City on a Hill: Songs of Worship and Praise

Various Artists (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 22, 2000)
• Original Release Date: August 22, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Essential
• ASIN: B00004W5J9
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #27,653 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #11 in	Music > Christian > Compilations > Contemporary Christian
  #95 in	Music > Christian > Praise & Worship

Track Listings

1. God of Wonders - Marc Powell, Cliff Young, Danielle Young

2. Stone - Jars of Clay

3. With Every Breath - Dan Haseltine, Leigh Nash

4. I Remember You - Gene Eugene, Matt Powell

5. Precious Jesus - Leigh Nash

6. You're Here - Sixpence None the Richer

7. Where You Are - FFH

8. Merciful Rain - FFH

9. Unified - Peter Furler, SONICFLOOd

10. Covenant Song - Caedmon's Call

11. City on a Hill - Third Day

12. Marvelous Light - Gene Eugene

13. This Road - Jars of Clay

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In an unprecedented worship experience, the City on a Hill project is a community effort that brings together top performers to glorify God. With an amazing roster of talent that includes Sixpence None the Richer, Jars of Clay, FFH, Third Day, Caedmon's Call, and others, this tender collection of songs is more than a showcase of separate worship styles. Many of the compositions are collaborative efforts among the bands, and this fact gives the recording a distinct feel of common ownership among the musicians. Breaking from their usual energized styles, the performers take a different slant in these songs, with most tracks offering an acoustically oriented and soft-sung vibe. Any fan surely will appreciate the witness of these industry leaders, who focus their talents solely toward God and the new musical flavors that ensue. In conjunction with this CD, the book City on a Hill: Reflections on Our Spiritual Journeys brings together journal-like entries that were penned by the artists, and offers a glimpse into their inner lives. --Israel Button

From CCM Magazine -- Subscribe Now!

In the best of worlds, the praise & worship musician is someone who becomes nearly invisible, their artistry and skill acting as a sacrifice rather than an attention-getting device. Given the high visibility of the talent on City on a Hill-including Jars of Clay, Caedmon's Call, FFH, Third Day, Sonicflood, The Choir and Sixpence None the Richer-it would seem even more of a challenge for these musicians to "disappear," as it were. But the fact that they succeed, and focus so fully on God, is a testament to the producers' smart decision to weave this album as a tapestry of voices rather than a series of star-led vignettes.

Indeed, each of the songs on City on a Hill is a collaboration of sorts, sometimes including more than a dozen artists. The album's engaging opener, "God of Wonders," is a good example, with no less than 12 singers and musicians taking part. Written by Marc Byrd of Common Children and producer Steve Hindalong of The Choir, "Wonders" is a simple declaration of the holiness and majesty of God. From the outset, when Leigh Nash of Sixpence sings the gentle intro "Lord of Heaven and Earth," the focus is toward God. Nash then passes the vocal to Third Day's Mac Powell, who takes a verse and chorus before handing off to Caedmon's Call singer Cliff Young. By the time it wraps (and Caedmon's singer Danielle Young weaves in a line from Reginald Heber's and John B. Dykes' hymn "Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!"), the album's tone is clearly set-no spotlight-grabbing here, just affection for the Creator.

City on a Hill includes a range of worship "types," befitting the apostle Paul's admonition to sing "psalms, hymns and spiritual songs." There are vertical praises to God, horizontal gathering-the-people songs and, at the end, a send-the-people-home benediction from Jars of Clay called "This Road." All feature contributions from the bands and session musicians including Phil Madeira, The Choir's Derri Daugherty and one-time A.D. drummer Dennis Holt, among others.

Among the highlights: Byrd, Hindalong and Gene Eugene (recorded weeks before his death) add subtle instrumentation to "Where You Are," a gorgeous worship ballad from FFH. Peter Furler of Newsboys joins Sonicflood for "Unified," a chugging declaration of unity in Christ. And Jars of Clay's Steve Mason adds electric guitar to Caedmon's Call's "Covenant Song." The further permutations of musicians are too numerous to detail, but the resulting tapestry is, like any great city, rich with diversity. -- Anthony DeBarros (c) 2000 CCM Communications, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Though early this is probably the best worship CD of 2000, August 28, 2000

By	Robert A. Terrell (Baton Rouge, LA USA) - See all my reviews

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.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mellow, but strong collaborative effort, August 17, 2001

By	D. Keating (Bristow, VA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars awesome cd and awesome worship cd, August 28, 2000

By	H. COMBS (JEFFERSONTOWN, KENTUCKY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"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.