WOW Worship Purple
Producer: Information Not Provided There’s no denying it at this point. The WOW series is a well-oiled, money-making machine. With their annual collections of the top hits of the year in both modern Christian and Gospel music, worship, classics, and Holiday releases - the WOW brand as been a good thing for the Christian music industry - regardless of how you may feel about the quality of music featured on each disc. The brand is back with the fourth installment in the hugely popular WOW Worship series. The first releases focused more on the song - so names that weren’t huge sellers got to be featured as long as the songs were a big part of what the Church was singing. The last release - WOW Worship Aqua - focused more on the artist - including many new cuts of artists who aren’t normally worship artists cutting popular worship tunes. WOW Worship Purple, the newest release, finds itself somewhere in between those two kinds of releases. There’s a lot of really great worship songs to be found here from some of the original artists who made them popular, like Kari Jobe (“Revelation Song”), Chris Tomlin (“Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)”), Israel Houghton (“You Are Good”), Paul Baloche (“Your Name”), and Lincoln Brewster (“Everlasting God”). You’ve also got a smathering of popular artists covering popular tunes - though only a few that have never been released before. Michael W. Smith’s “Shout Unto God” is a nice addition - but the original by Hillsong United would have been a better choice. Selah sings “Hosanna,” while Kutless shows up with “Give Us Clean Hands” - neither or which are really the best choices for those powerful songs. Also, the inclusion of MercyMe, Casting Crowns, Meredith Andrews, and Robbie Seay Band’s tunes seem more like a way of including those popular artists rather than choosing true worship tunes for the collection. Still, there’s more to like than dislike with this collection. It’s great to see some of the more powerful worship songs of the last few years represented in Hillsong United’s “Mighty to Save,” Passion’s “God of This City,” David Crowder Band’s “Everything Glorious,” and Aaron Shust’s “My Savior My God.” We also get some newly recorded cuts with Francesca Battistelli’s “Lead Me to the Cross,” Matthew West’s “The Wonderful Cross,” and Leeland’s “Majesty (Here I Am).” All are great tunes - but none really stand out as truly memorable performances. We get a preview from Natalie Grant’s upcoming studio recording with “Desert Song” - another that doesn’t really stand out as a great worship tune - though it is a strong pop cut. Overall, like past WOW releases - WOW Worship Purple does a good job of covering the bases - but also picked a few head-scratchers as well. If you’re a cursory fan of worship music - then this release will be right up your alley! Track listing: Disc Two RATING:
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