Get Your Music on Amazon!
Get Your Music - and everything else - on Amazon! All purchases made on Amazon through this link earn a commission for Jesusfreakhideout.com!

JFH Music Review


Kari Jobe, Majestic
CLICK COVER TO ENLARGE

Kari Jobe
Majestic



Artist Info: Discography
Genre(s): Worship / Live
Album length: 13 tracks: 83 minutes, 27 seconds
Street Date: March 25, 2014


Live albums are tricky. Sound engineering and mixing are much more complicated than in the studio, and the goal is often different, aimed at recreating the feel of a band in concert as opposed to introducing new music. Kari Jobe's Majestic therefore becomes extra-tricky, since it's a live album meant to recreate not so much a concert as a worship experience, and it's introducing all-new music at the same time.

Through 15 years of leading worship, Jobe has grown into a household name. Her 2012 release Where I Find You was nominated for a Grammy and produced a staple set of much-loved worship songs. On Majestic, Jobe ventures in several new directions. Jobe wrote nearly 50 songs in the development of the project, and included co-writes with a stellar list of worship leaders (Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, Brian & Jenn Johnson, Paul Baloche, and Reuben Morgan, just to name a few). Also, Jobe presents this new music recorded live at the historic Majestic Theater in her hometown of Dallas. And that's where things get tricky.

Several of the potential pitfalls have been overcome. For starters, the sound is excellent, allowing Jobe's warm, passionate vocal to lead over just enough crowd noise to establish atmosphere and energy. The accompanying DVD is also well-done. As expected, there aren't a lot of typical concert gimmicks in the staging, but the video maintains a keen sense of the worship experience. A wide-angle camera stuck in the very back row was actually a highlight, effectively blending audience and band in a way that's often missing in concert footage.

Where Majestic falters a bit is in the simultaneous attempt to present new music while capturing a live worship experience. The biggest stumbling block is repetition. For years, that's been a common criticism of worship music, and it's one of the lines of demarcation between modern worship and classic hymns. The repetition makes more sense on a live album, and it is therefore sometimes suitable as a "resource" for a listener trying to recapture a shared experience, or hoping to participate vicariously.

However, there are times when repeated choruses, particularly in new songs, are a huge distraction. Consider the opener on Majestic, "Hands to the Heavens." Lyrically, it's an excellent song of invitation and expectation. The problem is that on the recording, it stretches to over 8 minutes. Worship leaders desiring to replicate the album version would have to use this arrangement: V1 C V2 C C B B B C C B B B B B B B B B B. Yes, the bridge is repeated a total of 13 times. It is unlikely that this repetition was pre-planned; Jobe likely comprehended the room and the Spirit and allowed certain elements that were connecting with the crowd to breathe. On repeated listenings of an album or viewings of a DVD, however, those elements tend to languish rather than breathe.

The album reflects a consistent desire for more of the presence of God, a desire that pervades the concert. "When You Walk in the Room" is another meditative song containing only these repeated words for over 3 minutes: "When You walk in the room there's nothing like it." It works better on the DVD, tucked between "How Majestic" and "Here I Am (Majesty)".

Ardent Kari Jobe supporters - and there are many - will likely not be bothered by this issue of repetition. There are several excellent songs here. The quasi-title track, "How Majestic," was co-written with Tomlin, Redman, and Jason Ingram. It paints a striking contrast between beauty and majesty in creation and on the cross. Another standout, lead single "Forever," arrives just in time for Easter. The song soars from Good Friday ("The moon and stars they wept / The morning sun was dead / The Savior of the world was fallen") to Resurrection Sunday ("Now death, where is your sting? / Our resurrected King / Has rendered you defeated"), and it highlights one of Jobe's most important vocal gifts: her ability to communicate both intimacy and quiet on ballads and power and strength on anthems.

It's interesting to imagine how this album might have sounded as a studio release. The songs are strong enough that they don't rely on a live setting with a fervent audience to communicate praise. Ironically, they might have spoken louder without the audience.

- Review date: 3/20/14, written by Mark D. Geil of Jesusfreakhideout.com



(JFH Sponsor Spot)

Check out JFH's Lloyd in his first-ever childrens book!

