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Phil Simpson Monthly Album

Each month, Phil selects an album to feature on his Sunday Breakfast show...

Amazing God

November 2007

Our album of the month for November is "Amazing God" featuring 12 tracks recorded at a conference organised by the New Frontiers group of churches earlier this year.

Around four thousand people from more than fifty countries attended the conference in Brighton - and this recording captures some of the vibrant praise and passionate worship from the event.

Included on here are two traditional hymns ("When I survey the wondrous cross" and "Amazing Grace") alongside a whole bunch of new songs.

Tim Hughes' anthemic "Happy Day" gives the album a punchy start, and Brenton Brown's song "Everlasting God", which has appeared on at least four new live worship recordings over recent months, is also included.

Musicians and songwriters from New Frontiers have been at the forefront of the contemporary church music scene for many years.

They were responsible for the annual Stoneleigh Bible Weeks which were so popular during the 80's and 90's.

This new collection features a broad range of material - with something to appeal to just about everyone.

Recommended tracks: Everyone needs compassion (Mighty to Save), Pouring Out, Amazing God, I stand.

Catalogue number: Kingsway KMCD2818

Live at Spring Harvest 2007

October 2007

Every Easter, thousands of Christians from all over the UK come together at the Butlins Holiday camps in Minehead and Skegness for the annual Spring Harvest festival.

The event features Bible teaching sessions and seminars, events for the children and young people, as well as lively praise & worship in a huge circus Big Top.

Our album of the month for October is a CD of songs recorded at Spring Harvest 2007.

The theme of the festival was "One People", and the album captures the excitement of the Big Top, with thousands of people praising and worshipping together.

Recommended tracks: I will say, Across the Lands, King of glory, and Through Your precious blood.

Record label: ICC

Catalogue number: ICC1044D

Worship at the Abbey

September 2007

Our Album of the Month for September is Kingsway's "Worship at the Abbey".

The album was recorded in January 2007 in Studio One at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London.

The top worship leaders from the UK gathered together with a bunch of highly accomplished session musicians and backing singers for an evening of praise, worship and celebration.

The result is a superb collection of songs, beautifully arranged and musically impressive.

The album features well-established worship leaders such as Tim Hughes, Stuart Townend, Andy Bromley and Geraldine Latty.

A couple of the songs are well-known and have been recorded many times before (e.g. "Here I am to Worship" and "How deep the Father's love for us") but overall this is a wonderful selection of contemporary praise and worship songs, with something for just about every musical taste; Townend's "My God" works particularly well.

Procceds from the album will go towards a charity called Ray of Hope, which seeks to help transform the lives of children and families living in the villages scattered along the edge of the River Amazon in Brazil, and there's also a DVD available of this recording.

Recommended tracks: My God, Praise the mighty name of Jesus, Happy Day, There is a day, Sing unto the Lord.

Label: Kingsway

Catalogue number: KMCD 2762

Hillsong LIVE: Saviour King

August 2007

Hillsong Australia "SAVIOUR KING"

Since the early 1990's, the Hillsong Church in Sydney has been producing albums of contemporary praise & worship songs which have been adopted by churches across the world; the best-known of these is Darlene Zschech's "My Jesus, my Saviour (shout to the Lord)".

Their most recent album was recorded in March 2007 at Sydney's largest indoor stadium in front of 13,000 people.

The album's called "Saviour King", and features 14 songs; some of which are up-tempo anthems with a loud rock feel, and others which are more contemplative worship songs with sensitive arrangements and beautiful vocal harmonies.

As is often the case with Hillsong, some of the tracks sound quite similar to songs on other albums - partly because Hillsongs have their own unique style - but there's no doubt that this album is finely crafted and well-produced, and even though it's a live recording, the band are excellent.

Whether you could re-create these arrangements in a more intimate church setting is a different question?

The Hillsong 2004 live worship album "For all You've done" went into the Australian album charts at number one, and this new album too is bound to sell in huge quantities across the world.

Label: Hillsong

Catalogue number: HMACD206

The Best of Stuart Townend Live

July 2007

Stuart Townend is one of this country's most prolific Christian songwriters.

On his own, and in collaboration with songwriting partner Keith Getty, he's written dozens of songs and hymns which are used by churches across the globe.

Thirty-one live recordings are featured on a new 2-CD collection of songs called "The Best of Stuart Townend Live" - which is our album of the month for July.

These tracks are, of course, featured on other live worship recordings - such as the Stoneleigh Bible Weeks and other Christian festivals and events, but this is the first time that such a large collection of Stuart's songs have been available on a CD release - and it's truly impressive.

