![\"\"](\"https:\/\/southerngospelyankee.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/08\/re-creation-album-cover.jpg\" "\\"Re-creation")
<\/a>As my readers may or may not know, new music from Steven Curtis Chapman drops in a few days (August 9, to be precise). It\u2019s called Re-creation<\/em> (or Re:creation<\/em>, depending on how you read the cover\u2014I think it\u2019s meant to be a little joke). The full album was \u201cleaked\u201d to Rhapsody before the release date, so I just listened to it yesterday. Wanted to share my take on it for anyone who\u2019s interested, even though I know I usually stick to reviewing southern gospel music here. New music from Steven Curtis Chapman is a significant enough event that I feel it deserves some attention even on a southern gospel blog. \ud83d\ude09\nThis project contains five new songs, a hymn cover, and eight old songs Steven chose to go back and \u201cre-create,\u201d many of which carry new meaning for him after grieving the loss of his daughter. Let\u2019s talk about the new stuff first. I should say right from the outset that if you have heard the first single, \u201cDo Everything,\u201d and are unimpressed, DO NOT judge the rest of the album based on that song. It\u2019s a sweet sentiment, but let\u2019s just say not one of his better moments. It is musically uninspired, monotonic to the point of verging on hip-hop, and blends disappointingly well with the rest of the radio-ready, cookie-cutter CCM that\u2019s circulating at the moment. MUCH more satisfying is the second new song on the project, \u201cLong Way Home,\u201d which was written and performed on the ukulele. Steven took up the instrument recently and fell in love with it, so naturally he wrote a song on it. The result is a poignant delight, if I can describe it that way. It\u2019s a delight, because it sounds delightful (there\u2019s even a little whistling in there). As Steven says, \u201cYou can\u2019t not smile when you play the ukulele.\u201d Yet it\u2019s poignant because the lyrics carry a poignant, sad hopefulness with them. It is the bittersweet anthem of a weary pilgrim.
\nThe song \u201cAll That\u2019s Left\u201d is a thoughtful meditation on love, with some hat tipping to Paul in the bridge (\u201cLove endures all things and believes all things and hopes all things\u2026\u201d). It\u2019s hard for Steven to write a bad song, and this one is solid, but it seems to lack that extra something to move it from \u201csolid\u201d to \u201cgreat.\u201d Perhaps it\u2019s the music, because the lyrics are pretty powerful. At any rate, it would have made a much better first single than \u201cDo Everything.\u201d
\nAnother new song, \u201cMeant To Be,\u201d was first released in conjunction with the VeggieTales Christmas movie It\u2019s a Meaningful Life<\/em>, which focused on adoption and actually featured the voice of Chapman\u2019s second adopted daughter. It is vintage SCC and one of the best new songs on the project, with a flowing 6\/8 groove that recalls \u201cRemembering You\u201d<\/a> and heart-warming lyrics addressed to the child who was \u201cperfectly, wonderfully, beautifully meant to be.\u201d You can go behind the song with Steven here<\/a> and watch the music video here<\/a>.
\nFinally, the last new song, \u201cSing Hallelujah,\u201d isn\u2019t even really a full song. It\u2019s more like a chorus which is used to close out the project. We\u2019ll come back to that later. For now, let\u2019s move on to the re-created songs. Honestly, some of the self-cover choices were a little surprising to me. I had expected to hear new versions of songs like \u201cMy Redeemer is Faithful and True,\u201d or \u201cGod is God,\u201d or \u201cHis Strength is Perfect,\u201d all songs Steven himself has named when talking about old material he goes back to now. However, I think there was less of a focus on those songs, because an album full of covers like that would have resulted in a tone very similar to Beauty Will Rise<\/em>, a gut-wrenching project of songs inspired by Maria\u2019s loss that came out a couple years ago. Instead, he pulled out more cheerful, hopeful numbers like \u201cThe Great Adventure\u201d and \u201cHeaven In the Real World,\u201d to express the new hope he\u2019s finding on the journey as this wound heals.
