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JFH Music Review


Chris Tomlin, Never Lose Sight
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Chris Tomlin
Never Lose Sight



Artist Info: Discography
Genre(s): Worship
Album length: 11 tracks: 48 minutes, 21 seconds
Street Date: October 21, 2016


READER RATING:   


Chris Tomlin is without a doubt one of the biggest names in Christian music today. His involvement with the Passion ministry and his solo work is known throughout the world and the man appears to have a pure heart for worshipping our Creator -- and in helping to lead others into a sense of worship through music. These are Tomlin's greatest qualities. Unfortunately, his ministry of music comes with a litany of same sounding songs from both a musical and lyrical perspective. You truly feel like Tomlin is doing everything for the purest of reasons, but you tend to get bogged down with a pretty boring experience when listening. This dilemma is certainly the biggest drawback to listening to a Tomlin record. So, just how does his newest record, Never Lose Sight, fare up against that history?

Tomlin opens the album with his cover of "Good Good Father" (written by Pat Barrett and Tony Brown). While it's actually a song that is quite good, I'm worried that it will be another song like "Indescribable" (written by Jesse Reeves and Laura Story), which is widely accredited to Tomlin for writing. Tomlin has never once claimed credit for writing these songs, but it's sad to see his fame sometimes overshadow some really great songwriters. Perhaps the Tomlin/Barrett tag team for the Good Good Father children's book will help. Overall, it's a really nice cover, and it's followed by what is likely Tomlin's most unimaginative song to date -- by title at the very least. The song simply goes on to list names and traits for Jesus. It's pretty innocuous, but it's about as exciting as reading the genealogies in Genesis, or the book of Numbers. While the album can only go up from this point, it never really reaches for new heights. This is evidenced even more with "Come Thou Fount (I Will Sing)." The concept of transforming this classic hymn into a modern worship song was already accomplished by Thomas Miller and Gateway Worship back in 2005. It's the concept of recycling old ideas that gets me down about this album. At other times, vague lyrics that don't make a ton of sense are the problem. In "Yes and Amen" Tomlin sings, "Faithful You are. Faithful forever You will be. Faithful You are. All Your promises are yes and amen." I'm still struggling to determine exactly what "All your promises are yes and amen," actually means. It's very likely a reference to 2 Corinthians 1:20, but it's an extremely clunky reference that muddies the meaning of the scripture. These lyrics bring to mind "All My Fountains," from Passion: Here For You -- I still don't know exactly what that song is about, but it's likely another strange reference to scripture. The brightest spots on the album would have to be the Danny Gokey featured "Impossible Things" and "All Yours."

It truly breaks my heart to critique an album like this so harshly. Especially given my stance that Chris Tomlin is doing this with the absolute best and purest of intentions. Unfortunately, the album is just dreadfully boring repeats and, at times, doesn't even really make sense lyrically. As a worship leader, I appreciate what Tomlin does and understand the congregation is going to know and love the Chris Tomlin songs they hear on the radio. With most of his albums, there are a couple of shining stars I can pull out to inject into the worship service at church. Regrettably, there really isn't a song here I would add in my church's rotation -- aside from "Good Good Father" which was being played before Tomlin covered it. I still hold onto to hope to Tomlin will come out of left field one day with a completely unexpected album. It would be great to see him really swing for the fences with something new and out there, but until that time, we have Never Lose Sight. Lovers of all things Chris Tomlin with undoubtedly love the new album, but I would only recommend this one to the hardcore Tomlin followers. If you don't fit that mold, I would recommend Crowder's newest album, American Prodigal, instead.

- Review date: 10/18/16, written by Michael Weaver of Jesusfreakhideout.com



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JFH Staff's Second Opinion




    Chris Tomlin has been a constant hit among CCM fans and worship leaders alike, with each release reliably filling the expectation of a number of fresh songs to sing each Sunday. Tomlin's unwavering devotion to the church is commendable, but it's no secret that his releases have lacked an artistic vision further than congregational accessibility. Never Lose Sight doesn't change this in the slightest, sounding more like a direct redo of past material than an original collection of new songs.

The album opens with last year's single, "Good Good Father." Complemented by an intimate acoustic backdrop and choir vocals, Tomlin's cover, unfortunately, stands as the album's strongest offering. The rest of the album tries to live up to its potential but ultimately misses more than not. "Jesus" is a fine track musically, but lacks any sort of cohesion lyrically, throwing unrelated miracles and names for our Lord into the same pot. "Impossible Things" and "Home" try to capitalize on the folk movement prominent in other recent releases but they both feel more phoned in than inspired. The album's strongest moments are those of pure, direct worship. Songs such as "God of Calvary" and "He Lives" both possess a hymn-like melody and emotional payoff. "Glory Be" is another highlight, featuring an infectious and singable chorus. Strangely enough, the deluxe edition tracks, especially "Kyrie Eleison," are the best tracks here and should have replaced the weaker numbers present.

Tomlin knows how to write a brilliant worship song and that shows up multiple times throughout Never Lose Sight. But as the album's title suggests, there's nothing more that can be taken from this record that can't be taken from prior releases. If you enjoy Chris Tomlin's work, this comes with a recommendation, but you may want to look elsewhere first. - Review date: 10/24/16, written by Lucas Munachen

 

. Record Label: Sixstep Records / Sparrow Records
. Album length: 11 tracks: 48 minutes, 21 seconds / 14 tracks: 61 minutes, 57 seconds (Deluxe)
. Buy It: iTunes (Regular)
. Buy It: iTunes (Deluxe)
. Buy It: Amazon.com (Deluxe CD)
. Buy It: Amazon.com (Regular CD)
. Buy It: Amazon Music (MP3) (Regular MP3)

  1. Good Good Father (4:52)
  2. Jesus (4:05)
  3. Impossible Things (feat. Danney Gokey) (4:27)
  4. Home (3:39)
  5. God of Calvary (4:43)
  6. He Lives (4:04)
  7. Glory Be (4:34)
  8. Come Thou Fount (I Will Sing) (4:59)
  9. Yes and Amen (5:06)
  10. All Yours (3:54)
  11. First Love (feat. Kim Walker-Smith) (3:58)

    Deluxe Edition Bonus Tracks
  12. The God I know (4:46)
  13. God and God Alone (4:59)
  14. Kyrie Eleison (feat. Matt Maher, Matt Redman & Jason Ingram) (3:51)

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