Artist:
Title:
Ocean
Type:
Album
Released:
28 Sep 2010 (US), 18 Nov 2010 (UK)
LTTM Rating:
Your Rating:
Review
Ocean is the seventh studio album from the singer/songwriter Bebo Norman. His 1999 debut album, 'Ten Thousand Days', landed him on the cover of CCM magazine, a rare honor for a new artist. The follow-up, 'Big Blue Sky', was voted number 1 Christian album of 2001 by the editors at Amazon.com. In 2008 his self-titled album earnt a Dove Award for 'Inspirational Recorded Song' for the track 'The Only Hope'.
One of the producers of this new album Ocean is award winning Jason Ingram who has already made a name for himself as one of the best producers there is in...
Read More Ocean is the seventh studio album from the singer/songwriter Bebo Norman. His 1999 debut album, 'Ten Thousand Days', landed him on the cover of CCM magazine, a rare honor for a new artist. The follow-up, 'Big Blue Sky', was voted number 1 Christian album of 2001 by the editors at Amazon.com. In 2008 his self-titled album earnt a Dove Award for 'Inspirational Recorded Song' for the track 'The Only Hope'.
One of the producers of this new album Ocean is award winning Jason Ingram who has already made a name for himself as one of the best producers there is in Christian music at the moment. Jason also features on the album as a co-writer. Also enlisted by Bebo is the amazing Brandon Heath and Laura Story to help with songwriting for this album.
How would I sum this album in genre and style? Well Ocean has some great power soft rock moments as with opening tracks Everything I Hoped For and Here Goes, then in the same breathe the album has some wonderful acoustic ballad songs that are worshipful and creatively interesting, for example the guitar tone on The Middle is truly amazing.
God My Everything is lyrically a truly amazing worship song, with Bebo singing about God being his everything in all times through everything. Could You Ever Look At Me starts off with a picked acoustic guitar and the soft vocals of Bebo which sound amazing and add an extra layer to the song, which also takes a notch up in stature once the piano and extra vocals kick in. In this song Bebo slowly adds extra layers on what starts out as a simple track, which keeps the song moving forward and makes it a stunning track.
Bebo, in the press release for this album, said "Still, I find myself looking up and asking, 'Who am I outside of music and beyond being a husband and father? How do I hide myself in who Christ is rather than relying on my own identity in the real world?". This is what his new album does, it asks those questions in the songs, yet at the same time tries to give some answers that Bebo has come up with for these situations. You could worry this is another soft rock middle of the road acoustic worship album, but if you look closer at each song, Bebo has taken the time to craft away and make these songs more than the genre they fall into. These songs are solid, acoustic, rock, worship songs, and are well written by a talented songwriter.
Review By Jono Davies
LTTM Rating 4 out of 5 Stars
Standout Tracks
We Fall Apart
The Middle
I hope You See Jesus Articles
Acclaimed singer/songwriter Bebo Norman has released his seventh studio album 'Ocean'. Once again teaming up with award-winning producer Jason Ingram for both production and co-writing, Bebo also partnered with Brandon Heath and…
