Chris Rice

Item: Smell the Color 9
Author: Stephanie K.

Smell the Color 9

(2000)

Reviewed by Stephanie K.

Discogs Apple Music TIDAL Amazon Music Spotify YouTube Music

Label Rocketown RecordsReAL Magazine2000

acoustic ccm singer-songwriter

I found Chris Rice's new album, Smell the Color 9, to be a bit of a disappointment. It is slowly growing on me, but the music is very different and diverse from most of his previous work. There is an underlying sound that is very much Rice's own, but the circus sounds and the like of some of the songs are not for me. Yet amidst the fun there is still a strong message of faith that plays out in our everyday life.

"'Smell the Color 9' is a strong statement of faith," Rice says about the title track, "The song reflects the frequent cry of the psalmists (Psalm 69 and 88 for example) when they cannot sense His presence, and encourages us that our faith is strongest when there is no physical evidence on which to base it. The 'heart of faith keeps pounding' even when God is not detectable with our five human senses."

Rice's faith has led him into full time ministry with high school and college students. He firmly believes he is called first and foremost to relate to students and help them grow in their relationship with God. Consequently, his participation in the marketing of this new release is minimal if any. Rice's focus lies elsewhere and he will gladly give up making albums if it compromises his ministry.

Every song on this album has special meaning and a message to share. The opening song, 'Questions for Heaven,' is a circus-like song that lists funny questions Chris would like to ask God someday. I didn't care for the circus sound, but the lyrics were fun. The songs range from fun and upbeat to more mellow and soft like 'My Prayer,' which is a gentle interpretation of Romans 8:26-27: "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will." (NIV)

Overall, Smell the Color 9 had too many experimental songs for one album and not enough of the classic Chris Rice I have come to love. If you really like his cartoon song, then you may really enjoy the circus-like music on this album. All of the songs have a different sound, similar to that song. My roommate and I listened to this album several times the moment I got my hands on it, but there just wasn't any particular song that stuck out to us as a great new song. I love the lyrics, but the musical experimentation wasn't for me. As I said, it is slowly growing on me, but overall, I was a little disappointed with the album. It will be interesting to see where Chris goes from here.