{"id":40972,"date":"2008-06-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-06-22T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/almost-there\/"},"modified":"2008-06-22T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-06-22T00:00:00","slug":"almost-there","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/almost-there\/","title":{"rendered":"Almost There"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everyone is drawn to an album for a different reason. That reason may be anything from appreciating the musical style to the cover art, but something must draw one in for money to leave the wallet. Admittedly, my reason for buying this album had nothing to do with musical or lyrical skill — I just thought it was cool that the band was from my hometown.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s right, the members of MercyMe hail from Greenville<\/st1:city>, TX<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>, population 24,000. As a matter of fact, my mother played piano for a few of lead singer Bart Millard\u2019s high school choir recitals. So, when I heard that Millard and Co. had hit it big as Christian recording artists, I was off to the CD store.<\/p>\n

And, upon listening, I realized that sometimes you can go home.<\/p>\n

First off, the single \u201cI Can Only Imagine\u201d is really what this album (and, let\u2019s face it, the band itself) owe their success to. Gentle piano and Millard\u2019s vocals aid the listener in wondering what heaven will be like. The beauty of heaven as described by the song will bring a tear to the eye of any. Though the song has become a clich\u00e9 in many churches and on Christian radio, nothing rivals the first time one hears it.<\/p>\n

Unbeknownst to many, however, is that there are ten other tracks on Almost There<\/i>, and they\u2019re not bad either.<\/p>\n

The opener, \u201cI Worship You,\u201d for example, was my favorite MercyMe song for a long time, until I came to better appreciate \u201cI Can Only Imagine.\u201d It rocks harder than the rest of the songs on the album while still making out as a nice worship tune. The closest the rest of the album comes to rocking like this is on \u201cHouse Of God,\u201d a song with below average lyrics but a catchy melody.<\/p>\n

\u201cCannot Say Enough\u201d is a beautiful worship song that the band still plays at concerts, even four albums later. Coupled with \u201cAll Fall Down,\u201d MercyMe has a duo of ready-for-church tunes, both featuring excellent melodies and messages.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn You,\u201d the album\u2019s closer, is probably the best evidence of the band\u2019s musical maturity. The song\u2019s structure is more complex than others on this album, starting a capella and moving into a beautiful soft rock piece accompanied by an violins. This song, more than any other on the album, is an indication of what was to come for the band; it best represents the direction the group has taken since this debut disc. <\/p>\n

The remainder of Almost There<\/i> is average, but it\u2019s nonetheless sincere. Millard has an excellent, rich voice, parts country and rock, and he has partnered with very able musicians who help bring the group\u2019s message to the listener.<\/p>\n

Whatever reason you try this album, trying it is the important part. You won\u2019t regret the decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":29400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8226],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-40972","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-mercyme","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40972","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\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40972"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}