These days it's sometimes harder to spot a worship album than ever before as our understanding of what constitutes a worship album seems to be mutating. Where once a worship album would be a collection of songs (often recorded live) that a church congregation might be able to sing together, these days there's something else going on. Or maybe we now like to brand things "worship" because that helps the cash registers tinkle. Hmmmm...
Aaron Spiro is the real deal, a worship leader based in Seattle with an ability to create singable pop melodies and lyrics packed with spiritual insights. The more I listen to this, the more I realize that the majority of this CD is actually "worshipful" rather than a worship album. Certainly there are some brilliant worship songs here - "Begins And Ends In You," "Let The Hallelujahs Cover You," "Breathing," and "Forever and Ever" are the best examples. These songs could probably translate to other places and worship leaders but a lot of this sounds great coming from Aaron himself but I'm not sure how well it'll translate.
Having said all of that, the album itself is packed full of strong songs and brilliant production. Spiro confesses to being a long time fan of Charlie Peacock so the opportunity to work with the producer was lapped up. The experience proved stretching for Aaron as Charlie put him through the songwriting boot camp, forcing Aaron to really think deeply about the lyrics he was penning. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why the album doesn't necessarily feel like a worship album because lyrically he has avoided a lot of the cliched pitfalls that other songwriters fall into.
Working with mainstream man Jacquire King (Smash Mouth, Third Eye Blind, Tom Waits) adds an extra musical dimension to the album giving some of the songs a little bit of muscle. "Begins And Ends With You" does actually sound like a classic Peacock song from the melody to the production to the vocal delivery and so it's a bit of a surprise to find that King produced it. Just a case of Aaron's influences raising their voices perhaps.
For me the stand out songs all work for different reasons! I love the heavy pop groove and anthemic chorus of "Thrill," complete with a bit of Bono style whooping. The title song is a catchy poppy piece of immediacy to keep radio programmers happy and I love it! But then I am a radio presenter so that might have something to do with it! And there's "Beautiful" which is...ahem... beautiful. It's a simple guitar ballad with Aaron pouring out his heart in a worshipful love song. Stripped down, simple and featuring some very evocative cello.
Ultimately like Peacock's groundbreaking Coram Deo albums in the early nineties, Sing could best be described as a worship album for people who don't like worship albums.
4 tocks
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 2002Reviewed by Bert GanglIt's been argued that just about any producer, to one degree or another, places something of a characteristic stamp upon any project that they oversee. Given that all eleven tracks on Seattle native Aaron Spiro's debut outing, Sing, feature some combination of production, songwriting or instrumental input from veteran artist and producer Charlie Peacock, it comes as perhaps no surprise that…The Phantom Tollbooth 2002Reviewed by Josh McConnellSparrow Records has recently released Aaron Spiro's debut album, Sing. Is it worth your time and, more importantly, your money? Well, maybe to some...but definitely not everyone. While it does have a few tracks that may get you tapping your foot, such as the title track or "Thrill," most of the songs are just hard to get into. While I do believe Spiro definitely could put out a good album, it…Similar sounding releases
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