chris Tomlin meets Lecrae-what a mash-up! I've got to see that version performed live in concert, and "Shadows" by DC*B with Lecrae. Basically pick any great song and add Lecrae and he makes it even better.

CLOSING THOUGHTS
After an amazing run of new worship albums to start off 2011 with Hillsong UNITED, Bethel Live, Worth Dying For and Know Hope Collective, along comes some of the best new original worship songs I've heard in the past few years. If you want to experience a spine tingling worship experience then you can't go wrong with the biggest names in the business. Tomlin, Stanfill, Crowder, Nockels, Hall, Redman, and guest vocalist Lecrae are all in top form on this excellent Passion: Here For You album, easily the best in this great series.

When it comes to CDs it usually takes a few listens to get my total interest, but this one got me on the first listen. I love every song! I am always eager to hear anything from Passion, David Crowder Band, and Christy Nockels, so I was thrilled to see this was coming out. Definitely worth every penny :)

First of all, Chris Tomlin is my favorite worship artist, and I am glad he sings a lot of the songs on this album. However, I am disappointed that not as many artists are represented as usual. For example, the only time Matt Redman is singing is when he accompanies Chris Tomlin in the song "Set Free." Also, there is no Charlie Hall (except on the bonus track), Fee, or Hillsong United. I hope that these artists will be back in the next album.

Here are some areas that did stick out to me:
-All but one of Chris Tomlin's songs are good. They have good theology and are God-centered. Most of them are a bold proclamation to God, which I like. The songs "All My Fountains" and "Set Free" are more upbeat and fast-paced, which would be great songs for a high school youth group. (One interesting thing about the song "Set Free" is that I originally thought this was originally a Hillsong United song that Chris Tomlin did a cover of; however, that is not the case, and Chris Tomlin is the original artist of this song.) And then the song "Lord, I Need You" is different from the rest, and is a softer, more reflective song. However, I did not particularly like the last song, "Spirit Fall" because I found it to be overly repetitive and did not have a whole lot of substance.

-I heard Christly Nockles's song "Waiting Here For You" on K-LOVE, and I enjoyed this song ever since I first heard it.

-Kristian Stanfill's song "Always" is also on the radio. I really like this song, as well as his cover of "Forever Reign" by Hillsong Live.

-I did not really care for David Crowder's songs. They are too repetitive for me.

As stated before this was recorded live this January down in Atlanta, GA, at the 2011 Passion Conference.

All the music lifts high the holy name of God...what more can you ask for in a cd?

The songs are great, not theologically deep like those old hymns, but most definitely weightier than some of today's fluff that calls itself "praise and worship."

The artists are diverse but well known to the Passion Conferences. Artists like Chris Tomlin, Christy Nockels, Kristian Stanfill, David Crowder (Charlie Hall on the deluxe version)Lecrae etc are great musicians with a heart for God's name and renown.

This cd is a must have.

Ok this album is good over all but it should have been called Chris Tomlin and Friends at Passion. The line up is very disappointing and the fact that Tomlin is on over half the songs points to marketing. I am a bigger fan of the other artist on this album than of Tomlin. Still it is a good record over all and if you like Chris Tomlin you will love this record. I can just hope they return to the diversity of the previous albums on the next one. The David Crowder*Band featuring Lecrae track is a highlight of the album. The worship of this album will shine through to you.

My husband and I just can't seem to get tired of this worship CD. We sing several of the songs on here and have really been impressed with it.

bought this cd for one song "waiting here for you" but found many awesome, inspirational songs on the cd a must have if you love chris tomlin

I bought this awhile ago and It started skipping and I loved it so much I had to replace so I did, this is a wonderful cd, it is one of my favorite, I listen to it all the time.