from:
ccm magazine, November 2004
author: Elisa Hammer
website: http://www.ccmmagazine.com
»» Devotion
The job of a music critic can be downright baffling: Trying to rate
and evaluate something as subjective as art (much less artful worship)
is often a hit-or-miss affair. Case in point: When Newsboys released
its first worship project, Adoration, just shy of two years ago, it
was vilified by some critics, including CCM’s own reviewer
of choice. Yet, it clearly connected with more than the band’s
large fanbase, as it became the fastest-selling Newsboys album to date,
attaining gold certification for sales of more than half a million copies
in less than a year. And need we mention the No. 1 smash hit and new
modern worship fave “He Reigns”? Devotion looks to
follow in Adoration’s successful footsteps. And, as the
saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
If you liked Adoration, you’ll find plenty to like about
Devotion as well, as it is, in almost every way, a continuation
of that album. The project is again driven primarily by the multi-tasking
Steve Taylor and Newsboys’ own Peter Furler. This time, though,
Furler flies solo on the production chores, while Taylor’s contributions
are limited to songwriting and serving from a distance as executive
producer. There are seven original tunes and three covers on Devotion—one
less and one more, respectively, than on Adoration. Taylor had
a hand in writing all but two of Adoration’s originals;
this time, he has a hand in writing all of them.
Musically, there are huge hooks, repetitive and bombastic choruses,
soulful background vocalists, polished production and Furler’s
pleasing and engaging vocals. Stuart Garrard of Delirious makes a guest
appearance, as does John Ellis of Tree63. And though Devotion
skips the two live tracks that Adoration offered, it does feature
a duet with tourmate Rebecca St. James on Matt Redman’s oft-recorded
“Blessed Be Your Name.” Lyrically, the project is somewhat
scattered. For every winner (Tim Hughes’ “When The Tears Fall”),
there’s a curveball such as “I Love Your Ways,” with
the curious lyric “I love to feel the runner’s high of Your
ways/Ah, the high of Your ways” or the line in “Landslide
of Love” that comes out of nowhere to say “Since we don’t
believe in Santa Claus/Maybe we’d best stay awake.” For every
solid “Name Above All Names,” there is a monotonous “Presence,”
which concludes with “It’s my desire/Lord, it’s my desire/Lord,
You’re my desire/I want to feel Your presence/I want to feel Your
presence/I want to feel Your presence/I want to feel Your presence,
Jesus.” Oddly, by far the most interesting song here is “The
Orphan,” though its lyric is so abstract (“I try to settle
but I just pass through/A rain dog, a gypsy, a wandering Jew”)
that it seems out of place on a worship album. Some music critics will,
no doubt, repeat the mistake they made with Adoration and critique
Devotion by the standards set with 2002’s Thrive
and the Newsboys’ earlier rock offerings. To do so is to misunderstand
the genre of modern worship. With Devotion Newsboys did not set
out to create a musically sophisticated rock album featuring scene-stealing
instrumentation, intricate chord progressions and unexpected time-changes.
Rather, the band intended to record a musically immediate CD so highly
accessible it would easily prompt collective worship. And that’s
exactly what they did.
--Elisa Hammer ««
