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Throne Room, CeCe
Winans CeCe Winans never disappoints. After starting her own record label, Wellspring Gospel, she’s now uniting with a stronger label (Epic Records’ subsidiary, INO Records, a division of Sony Music) to release her best worship project to date, Throne Room, this week (September 9). The album begins with sweeping orchestration, a reprise for a song appearing later, called “Hallelujah to the King.” The music quickly quiets the spirit and prepares your heart for a time of worship. The intro flows into a gorgeous, delicate love song, “Jesus You’re Beautiful”: “Jesus, how can I tell you how beautiful you are to me / Jesus, song that the angels sing / Jesus, dearer to my heart than anything.” (It’s too sweet to listen just once, so go ahead and hit repeat on this one.) The album breaks into two categories—“Songs of Worship and Reflection” and “Songs of Praise and Adoration.” Winans wrote or co-wrote the majority of the CD, but peppers the album with a standard here or there. You’ll find the classic “How Great Thou Art” next to a chorus simply worshipping with “Holy, holy, holy / Lord God Almighty.” The strongest track, however, is a song written (and previously recorded) by Greg Long, “Mercy Said No.” Dedicated to her brother Ronald, whom the family nearly lost on the operating table a few years ago due to heart failure, the song’s lyrics are especially poignant, as is her delivery: “Life and death stood face to face / Darkness tried to steal my heart away / (Thank You Jesus) Mercy said no.” It hits home with anyone who knows the power of mercy over a life of sin. The title track, “Throne Room,” was co-written with her longtime friend and gospel legend Andraé Crouch. It’s a simple, worshipful song, but don’t expect it do go down as a Crouch classic. The only weakness with this album is that the upbeat songs seem to kill the prayerful, worshipful mood. For instance, although “Hallelujah Praise” will get your feet tapping and hands clapping in a faster worship mode, the song that follows, “Just Like You Jesus,” comes off as annoyingly weak and disposable: “I wanna walk like You; I wanna talk like You / I wanna live like You, just like You Jesus” on and on and on with similar words. It just sounds bubble-gummy. I was going to suggest this CD to our church’s ladies prayer group, which often prays to slow, powerful worship songs, but the brief interruptions found on this CD make it non-ideal for that worship setting. However, it’s perfectly suited for personal praise time in your car. If you don’t like a song here or there, just touch a button and you’re back to a favorite.
ninetyandnine.com © 2003, Cara Baker --------- Cara Baker is the associate editor of ninetyandnine.com. She’s currently digging through CDs to find a perfect wedding song for her upcoming nuptials. |
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