Disc #40: Chris Tomlin (Hello Love)

Artist: Chris Tomlin
Album: Hello Love
Released by Sparrow Records in 2008

Well, this is another solid effort by contemporary Christian worship leader, Chris Tomlin. One of the many things that I love about Tomlin's albums is that he always seems to hit you hard with a brilliant first track. I said some similar things about the first track on his previous album, which I recently reviewed, and you can listen to that opening track here. I then want you to listen to the first track from this album, "Sing, Sing, Sing". I find that they are perfect prefaces to what is to come on the rest of the disc. They just draw me right in and leave hungry for the remainder of the tracks.

I always like to pick a favourite tune when I review an album, but it has been pretty difficult on this one. There isn't one track that I do not thoroughly enjoy. I think that it's a toss-up between two tracks. The easy pick would be a song called "With Me". This is the classic Tomlin sound, full of distorted electric guitars and Tomlin belting it out vocally. I love the dissonance on the guitar chords. These ambient elements, which are all over this album, really remind me of many sounds that U2 has produced over the years, especially on some of their more recent albums. As far as I'm concerned, that's a massive compliment.

The track that competes with it is "Praise the Father, Praise the Son". I love traditional hymns, both to listen to and to sing. Therefore, I get very excited when contemporary artists write new songs in the style of traditional hymns. This tune can definitely be classified as a "contemporary hymn". The lyrics are reverent, yet accessible, and the song is simple enough to sing along to without much difficulty. These to me are important elements of a well-written hymn. I hope to do this one in the near future at my home church.

I mentioned in my previous review that Tomlin's music is very inspiring. It inspires me to worship God and draw nearer to Him. These are the very things that I ought to do, according to my belief system, so it may seem redundant or unnecessary that I need to be inspired to do such things. However, I'm nowhere near perfect, even when the things I want to do are concerned. Therefore, I need to be inspired by something. I have several things in life that inspire me: my wife, my kids, my church family, just as a few examples. This music is another thing that inspires me and reminds me of my identity.

Here's a question for you (since I'm not going to let you just read these reviews with out a little work on your part). What inspires you? What do you believe in, and what encourages you to continue believing those things? Maybe you don't know, or have never even considered it. I recommend that you find something to inspire you. It could be a person in your life, or maybe you respond to music in the way that I do. If you can't think of anything, try this album out. Go and grab it, or listen to it online. If you want it in your hands, just ask me and I'd be happy to lend you mine. Whatever you do, find some inspiration in your life. I think that it is extremely important, regardless of what you believe in.

So comes again the time to award a score. Although I think I like this album a little bit more than its predecessor, I think that I will give it the same score of:

8

I would hate to think that Tomlin's albums couldn't keep getting better and better.

Please join me next time as the experiment continues with Disc #41: Christina Aguilera (My Kind of Christmas).