Hillsong - A Beautiful Exchange
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Title:
A Beautiful Exchange
Type:
Album
Released:
29 Jun 2010 (US), 16 Aug 2010 (UK)
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Review
Described as a 'megachurch', which originated in Sydney, Australia before sending its offshoots around the world, Hillsong is an institution in both the Church sense and the music sense. With over 20,000 people attending its services each week it stands to reason that the worship is going to be something pretty special, and indeed regular releases of live albums from Hillsong have helped to raise the movement's profile still further.
The latest album, apparently the nineteenth live Hillsong album if you like your stats, is called 'A Beautiful Exchange' and was recorded last November in front of thousands of worshippers at...
Read More Described as a 'megachurch', which originated in Sydney, Australia before sending its offshoots around the world, Hillsong is an institution in both the Church sense and the music sense. With over 20,000 people attending its services each week it stands to reason that the worship is going to be something pretty special, and indeed regular releases of live albums from Hillsong have helped to raise the movement's profile still further.
The latest album, apparently the nineteenth live Hillsong album if you like your stats, is called 'A Beautiful Exchange' and was recorded last November in front of thousands of worshippers at the Sydney Entertainment Centre in Australia, featuring 12 fresh new songs.
'Our God Is Love' opens the album and has a great sing-along chorus and a good ongoing beat. It's a perfect opener and features Joel Houston on lead vocals. 'Open My Eyes' begins with a fast guitar riff making way for a slower drum beat. In fact the song continues to employ great guitars throughout, and Reuben Morgan does a great job in the chorus as he sings, "Open my eyes Lord God, Open my heart to see all the wonder and the power of Your name".
'Forever Reign' is a quiet, slower song with a fantastic chorus: "I'm running to Your arms, I'm running to Your arms. The riches of Your love will always be enough, nothing compares to Your embrace. Light of the world forever reign". Written by Jason Ingram and Reuben Morgan, the song has already appeared on the debut recording from One Sonic Society, who Jason belongs to. It's a song destined for church fame, and one that will fit well in many times of worship.
Sung by Brooke Ligertwood, 'Like Incense' includes a section in the middle where the vocals are entirely sung by the crowd, in the style of a well tuned reverent choir. "Oh God You are my God and I will ever praise You", sings Brooke. Darlene Zschech appears on the album to sing 'Greatness Of Our God', another song that previously appeared on the One Sonic Society EP having been written by Stu G, Jason Ingram and Reuben Morgan. It's a gentle worship song and extremely well suited to Darlene's vocal tone.
Continuing to provide artistic variety, 'The Father's Heart' features singers from Hillsong London. It's not one of the best tracks on the album, but still a pleasant listen. The simply titled 'You' opens with a curious synthesized sound which is eventually put into context, but does seem to distract early on. But once Joel Houston gets going this turns into another great track.
'Love Like Fire' is an absolutely stunning worship song. Tender and moving as it sings "Your love is like fire, burns for all to see. My only desire to worship at Your feet. So let this fire consume my life." A real hearts cry to God, full of passion and one of the best moments of the whole album. 'Believe' again shows why Darlene is so well loved. A simple song, lyrically and musically, making it one that any church could sing, and sung beautifully here with just a simple accompaniment.
Title track 'Beautiful Exchange' is over 10 minutes long, but to be honest it takes a long time to really get going. It's very much an atmospheric piece of music, rather than a song. But as a backing track to a time of prayer or reflection I could see it working. The album ends with Reuben Morgan singing the gentle 'Thank You' with its chorus of "There is no one like You. All my hope is in You, Jesus, Jesus." The song grows in strength and volume towards the end as the crowd join in the singing and the guitars really start to shine.
Despite the sheer number of albums Hillsong have released, you really have to say that once again they've come up with the goods. Somehow they seem to keep turning out superb albums of the highest standard. Maybe only a small number of these songs is genuinely well suited to being picked up by your average church congregation, but as a worship album, listening to this is a real pleasure.
Review by Dave Wood
LTTM Rating 4.5 out of 5 Stars
Stand Out Tracks
Forever Reign
Love Like Fire
Open My Eyes Articles
Australian mega-church Hillsong release their latest live album, 'A Beautiful Exchange', in the USA today, 29th June and in the UK on 6th July. Recorded last November in front of thousands of worshippers at the Sydney…
The new live album from Hillsong, titled 'A Beautiful Exchange', will be released on 29th June in the US and 6th July in the UK. Recorded last November in front of thousands of worshippers at the Sydney Entertainment Centre…
