Facedown (CD)
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Description Facedown is Matt Redman's first live album, recorded in Atlanta at a songwriters conference, in January 2004. It contains many holy moments as people received revelation of what an amazing God we are able to boldly approach.Facedown features many new songs from Matt, including a duet with Chris Tomlin, 'Worthy'. The album was mixed at Abbey Road by Paul Hicks who also mixed the sound for the live Coldplay DVD. REVIEW: For me this was the best worship album from 2004. At the risk of sounding like the one of those people who idolises Christian musicians as if they were pop stars, I am a big fan of Matt Redman, I love his songs and love even more the way that he leads worship. But when I first heard this album I actually wasn’t too sure about it! I was told by my colleague at work I must be crazy! So sadly I left it on the side for a while, I admit, I had got it wrong. It took a few weeks until I realised this after attending a meeting where Matt was leading worship (or taking the role he has coined as ‘lead worshipper’). These songs are rich in glory and power, and are all biblical, the lyrics are almost completely rooted in the Bible, you may hear the words and think, ‘I read that recently!’ The CD sleeve helpfully includes the scriptures that each song is taken from. Clearly Matt has discovered how to worship our Lord in a new way since being on sabbatical, travelling across the USA (which resulted in him spending a lot of time with Chris Tomlin), and joining the New Frontiers Church back in the UK, and these songs are a product of that. These songs are written to enable the Church to worship God in a powerful, declarative, God-exalting and self-humbling way. He sums it up with a quote from his book also titled “Facedown” that “When we face up to the glory of God, we find ourselves face down in worship.” I imagine these songs were written in a facedown posture. The tone is set from the first song “Praise awaits you” and “Worthy you are Worthy” that the aim is to glorify God. We are brought to an intimacy with the King in “Gifted Response” and “Facedown” and then our focus is placed upon What God says to us when we come close to him in “Mission’s Flame” and “If I have not Love”, which is a song that highlights how we are to be humble even when gloriously giving praise to God. Needless to say the recording is of a high quality, you feel like you are right there in the meeting, which can not be said about all live recordings. Matt’s band is also tremendously skilled, which emphasises that these songs are written well and can not be criticised for being too simple like some Christian worship songs. The album is recorded live which is perfect not only for these songs, but also allows Matt’s clear gift of leading worship to shine through. He does so with an authority I have not experienced anywhere else, yet at the same time the focus is always on God, which Matt must be ‘praised’ for, but I would imagine that he would just direct it all back to his Lord. Ryan Duffy, 10th October 2005 |
