Third Day fans have been clamoring for an album of worship songs
\nor a live album almost from the bands’ beginning. Those who have
\nattended a Third Day concert know that worship plays an important
\npart of the evening – a central part. With
\nOfferings<\/i>, Mac Powell and company have attempted to satisfy
\nboth fan desires with one disc.<\/p>\n
All I can say is “nice try.”<\/p>\n
And I mean that literally. This is a very nice try – but, while
\ngorgeous throughout, with hardly a blemish to comment on,
\nOfferings<\/i> is unsatisfying over the long run precisely
\nbecause of the “all things to all fans” approach. What I hear only
\nmakes me long for a pure worship album and a pure live album – or a
\npure live worship album. But, all this bucking back and forth
\nbetween studio recordings and live recordings breaks the mood. Just
\nwhen the live worship is kicking in and the connection is being
\nmade, the disc gives way to studio tracks and the electricity,
\ncomparatively, disappears. Third Day has electricity all the time,
\nbut never more than when they are playing live.<\/p>\n
All that said, there are many individual highlights to this disc
\n– live and studio.<\/p>\n
Just last year the band released the critically and commercially
\nsuccessful
\nTime<\/i>, which gained the band three number one singles, four
\nDove Award nominations, and the Dove Award for Rock Album of the
\nYear. Logically, the band should have rested and let the disc
\ncontinue to percolate — as it has.<\/p>\n
“Your Love Oh Lord” from that disc is among the highlights on
\nthis disc and is one of the six live songs. Inspired by Psalm 26,
\nthe hymn captures the concept of how God’s love, faithfulness, and
\nrighteousness inspires His creatures to worship. Nicely segued from
\n“Your Love…” is a live version of Third Day’s cut from the
\nExodus<\/i> project, Michael W. Smith’s “Agnus Dei,” here paired
\nwith Don Moen’s worship chorus “Worthy.”<\/p>\n
Another live highlight is the disc-closing “Love Song” from
\ntheir breakthrough eponymous project. For this recording the
\naudience was miked perfectly and they can be heard singing behind
\nthe band throughout the song — word for inspired word. It’s a
\n“goosebumps and wet eyes” moment.<\/p>\n
Among the studio highlights are two great covers – the
\nfast-becoming favorite “These Thousand Hills” and a superb version
\nof Bob Dylan’s “Saved” from 1980. “These Thousand Hills” was
\nwritten by members of the sorely-missed Atlanta-based band Jacob’s
\nTrouble in 1990. If you somehow missed this group, do yourself a
\nfavor and pick up at least their 1999 compilation
\nSampler Pack<\/i> on KMG Records. Anyway, when Powell tears into
\nthis song, you can sense the anticipation of being in Heaven with
\nJesus that believers sometimes feel when standing in the midst of
\nthe beauty of God’s creation:<\/p>\n
These thousand hills roll ever on Footprints of a Mighty God
\nThey bring me to my knees in praise Amazing love, amazing grace<\/p>\n
One of the jarring moments going from live to studio comes at
\nthe end of “Agnus Dei\/Worthy” when Powell has led the group in
\nworship and brought the sound level way down. With the crowd
\nsinging the strands of Moen’s chorus still floating in your mind,
\nPowell and company slam you into the studio with a driving, raucous
\nversion of “Saved.” From arguably one of Dylan’s best albums ever,
\n“Saved” barrels along on the keyboards of Scotty Wilbanks and the
\nbacking vocals of Tabitha Fair and the Cobb Mass Choir. If Andre
\nCrouch has never done this song, he’s missed an excellent
\nopportunity.<\/p>\n
However, Powell certainly has his way with the song. It’s
\nfantastic, but it took me a good portion of the song to get into
\nthe vibe – and then you go right back live with “My Hope Is You.”
\nMood swings anyone? (And is it just me, or does Powell’s singing
\nremind anyone else of former folk\/pop singer Cat Stevens? Just an
\nobservation.)<\/p>\n
One new song, “You’re Everywhere,” written by Powell and the
\nband, is the best of the new studio tracks. Based on the practice
\ntapes of the song from the
\nConspiracy No. 5<\/i> recording sessions, this tune evokes some
\ngreat images of God — and His omnipresence:<\/p>\n
Like the wind that blows no one really knows From where it comes
\nor where it goes So it is with Your Holy Spirit, Lord Falling down
\non us to show that You’re everywhere You’re everywhere<\/p>\n
The whole worship\/live album concept might even have worked
\nbetter if the band had done the disc half studio and half live —
\nlike two sides of one cassette tape. Or even go all out and release
\na double disc, one of each. Maybe it’s a quibble, this complaint
\nabout the mixed bag of live and studio, but I just can’t help
\nwondering “what if . . .?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":25498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6380],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-36704","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-third-day","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36704"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36704"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}