Hillsong LIVE returns with an all-new album entitled God Is Able. Recorded at Hillsong Church in Sydney, the album delivers 11 brand new songs inspired by the of God of our here and now. Songs include “Rise” (Joel Houston), “The Cry of the Broken,” (Darlene Zschech) and “God Is Able,” (Reuben Morgan). Another standout song is “The Lost Are Found” which is sure to become a anthemic chorus for the church. Hillsong LIVE will support the album with a U.S. tour in November 2011 as well as several online live stream events.
Track Listing
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With more than 11 million albums sold worldwide, Hillsong LIVE returns with 11 new songs for its 20th recording, God Is Able, set to release July 26th on Sparrow Records. The album was recorded live along with thousands of worshippers gathered together in Sydney Australia and features new songs by worship leaders Reuben Morgan, Joel Houston, Darlene Zschech and others. Hillsong is known for such worldwide worship anthems as "Shout To The Lord," "Mighty To Save," "Hosanna," "Desert Song," and many more modern worship anthems sung by tens of millions every week in worship services around the world. I eagerly await each new Hillsong release and God Is Able is truly stellar and is now my top overall album by Hillsong LIVE. In my opinion, Hillsong has managed to release their newest best album with each release since Mighty To Save.
God Is Able opens with a new song written and sung by Joel Houston called "Rise." Right from the opening drum beat and Coldplay-style guitar riffs, I was hooked immediately. If you are looking for new worship songs to sing with fellow believers, this album is chock-full of congregational songs, especially the next pair of songs, the Brit-Rock style worship anthem “With Us,” and “Unending Love,” which features gorgeous female vocals that remind me of UNITED’s “Like An Avalanche.” The anthemic “With Us” has an instantly sing-able chorus, “O God, there’s no end to Your Love, there’s no end to Your Love, You’re with us, You’re with us, there’s nothing in this world that could take You away, You’re with us.” Amen to that! The lyrics are excellent and worshipful and for me, this track order is the best of all of the Hillsong LIVE collections and sounds the most like a Hillsong UNITED collection. The musical styles blend perfectly.
Nashville-based artists have been covering Hillsong to much acclaim and radio success, most recently Laura Story's recording of "Mighty To Save," Chris And Conrad’s recording of “Lead Me To The Cross,” Kari Jobe’s recording of “Healer” and Natalie Grant’s recording of "Greatness Of Our God." For me, the stand-out song on this collection is the title track “God Is Able.” I can't get enough of this song and the extremely catchy and worshipful lyrics, “Lifted up, He defeated the grave, Raised to Life, Our God is Able, In His Name, We overcome, for the Lord, our God is Able.” You'll be singing along at the top of your lungs with the crowd and then at some point hopefully with your church congregation. It is an amazing song and this album’s “Stronger” in my opinion. “The Difference” has a UNITED rock style, like “Break Free.” “Alive In Us” is another catchy song featuring Darlene Zschech singing her heart out and reminds me of “Hosanna” musically. “You Are More” has another excellent female vocal and reminds me of “Desert Song” both in music and message. “My Heart Is Overwhelmed” features a sincere prayer, “I'm found in grace, In love's embrace, My heart is overwhelmed.” This standard-bearing worship album ends with a gorgeous ballad sung by Darlene Zschech, “The Cry Of The Broken.” It is wonderful to hear Darlene singing great new worship anthems as her songs "Shout To The Lord" and "The Potter’s Hand" all but started the female worship leader genre.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
I'm impressed by the consistent quality and fresh worshipful songs from Hillsong. I've been singing "The Stand," "From The Inside Out," "Mighty To Save," "Stronger" and many other Hillsong classics at my church for many years and I expect there will be several more worship classics from this album.This album is chock-full of congregational songs, especially "Rise," “With Us,”“Unending Love,” “God Is Able,” “Alive In Us,”“My Heart Is Overwhelmed”and the gorgeous ballad “The Cry Of The Broken.” I eagerly await each new Hillsong release. God Is Able is truly stellar, my top overall album by Hillsong LIVE and my top worship album of the year. Every single song could be added to your Sunday morning worship set.
One of the best worship projects of 2011!| Posted July 09, 2012
It’s been less than a year since the release of Hillsong’s successful A Beautiful Exchange project, but this summer, the church worship group gives us another awesome worship project through God Is Able, their twentieth release. This new project from Hillsong gives a clear, cut, and dry reminder that God is able, even when there seems like there is no hope in this world. Through eleven powerful worship songs, Hillsong delivers their best project yet, with a strong reminder and brand new tracks that are sure to leave you singing along and praising God to this wonderful music.
“Rise” begins the album strongly, with booming drums, though it is not a necessarily fast-paced track. This six-minute track led by Joel Houston speaks of rising and praising God on that day when we see Him as He is. The timeless “You’re With Us,” led by the very-talented Jad Gillies, speaks of how Jesus is always with us, based on Romans 8: “There’s no end to Your love/ You’re with us/ You’re with us/ There’s nothing in this world that could take You away/ You’re with us/ You’re with us!” As with many Hillsong worship songs, the powerful bridge was a huge enjoyment about this track.