 

. Record Label: Sparrow Records
. Album length: 13 tracks: 83 minutes, 27 seconds
. Street Date: March 25, 2014
. Buy It: iTunes (Deluxe Edition)
. Buy It: iTunes
. Buy It: Amazon Music (MP3)
. Buy It: Amazon.com (Deluxe CD + DVD)
. Buy It: Amazon.com (CD)

  1. Hands To the Heavens (Live) (8:16)
  2. Breathe On Us (Live) (4:10)
  3. Only Your Love (Live) (4:41)
  4. Keeper of My Heart (Live) (4:34)
  5. Always Enough (Live) (7:36)
  6. Forever (Live) (6:49)
  7. How Majestic (Live) (5:24)
  8. When You Walk In the Room (Live) (3:10)
  9. I Am Not Alone (Live) (5:33)
  10. Holy Spirit (feat. Cody Carnes) [Live] (9:54)
  11. Lord Over All (Live) (6:21)
  12. Look Upon the Lord (Live) (8:11)
  13. Let the Heavens Open (Live) (8:47)
spacer     Click For Song Lyrics
    Click For Song Lyrics
    Click For Song Lyrics
    Click For Song Lyrics
    Click For Song Lyrics
    Click For Song Lyrics
    Click For Song Lyrics
    Click For Song Lyrics
    Click For Song Lyrics
    Click For Song Lyrics
    Click For Song Lyrics
    Click For Song Lyrics
    Click For Song Lyrics

 

Leave a Comment

 

 

go to main Album review page
go to Album review archive

 

 

                 
Check out JFH's Lloyd in his first-ever childrens book!

Search JFH



This Friday, July 25, 2025
ALBUMS
Anchor & Braille New Mexico [Equal Vision]
B. Tee Told You [Syntax]
Bride Scarecrow Messiah CD Re-Release [Girder]
Homesick Prodigals Different Good (independent)
KDNS After Eden [Syntax]
Olivia Lane Songs About Jesus (Deluxe Edition) [BEC]
Tasha Cobbs Leonard TASHA [Motown Gospel]
Kevi Morse Kingston We Winning [Syntax]
Pulpit Vomit Hospital Lens [Rottweiler]
Anthony & Tiffany Salerno Dance for Jesus - EP (independent)
Taylor & Co Worship Breakthrough - EP (independent)
Josh Wright LEAD (independent)

SINGLES
abenezer i was lost - Single [Gotee]
Sho Baraka Still Got Faith (ft. L3xdivine) - Single [Syntax]
Gracie Binion Easy To Please - Single [BEC]
Katty Camargo Shine Upon Me - Single (independent)
The CCC Collective Thankful - Single (independent)
C4 Crotona Mr. Gritty - Single [Syntax]
EJ Swavv & Nickwit2Ks Growth - Single [Syntax]
Forrest Frank GOD'S GOT MY BACK - Single [River House / 10K]
Andrew Gonoude Closer To You - Single (independent)
Noah Paul Harrison Oh Lord My God (Live) - Single [Bethel]
J.Solo All I Have (ft. Kaboose & MotionPlus) - Single [Syntax]
Kings Kaleidoscope + Kings Kaleidoscope Hymns Amazing Grace - Single [BEC]
Tasha Layton Life In Me - Single [BEC]
Lecrae Bless You (feat. Torey D'Shaun) - Single [Reach]
TobyMac God Did It (feat. Jamie MacDonald) - Single [Capitol CMG]
Hunter Plake Down to Earth - Single [BEC]
QEW JOYXFIX (ft. Stevie Rizo) - Single [Syntax]
Naomi Raine God Will Work It Out - Single [Tribl]
Saints in Exile Bad Vibes - Single [Syntax]
Xander Sallows infinite - Single [DREAM]
Silent Reflection Left Me for Dead - Single [Syntax]
John Stratton The Body and the Blood - Single [Pure Mosaic Services]
Regina Vandereijk You're the Light - Single (independent)
Joel Vaughn Feel It - Single [DREAM]
Zach Williams Killed A Man - Single [Provident]
Zauntee Jesus Down In Florida - Single [BEC]

VINYL
Bride Scarecrow Messiah Vinyl [Girder]

DVD
Jordan Smith The People's Hymnal DVD [Gaither]

This Saturday, July 26, 2025
SINGLES
Anthony & Tiffany Salerno What Would You Do? - Single (independent)

Next Friday, August 1, 2025
ALBUMS
Crash Rickshaw Big Sir - EP [Velvet Blue]
McKamey Legacy Holding to Truth [Horizon]
Ordained Thunder Roar [Girder]
V1 Worship Archives [DREAM Worship]

SINGLES
Dan Bremnes Human - Single [Curb]
Lauren Daigle Let It Be A Hallelujah - Single [Centricity]
Sleeping At Last Believe - Single (independent)

VINYL
Disciple Attack! (Limited Run Vinyl) Vinyl [Girder]



For all release dates, click here!
 

Join honey and save on online purchases!
Get all of JFH's indie compilation now totally free!
Check out depositphotos for royalty free images