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No longer I (CD)

Beating Time

NO LONGER I (CD)
By Christian City Youth
Christian City Church, Oxford Falls, NSW, Australia
http://www.nolongeri.com

‘Dispose of the difficult part of the Bill in the title’ was Sir Humphrey Appleby’s advice to Jim Hacker MP — and words which came quickly to mind as I listened to this CD. Statistically, the lyrics contain 17% more ‘I/me/my/mine’ words than ‘you/your/ yours’ words, and almost no ‘us/we’ words at all. I’ve counted them!

How sad is that? It’s hardly scientific! I haven’t compared these songs with any others which are generally acknowledged as ‘good’. But in the absence of any real lyrical substance, it was about the best I could come up with. Yes, this is a very lively, young, vibrant, dynamic, technically accomplished album, but its blandness and self-obsession turns my stomach.

So what is this grumpy old man looking for when EN sends him a CD to review?

Now I’ve read Mr. Blanchard’s Pop Goes The Gospel, and Mr. Lucarini’s Why I Left The Contemporary Christian Music Movement — Confessions Of A Former Worship Leader. And while I do think they contain some useful warnings, I just don’t see things in such black and white terms. I found True Worship by Vaughan Roberts much more edifying.

When music claims to be Christian, I expect to find something of the gospel in it. When music claims to be worship, I’m not interested in being a mere observer; I want to be able to join in. I expect to see something of Ephesians 5.19 and Colossians 3.16 at work. I want truth. I want to be taught and admonished from the Bible.

And I’m looking for musical quality: interesting melodies, clever harmonies, creative arrangements, skilful musicianship and good production engineering — not bland, predictable mediocrity. Obviously, this is partly a matter of taste, but I find my taste tends to broaden when the lyrical substance is good.

Lastly, I like to know something about the people I’m listening too. Where are they from? What doctrinal distinctives are they likely to be influenced by? How do they come across as individuals? Are they good role models?

So what of No Longer I? Maybe I could grow to appreciate their music more if their lyrics carried more weight? But they’d also need to tighten up some sloppy theology along the way. Quite frankly, I find the band’s website, their church website, and the C3iGlobal website pretty scary too. So it’s just not going to happen. In a word: me?

PGDH