O How The Mighty Have Fallen
CCM Magazine August 2005 Album Review
GRADE: A
A Disc You’ll Fall For
It’s been 20 years since a band called Youth Choir – later known simply as The Choir – first landed on Southern California’s Christian music scene. And without them, it’s possible there would be no Switchfoot, no O.C. Supertones – and beyond SoCal, no sense of how to do Christian rock right. For if Steve Hindalong, Derry Daugherty and Co. have taught us anything, it’s that Christian musicians need not ape mainstream trends, but can be passionate innovators.
What was true in the 1980s is still true today, as O How The Mighty Have Fallen, the first new Choir disc in five years, fiercely demonstrates. Put this record on any radio station playlist, and it wouldn’t be out of place next to the latest U2, Coldplay or Wallflowers – though it displays a sound all its own. From the nitro-burning “Nobody Gets a Smooth Ride” to the lovely, melodic chorus that anchors “She’s Alright,” Fallen is a record built on simple but effective pop strengths, including Daugherty’s whispery-yet-focused tenor. Choir mainstays Dan Michaels (sax, lyricon) and Tim Chandler (bass) are also solid, joined by Common Children guitarist Marc Byrd (who produces).
So many Christian albums fail to embrace struggles that mark authentic faith, and on this score, Fallen also succeeds. “Mercy Will Prevail,” with Hindalong’s pulsating toms (think U2’s “whit Or Without You”) and starry-skyguitar, delivers this cold-sweat meditation: “Love never fails/Mercy will prevail/I wanna swear it’s true, but it’s hard to defend it.”
On its own merits, The Choir’s latest is a joy, solid in its musical, lyrical and thematic execution – the album dawns with a plaintive whistle and electric guitar and exits in the chill of a suspended drone. And as part of this distinguished group’s discography, “Fallen” offers persuasive proof that not all musical reunions need be cynical or self-indulgent. Oh, how the Choir has risen- and then some.
LOUIS R. CARLOZO/CCM Magazine