In the eyes and ears of many, Avalon is the epitome of modern corporate pop music. Their vocalists have come and gone \u2013 six since founding in 1996 \u2013 and yet the sound remains the same. Pretty faces, whether male or female; pretty voices, ditto; pretty songs about pretty faith all tied up with pretty bows.<\/p>\n
But, perhaps the worst charge leveled against them is that they are trend-chasers rather than trend-setters (O2: Avalon Remixed <\/i>anyone?). And with their eighth studio album, Faith: A Hymns Collection<\/i>, that charge definitely sticks.<\/p>\n
And yet, it all continues to work together so well.<\/p>\n
In an era when almost everyone except Rod Stewart has recorded a hymns\/worship album, what makes Faith <\/i>work so well, besides Avalon\u2019s obvious talents, is its commitment to the material. The project could have been a by-the-numbers Avalon project and sold in the kajillions. How ironic is it, then, that the most risks group members Jody McBrayer, Janna Long, Greg Long and Melissa Greene have taken in years is with an album of old hymns?<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an eclectic record,\u201d Greg said. \u201c \u2018Amazing Grace\u2019 \u201d turned out to have an R&B feel. With \u2018I\u2019ll Fly Away,\u2019 we all just got on microphones and sang it down \u2026 and we arranged it as we went. So it was more of a creative thing than we\u2019ve ever done.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that creative freedom shows. Take a listen to that R&B version of \u201cAmazing Grace,\u201d for instance. This is the hymn that even non-churchgoers know. Everyone, everywhere, has sung it \u2013 and yet Avalon brings an up-tempo feel to the song that completely resets and redefines the song as a jubilant testimony to God\u2019s all-encompassing love.<\/p>\n
The disc is not without its weaknesses, and they are in the newer songs: \u201cTotal Praise,\u201d \u201cFor Freedom,\u2019 and yet another version of \u201cIn Christ Alone.\u201d (Note: Please, everyone, Michael English recorded this to perfection in 1992. What are you thinking?)<\/p>\n
But those newer songs only sound as paltry as they do because they stand alongside the likes of \u201cThe Solid Rock,\u201d \u201cJoyful,\u201d \u201cJoyful We Adore Thee\u201d and \u201cBlessed Assurance.\u201d This disc alone could end the divide between those who love worship choruses and those who revere the hymns. And not only does this represent a leap forward for Avalon, it will hopefully bring back fans who left after gorup\u2019s previous effort Stand.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":28722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7923],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-40215","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-avalon","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40215","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=40215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40215"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}