Hello Love - Chris Tomlin
Producer: Ed Cash
Another journalist friend of mine asked me this - “What else is releasing this week besides the Chris Tomlin reissue?” I chuckled along - but not because he was wrong - but because he was very much right. Tomlin is releasing his fifth full-length studio project Hello Love. Tomlin’s first two albums released to little fanfair, even though Tomlin was making a name for himself on the Passion circuit. Tomlin really broke big with the release of Arriving that spawned off the subsequent hits “Indescribable”, “Holy Is the Lord”, and the now classic “How Great Is Our God”. He followed that up with See the Morning. See the Morning was seen as more of the same - driving anthemic uptempo praise songs and softer and sometimes grand ballads. Tomlin is set to repeat himself with the release of Hello Love - a release that finds Tomlin painting by the numbers - and yes - even at times feels like a reissue of his past two releases. Fans of the Passion series will be familiar with the driving album opener - and highlight - “Sing Sing Sing”. “Jesus Messiah” follows and feels like Tomlin is trying to repeat the success of other big ballads like “How Great Is Our God” and “Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)” - unfortunately, this one doesn’t live up to the hype. Again - there’s a lot to like here - and a lot that will likely find its way to Christian radio and church stages - specifically the anthemic “You Lifted Me Out” and inspirational “I Will Rise”. There’s even a bit of artistic growth to be found on “Love” - with its slight Americana meets African accompaniment. It’s a brief moment on an album that relies too much on past tricks - but shows that Tomlin is capable of creating something out of his normal comfort zone. However, too much of Hello Love relies on things that have worked in the past. For instance, Tomlin’s cover of the hymn “All the Way My Savior Leads” is a nice album closer - but doesn’t go much beyond that. If it wasn’t for a few key tracks ("God of This City”, “Sing, Sing Sing”, “I Will Rise”, and “Love") - I’m not sure there’s much here that fans of more introspective and creative worship moments can latch on to. Hello Love will certainly do very well for Tomlin, and it is a very well produced and engaging project. It just doesn’t show enough growth and lyrical depth to make this reviewer extremely happy.
Purchase Hello Love RATING:
|
| ||||
|
Home | About Us | Features | Reviews | Pop Culture | Devotionals | News | Coming Up | Give-A-Ways | Archives Site Design by: SSE Design Group | |||||
.
