In a tweet
10’000 reasons is an explosion of worship in an anthem of sound
In a status update
Matt Redman has created an incredibly fresh, energetic, heartfelt live worship album which comes from a heart that’s humble, focused, grounded and true. This album will remind you of the 10’000 reasons we have to worship our God with a bold banner above them all “YOU ARE FAITHFUL, GOD YOU ARE FAITHFUL”.
In a blog
If you’re looking to get the hoovering done in a rush, stick on the opening track of Matt Redman’s new album 10’000 reasons and it’s sure to speed you up. Matt has done a great job at ignoring the rule that worship albums should have themes and styles and he’s simply fired together 11 songs which engage us in worship if we choose to be impacted.
Much like a live set, (which of course this is) Matt takes us on a journey, both theologically and musically. We’re moved from celebration, to contemplation then into confession, we’re moved from the cross to the resurrection and from God’s faithfulness to the joy of being in His family. Isn’t that great, so often we focus on one part of God as being so critical when in reality it’s an awesome awesome awesome God whom we worship, shouldn’t that just cause us to explode with worship, and that’s what’s going on here. It’s like Mark’s gospel, ‘then Jesus did this, then he did this, then this, and this. So to I feel when listening to this record you’ll be confronted with; ‘God is great because He’s close, and also because He’s faithful, and also because He loves us, and also, He’s just great!
Musically there’s touches of Adele in ‘Bless the lord’, and you could almost liken ‘Never once’ and ‘Where would we be’ to Snow Patrol. Yet there are elements of techno in there with clever loops and vocal chanting going on especially in the opening track ‘We are the free’, all-in-all it’s pretty much modern rock. Now I apologies for giving this such a positive review but it’s just tremendous to see some strong anthems coming into our worship song world. So often we sing quite ballads but it’s great to sing songs that could fill a football stadium, songs like ‘Here for you’ and the single ‘Never once’ you could belt out more passionately than a die-heart GAA fan at the hurling final!
Before we start thinking that maybe this album is a little too bouncy and “loud” we must remember that these songs have come from a humble heart a heart which has given the church great soft reflection worship songs like ‘I will offer up my life’ and ‘Heart of worship’. We can trust Matt’s leading, and as far as I can listen we can trust these song to be filled with truth and yet easy to identify with. “Good job Redman, thanks!”
check this vid with matt chatting about the album, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOf-M6D_bDA&feature=related
this review is for VOX magazine, http://www.vox.ie
Standing on Grace
andy lamberton 
Posted by farmerdeborah on August 23, 2011 at 11:42 pm
Thanks for this…can’t wait to hear the new album…you’d have thought I’d already listened to it considering I work in FM Bmena, but havent got round to it!!