The slower “Unending Love,” led by Jad Gillies and Annie Garratt, is sure to be the next “Mighty to Save” from Hillsong, with timeless, but absolutely powerful lyrics! “Now all I am I lay at Your feet/ I’m humbled by the wonder of Your majesty/ One thing I know, I find all I need/ In Your unending love/ in Your unending love.” For me, this hymn-like track was the standout from the whole God is Able project, and definitely a track I recommend every praise and worship fan check out! “The Lost Are Found” is a bit on the slower side of things as well, led this time by Ben Fielding. Borrowing its lyrics from Matthew 11:4-5, the powerful chorus is echoed by the millions of people singing along at the top of their lungs: “The lost are found/ the blind will see/ the lame will walk/ the dead will live/ and You, our God, forever You will reign!”
“The Lost are Found” blends perfectly into the title track with a very cool lead guitar intro and booming drums, speaking of how God has overcome the grave and given us the power to overcome: “Lifted up/ He defeated the grave/ Raised to life/ Our God is able/ In His name we overcome/ For the Lord our God is able.” Once again, the amazing bridge and congregation participation was so inspirational. It seems only natural that Jonathan Douglass (JD) lead “The Difference” sounding more Hillsong United like than Hillsong, with an energetic tempo and fist-throwing-provoking lyrics: “We are found/ there’s nothing that can hold us down/ with anything against us/ we know You’re love will be the difference/ You give and take/ still we will go Your way/ all our fear is in the distance/ we know Your love will be the difference.”
We hear Darlene Zschech for the first time on “Alive In Us,” a simple track following the lyrics of “The Lost Are Found”: “You rose from death to victory/ You reign in life, oh Majesty!/ Your name be high and lifted up/ Jesus, Jesus alive in us.” “You are More” reminds the listener that no matter what they are going through, they will get through the season of life, because Jesus is more than we need: “You are more than my words could ever say/ You are Lord over all my days/ I will see the season through/ I will fix my eyes on You/ only You.”
“Narrow Road,” still on the slower side of things but very powerful, has very creative lyrics, speaking of the narrow road that we walk on as Christians: “Love will shine before us on our path/ To guide our every step within the dark/ to know You is our only cry…” Ben Fielding leads the closing live track, “My Heart is Overwhelmed,” a beautiful and serene worship song speaking of how Jesus has set us free, and serves as a song of thanks to Him for what He has done. God is Able ends with “Cry of the Broken,” a solo track by Darlene Zschech. Featuring gorgeous strings, piano, and acoustic guitar, “Cry of the Broken” is based largely on Isaiah 53. Darlene’s angelic vocals fit the song perfectly, speaking of how Christ was wounded to bring us healing from sin, brokenness, pain, shame, and grief. It put an amazing end to God is Able and was definitely a highlight from the project as a whole.
Hillsong is only getting better with each release they put out. Now, with God is Able, their twentieth album, they deliver a project full of songs that are sure to make their way to church songbooks and be sung by millions around the world. Featuring the definite hit “Unending Love,” to the upbeat “The Difference,” to the powerful “Alive In Us,” “With Us,” and “Cry of the Broken,” Hillsong’s God is Able is a worship project you will not want to miss, and most certainly one of the best worship projects of the year!
God is able| Posted July 02, 2012
I LOVE Hillsong Live! I heard my first Hillsong Live song when I was on Spring Break with my church, it was the song The Stand and I had it stuck in my head all week! Really looking forward to hearing some new stuff :)
After listening to the latest album from Aussie Mega church Hillsong I found myself thinking… is this album suffering from split personality syndrome?
Now it’s not a bad thing… all the sounds that you would expect from a Hillsong album are there… great production, great musicianship and great songwriting… the problem is that half the album sounds like the sister band Hillsong United.
I’m not sure if Hillsong is having a midlife crisis… and trying to sound younger… but I was left thinking… I’ve heard it all before.
It’s obvious that Hillsong has got into a habit of writing songs for conference type environments, with big chorus… lots of space in their sound filled with Edge like guitar with delay, reverb and anything else to fill the sound without getting too full on.
That is until it gets to the track ‘The Difference’ – which has the drive and dirt of a United album, and to be honest feels a bit odd in the middle of an Album that is not quiet Hillsong but hasn’t dared to go far enough to become a United album.
There are some stand out tracks on this album, ‘Rise’, ‘The lost are found’ and the title track ‘God is able’ are my favorites, but I can’t say that I was left thinking Wow… I have to listen to that straight away.
In saying that I really like the start of ’Cry of the broken’… it was a great moment that made me want to listen as it introduced some new sounds…
As an album this is a pretty solid album… probably better produced than the last U2… however it’s been done.
As a worship album… there will always be the fans who will buy every album, as individual songs there are a few to bring to the table for church services, but if I was to be honest I have heard better this year (as individual songs)…
So where does it leave me?
This is a conference album… and the songs will certainly mean more to people who have sung these with a group of thousands… that’s just reality… it’s not a bad album by any stretch… but what I would like to see for the next Hillsong and United albums is two differnt bands… with two different styles. At the moment they are too alike… and a waste of my album buying money.
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