It is probably a problem in a review of one of your favorite artists when your favorite song on the CD is the hidden track. But I am afraid that is the case for Matt Redman’s latest CD Beautiful News. When reviewing a favorite artist the review will typically gauge the new CD against his previous material. So someone who is consistently good, who then puts out another good CD is subject to a bit more criticism then a new artist with an equal CD. What I tend to expect is one or two excellent songs such as “ O Sacred King” or the “Heart of Worship”. This CD is not a disappointment but it is also not his best work.
The best song is the first track, the “Beautiful News”, the hidden track is derived from one verse of the “Beautiful News”. It is done in a very distorted sound and frankly sounds great though it is not the way we normally hear Matt Redman. “There’s a God who came down to save / show the world His amazing Grace / There’s a God who came down to save / and He calls your name / It’s a beautiful news."
Redman has been very consistent with his modern Worship style of music. The music is uplifting and encouraging with the love of God. I enjoy the worship songs but I think the people in the churches need more then songs that praise God using the repetition of Christian buzz words. Songs such as “Greater Song” which acknowledges that we need to present the message of God in a better way I think are important to spur the thinking of people. While I would like to see Redman incorporate more complex themes into his music, what he does, he does very well. The second best song on the CD is “Thank You for Healing Me” which is a very comforting song and something that every person at some time would be in need of hearing.
You can hear a couple of songs from the CD on Matt Redman's MySpace page
And on his Website, just press the little play symbol to hear samples from the new CD
I decided to listen again to Matt Redman’s last CD “Facedown” before rating this CD. I think the previous CD had more catchy songs but it reminded me of just how much Redman uses the symbolic Christian words in place of the meaning of those words. His second song on Facedown is "Nothing but the Blood" which is a very good song but requires people to understand what the blood represents. Unfortunately we as Christians have come to distort the meaning of such things. "What can wash a way our sins/ nothing but the blood of Jesus". A s we move farther and farther away from the time of sacrificial blood offerings we should seek to use the real meaning rather then substitute ill understood words for our message. The blood offerings never did anything and the blood of Jesus is symbolic of the very life of Jesus. So what washes away our sins? It is the very love of God, which is the same love for us as Jesus. The church needs to move toward reality rather then the language of 2000 years ago when the church was attempting to bring into it their Jewish brothers.
Comparing this with some of his previous work I will give it 4 stars which is a bit less then Christianity Today does.
Maybe I am being too hard on the CD because he is one of my favorite artists but it does not strike me as one of his best works though it is certainly better then much of the modern worship music available.
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