Hillsong United - The iHeart Revolution: With Hearts As One

Published Saturday 26th April 2008
Hillsong United - The iHeart Revolution: With Hearts As One
Hillsong United - The iHeart Revolution: With Hearts As One

STYLE: Rock
RATING 5 5 5 5 5
OUR PRODUCT CODE: 40978-13885
LABEL: Hillsong Music HMACD212
FORMAT: CD Album
ITEMS: 2
RELEASE DATE: 2008-03-18
RRP: £14.99

Reviewed by Andy Cooper

Hillsong United have been around for 10 years, and their formula of brash Aussie rock worship has become well established around youth congregations of the world. Quite a point is made in this release's marketing about it being recorded in many different countries, but in reality you can't tell the difference between how the crowd sounds in Tokyo with how they sound in Paris or Argentina. And hear the crowd you certainly can: overpowering the music to the extent of obscuring lyrics and hiding the nuances of the skilled players. Check "Take It All": the crowd's clapping is delayed as much as the luggage from Heathrow T5. Listening to more than four or five songs gets aurally exhausting. It's such a downer. They are a great band with a good back catalogue including 'One Way', 'Til I See You', 'Mighty To Save', but the production decisions have brought rain on parade day. All but two songs are previously released, so you'd do better to check their previous offerings, particularly the studio album 'All Of The Above'. The new ones ("You'll Come" and "Love Enough") are recorded in front of a voracious home crowd, and the former could become a new classic with a belting performance from Brooke Fraser, while the latter is more formulaic and forgettable. Some listeners of this set will surely get blessed by the odd moment where the inspiration of the performers manages to rise above the poor bootleg-quality live sound, but others will surely be disappointed.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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Reader Comments

Posted by Ails Clarke in Scotland @ 13:54 on Mar 12 2009

Sorry to disagree with you Andy but having just listened to this all week I can honestly say it is one of the best albums Hillsong Utd have ever released. I get a feeling that I am at every concert on the album and the class of musicians is just awesome. Maybe I'm biased as I totally love both Joel Houston and Marty sampsons style and all their work but this album has powered me through the day at work (I am a community support worker and do a lot of driving around) and I have been so encouraged by their dedication and praise to God. And the quality is really good too, I reckon you need to get a new sound system my friend as it sounds great on my stereo.



Posted by Jamie in North East England @ 10:08 on May 30 2008

COMPLETELY disagree with you, Andy. This album (although it's basically a "best of") is exploring the heights, depths and breadths of God's love and power stretched all across the globe. Joel and the rest of the Hillsong team are trying to start a movement...try reading the prelude to this album...the how, and the why they do what they do, and why they've done what they've done...it's inspiring.
From a completely musical point of view, I don't think that the audio quality is lacking at all. It's a live album, filmed in several locations worldwide, and most likely not over-dubbed to the extent of their in-house live albums...so this is truly what LIVE sounds like. And guess what...they're STILL fantastic musicians.
Maybe you missed the point when you scored this album so poorly? Maybe you initially disliked the "poor audio quality" which then (because it didn't turn into a studio mix on any other tracks) was heavily present throughout the entire album and you couldn't take your focus off this one point? In any case, this is a very poor rating for a very good album.



Posted by Alan Caddick @ 17:38 on May 11 2008

this cd gave all it was supposed to- Raw and vocal worship sessions and not the \"consert\" sound you useally hear from live albums. Absolutly God centred!!!
yea it lacks the studio quality but makes up for in spirtual honesty.



Posted by sam t in notts @ 17:23 on Apr 3 2008

awesome. its about time this music became more widespread.



Posted by Christopher Bacon in Sunderland @ 19:19 on Mar 29 2008

Supurb, Its fuel for this generation. A Must Buy. Full of passion and praise. Its faith being expressed through Music



Posted by Trevor Caddick in Yateley Hampishre @ 13:25 on Mar 18 2008

its raw its loud and you deffenaty hear the crowd. but the heart of this record shows from the first note played




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