\nAnd guess what? It actually works really well. Sure, a few songs wouldn\u2019t have been on my must-do list (\u201cLive Out Loud,\u201d \u201cDive,\u201d \u201cMagnificent Obsession\u201d), and some of the re-creations work better than others (the new version of \u201cDive\u201d just flat-out doesn\u2019t work, and \u201cThe Great Adventure\u201d also seems to have lost something in re-creation), but Steven continues to demonstrate that he\u2019s one of the few artists who can \u201creinvent\u201d himself and actually still make good music. He even got me to enjoy one of his more annoying songs for the first time (\u201cLive Out Loud\u201d). A non-masterpiece it remains, but the clapping, stomping folk\/country facelift it gets here is just infectious. (I know, it was the B-3 Hammond. Someone must have told him that\u2019s my weak spot\u2014toss in a little Hammond, on anything, and I\u2019m hooked.) And some of the new versions are positively magnificent. \u201cHeaven in the Real World\u201d just soars. I like it even better than the original, and believe me, it takes a darn good reinvention to get me to say that for a song I like. (It must have been the hammered dulcimer. And that banjo at the end. Dang, another weak spot.) \u201cSpeechless\u201d sparkles with more hammered dulcimer, strings, and even a majestic touch of horns. Another cover that surpasses its original. \u201cMore To This Life\u201d and \u201cFor the Sake of the Call\u201d have already gotten acoustic re-makes on Steven\u2019s Abbey Road <\/em>project, but these versions are different yet again. (For one thing, the Abbey Road versions were abridged while these contain all the lyrics.) The new \u201cMore To This Life\u201d takes a piano-led approach, and both tracks lean heavily on the cello. While both cuts are lovely, I thought \u201cFor the Sake of the Call\u201d turned out a little too slow and weary. It\u2019s gorgeous, but I miss the vigor of the original, or the joyful jam session feel of the Abbey Road re-make.
\nSteven covers one hymn on this project: \u201cMorning Has Broken,\u201d which perfectly captures the record\u2019s themes of re-creation and new dawning. His oldest son Caleb (who\u2019s formed his own indie rock band), is featured on the hymn\u2019s second verse. His voice is different from his dad\u2019s, yet noticeably similar, particularly on the first line\u2014for a second, I didn\u2019t even realize it wasn\u2019t Steven singing. \u201cMorning\u201d continues seamlessly into \u201cSing Hallelujah,\u201d and as short as this piece is, it may be the most beautiful moment on the album. It\u2019s difficult not to be moved and caught up in Steven\u2019s swelling, triumphant realization that \u201cit\u2019s a brand new, beautiful day.\u201d He almost sounds like he\u2019s weeping by the end of it, and the listener is sure to be weeping with him. If the last record proclaimed \u201cBeauty will rise,\u201d this is the proclamation that beauty has risen. Indeed, Allelujah.
\nThe Bottom Line<\/strong>: While a project full of 10 or 11 amazing brand-new songs would obviously have been ideal for die-hard fans (that would be me), you won\u2019t hear us complaining much over this offering. It simply does the heart good to hear Steven have fun making music again. Though lyrically it\u2019s more hopeful than Beauty Will Rise<\/em>, the raw, acoustic production is in a sense a continuation of that project. Instruments like the cello and the hammered dulcimer, which played important roles on that project, are brought back here with stellar results. Bottom line is, this record may have a few tracks I skip over, but it\u2019s a truly refreshing listen and an intriguing foretaste of what\u2019s to come as Steven continues to grace the world of Christian music with his presence. I recommend it to anybody who\u2019s a fan of his and anybody who appreciates good music, period.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As my readers may or may not know, new music from Steven Curtis Chapman drops in a few days (August 9, to be precise). It\u2019s called Re-creation (or Re:creation, depending on how you read the cover\u2014I think it\u2019s meant to be a little joke). The full album was \u201cleaked\u201d to Rhapsody before the release date, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3595,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[109],"tags":[346],"class_list":["post-4042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cd-reviews","tag-reviews"],"yoast_head":"\n