I actually prefer these live recordings to the studio versions of many of his songs.

Stuart is a talented worship leader, and has a very natural and engaging style, which at times can get lost when the tracks have been recorded in the studio environment; the live recordings seem to have more raw energy and passion.

Obviously this collection includes favourites such as In Christ alone, See what a morning and How deep the Father's love for us, but also some less well-known compositions.

This 2-CD set is a great compilation of Stuart's best songs, demonstrating the breadth of his songwriting talent.

Recommended tracks: See what a morning, We have sung our songs of victory, The Lord's my Shepherd, The King of Love is my delight.

Catalogue number: Kingsway KMCD 2795

Just One Touch From The King

June 2007

Kingsway Music are the main distributors and publishers of praise and worship music in the UK.

Each year Kingsway holds a two-day conference for musicians, singers and worship leaders - featuring seminars, workshops, performances and praise celebration meetings - and "Just one touch from the King" is a collection of the musical highlights from last November's conference.

Amongst the worship leaders featured on the album are Stuart Townend, Lou Fellingham, Paul Oakley and Brenton Brown.

Most of the songs on the album have good arrangements, with catchy hooklines and melodies, and strong lyrical content - but there are a couple of tracks which unfortunately fail to impress.

One of the problems facing Kingsway is that there are so many new songs being written and recorded at the moment, so there's bound to be at least one or two tracks in almost every live-worship release which will get the listener reaching for the 'Go to Next Track' button on the CD player.

The highlights on this album are the songs led by Brenton Brown - Praise is Rising and Everlasting God, and another personal favourite is the beautiful All I am and all I have is Yours by Lou Fellingham.

To accompany the CD, Kingsway has also released a DVD (sold separately).

Recommended tracks: Praise is rising (Hosanna), Strength will rise (Everlasting God), All I am and all I have, Even though I walk (You never let go)

Label: Kingsway

Catalogue number: KMCD 2776

Keith and Kristyn Getty: In Christ Alone

May 2007

Our "Album of the month" for May is "In Christ Alone" from the husband and wife team Keith & Kristyn Getty.

Keith Getty has collaborated with fellow songwriter Stuart Townend for the past few years.

The pair have created some fantastic contemporary hymns - including "In Christ Alone" which has already become a favourite with churches worldwide.

It has been voted one of the Top Ten hymns by the viewers of "Songs of Praise" - and is of course included in this new collection of songs.

Keith was also the composer responsible for the series of "New Irish Hymns" CD's - which featured his wife Kristyn on vocals, along with Margaret Becker & Joanne Hogg.

Kristyn was an accomplished solo artist before marrying Keith in the summer of 2005.

Since then, they have been working and performing together - and this is their first major project as husband and wife.

Whether on a recording or leading worship with a congregation, Kristyn's lilting, crystal-clear soprano is an ideal contrast to Keith's richly melodic piano arrangements and accompaniment.

Kristyn began singing in her family's church in Northern Ireland when she was a teenager, before moving on to a career as a solo-artist.

A multi-talented instrumentalist and composer, Keith first learned to play guitar, but later began to study piano and flute - including a summer masterclass with the well-known Irish flautist James Galway.

Ironically, it was Keith's piano arrangements that most intrigued Galway and helped open the world of the music industry to him.

Keith has since orchestrated and arranged more than 200 projects for recordings, concerts, theatre, television and film, as well as producing and composing (with Kristyn) various projects for the internationally renowned African Children's Choir.

Though he was raised in a Christian home in Northern Ireland, it was ultimately a yearlong study of the life of Christ during his time at university that affirmed his Christian beliefs.

Since then, he has carried a passion to communicate his faith through music in a universally appealing way.

Conveying the message of the cross is at the heart of Keith & Kristyn's ministry as modern-day hymn writers, but they also place a high priority on being ambassadors for their music in the Church.

They are currently based in the United States - aiming to introduce their songs and 21st century hymns to churches around the country.

Keith explains that he was challenged by a pastor in Belfast to perhaps try and bring some of what the old hymns of the faith had brought to the Church into contemporary Christianity.

He says he didn't set out to create the modern hymn, but instead wanted to write songs that contemporary, traditional and liturgical churches could all use.

And their goal, according to Kristyn, is to create music for the Church which lifts us beyond our circumstances.

This fine collection of Keith's songs shows how they have been able to write hymns which are rich in lyrical and theological content - but also very accessible for the 21st century church.

Recommended tracks: Higher throne, Across the lands, Hear the call of the Kingdom

Label: Kingsway

Catalogue number: KMCD 2791

Tim Hughes: Holding Nothing Back

April 2007

Our "Album of the Month" for April is "Holding Nothing Back" by Tim Hughes.

Tim is best-known for writing the song "Light of the World (Here I am to Worship)" in 2000.

That worship chorus is used by churches all around the world - and has already been translated into a number of different languages.

This is Tim's third solo album and many of the tracks were recorded at Chapel Lane studios in Hereford.

The son of an Anglican vicar, Tim grew up in Birmingham and studied History at Sheffield University.

He's currently Director of Worship at Holy Trinity Brompton, a vibrant Anglican church in central London.

Tim is also on the team responsible for organising the annual "Soul Survivor" youth event - and many of the songs on this album are like praise anthems which are likely to be very popular with the youth, but older church members may not like the style and sound.

There are, however, a handful of songs on the album which could work well with simpler acoustic arrangements.

Delirious guitarist Stu Garrard is featured on the album - and two of the songs were co-written by Delirious lead singer Martin Smith.

Tim's vocal style is simple, and the songs are packed with energy - particularly the opening track on the album "Happy Day".

As a songwriter, Tim is always going to struggle if he's expecting to write a song which will match the success of "Light of the World (Here I am to Worship)", but I think he recognises that, and this collection of uptempo anthemic tunes and reflective songs of worship demonstrate his determination to live his life fully committed to God.

Recommended tracks: Happy Day, Everything, Almighty God, Living for Your glory.

Catalogue number: Survivor SURCD 5068

Amazing Grace:Music inspired by the motion picture

March 2007

As you probably know - this year marks the bi-centenary of the bill in Parliament which led to the abolition of the slave trade.

One of the key figures in the campaign to abolish slavery was William Wilberforce, and his story is told in a film called "Amazing Grace" which goes on release in the UK later this month.

The hymn Amazing Grace was written by John Newton - a former slave ship captain - and a mentor to Wilberforce.

To coincide with the release of the film, EMI have brought out an album featuring modern day versions of some classic hymns - under the title "Music inspired by the film Amazing Grace".

It's perhaps a little odd to refer to these as songs inspired by the film - because this is basically a collection of new arrangements of various hymns from the 19th century.

The singers featured on this CD are primarily American contemporary Christian artists - not very well-known in the UK - but the quality of production is very high, as you would expect.

In my opinion the best track is the new version of Amazing Grace by Chris Tomlin, who has added an additional refrain and included a verse which is not usually featured in popular hymnbooks:

"The earth shall soon dissolve like snow The sun forbear to shine But God, Who called me here below Will be forever mine."

Recommended tracks: Amazing Grace, Holy Holy Holy, Great is Thy Faithfulness.

Catalogue number: EMI-CMG/Sparrow SPD 73848

Matt Redman: Beautiful News

February 2007

The Sunday Breakfast Show album of the month for February 2007 is "Beautiful news" by Matt Redman.

Matt is one of this country's most well-known worship leaders and he's written songs which are used by churches right across the globe.

It's five years since he last recorded a studio album - but it's well worth the wait.

Although Matt writes most of his songs himself, on this album he also collaborates with Martin Smith from Delirious and Paul Baloche (who wrote the popular chorus "Open the eyes of my heart").

The musical styles here range from rock through to contemplative ballads.

Whereas some of the songs on his live recording "Facedown" were quite complex musically, and difficult to use in congregational worship - the songs on this album are very accessible and will, I'm sure, soon be adopted by many contemporary church music groups.

It was recorded mostly in the UK, including a couple of sessions at the famous Abbey Road studios, and completed in Nashville at the end of last year.

The words of the title song sum up the album.; this is Matt's reaction to all the dark, disturbing, depressing news that fills our TV screens on a daily basis.

He says: "The gospel of Christ is about imparting news that's altogether different.

"Where there's darkness in the world, Jesus brings light; where there's depression, Jesus offers peace; where there's despair, Jesus offers hope. It really is beautiful news."

Recommended tracks: Blessing, You never let go, A greater song.

Label: Survivor
Catalogue number: SURCD 5071

Amy Grant: Time Again

January 2007

This month we feature a live album from America's most popular female Christian singer/songwriter - Amy Grant.

The album was recorded in Fort Worth Texas and is her first live album for more than 25 years.

On one of the tracks she's joined by her husband - the country & western singer Vince Gill.

The CD is called "Time Again" on the Authentic label.

Catalogue number: 8868492.