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 Everything expected May 11, 2009
The item came promptly, within 5 or 6 business days. The item was in the condition described by the seller, it plays exceptional. Thus I rate the item as a great item.
The God Who Saves Jan 06, 2009
All of the songs on this album are great, but "The God Who Saves" is probably one of the best written and performed songs ever.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
amazing worship album Oct 19, 2008
Wow - that is all I can say - what an absolutely amazing worship album. I would put this up there as one of my favorite worship albums of all time! There are such different styles on here, ranging from the energetic and uplifting "Oh Lord Your Love" (a song written by Rich Mullins) all the way to the acoustic and soothing "Laden With Guilt".
Every song on this CD is great and extremely well written by talented songwriters. "Before There Was Time" and "God of Wonders" stand out as a few of the best songs on the album, but Derek Webb and Danielle Young sing some gems like "Thy Mercy" and "God That Saves". You won't be disappointed with this especially if you love acoustic and uplifting praise and worship music. Great stuff here from an incredible group!!!!!!!!! Overall ~10/10~
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Commendably God-Centered Worship That Could Use More Musical Diversity Mar 31, 2008
There are many reasons to love In the Company of Angels (2001), Caedmon Call's first worship project. While much worship music today centers on human beings or their responses to God, Caedmon Call offers 12 songs that focus on God and his character. The band includes three modernized hymns or poems newly set to music. It pays tribute to master contemporary Christian songwriters Rich Mullins and Kemper Crabb. There are two live tracks. With all of these strong points, the band created an excellent album lyrically. Yet In the Company of Angels regrettably just misses excellence as a whole because most songs too much sound the same.
The album opens with Joshua Moore's "We Delight," a song that from its title seems like it will be man-centered. Fortunately, that is not the case. It looks back to God's actions in history as recorded both in the New Testament and the Old Testament. It speaks of delighting in God's law. And it serves as a very good opening to this worship collection. Four tracks later, Moore's "Who You Are" (the album's second single) also impresses with its focus on what God has done for the worshipper. Moore, a teenage musical prodigy, had joined the band with the previous studio album, Long Line of Leavers. These two songs are the first he contributed to the band (or that ended up on an album, at any rate), and while they are less complex than most of his later work, they still proclaim that Moore is a songwriter, and not just a musician, to watch.
Friend-of-the-band Aaron Sensman, in his first published offerings, co-wrote two songs with band leader Cliff Young, and authored one song himself. "Before There Was Time," the album's first single, demonstrates a Calvinistic view of God's work with humanity. (That is no surprise; Caedmon's Call's theology always has been heavily Reformed.) But while it has a wonderfully memorable chorus, the well-written verses unfortunately do not have the same effect. "Carry Your Love," at the album's midpoint, strives valiantly to be the album's chief anthem. It commendably focuses on God calling his people to take his love into the world. Musically, however, it lacks the hooks necessary to make it truly singable, and the gospel choir that comes in near the end should have been introduced much earlier. Better than either song is the only one that Sensman wrote solo, "God Who Saves." The song is helped by having the wonderful Danielle Young, Caedmon's Call's best singer, on vocals.
The three modernized Puritan hymns, which might instead be Christian verse never before put to music (I do not know), are noteworthy for several reasons. Two are from well-known hymnist Isaac Watts, and the third one comes from the pen of John Stocker. Both writers were Puritans (again, not surprisingly for this band) and write deeply of God's mercy (Stocker's "Thy Mercy"), Christians' humility and dependence upon God (Watts' "I Boast No More"), and Scripture (Watts' "Laden with Guilt"). Sandra McCracken, band member Derek Webb's wife, wrote the music for all three of them. Derek sings the first two, while Danielle sings the third. Derek's contributions are particularly memorable, as he seems to sing both from the bottom of his heart. Danielle's delivery on "Laden with Guilt" is more reserved, and that song is both more low-key and more complex musically than the other two.
Finally, we have four cover songs. "God of Wonders" from the City on the Hill project needs no introduction, and the band delivers a suitably energetic live version. There are more mixed results for the one Rich Mullins and two Kemper Crabb songs. Of these three, Crabb's "Warrior," fares the best, thanks again to the band's concert energy. Crabb's "The Danse" somehow fails to captivate despite the presence of medieval-sounding penny whistles and what should have been a rousing chorus. But most disappointing is contemporary Christian music poet laureate Mullins' "Oh Lord, Your Love," which appears to be an early song of his. It represents a much simpler, more evangelical Mullins than the one evidenced during his solo career, but the song would still work if it had a decent musical accompaniment. It's uncertain whether Mullins or Cliff Young, who either revised some of Mullins' music or added to it, is at fault in this case. The catchy big vocals on the chorus do much to help, but ultimately cannot cover up this shortcoming.
And the problems with the Mullins tune is the same problem that dominates throughout the album. The lyrics are almost uniformly excellent; the shortcomings almost entirely come from the lack of musical diversity and, often, lack of musical hooks. The album, for the most part, sounds like what you would have expected a Caedmon's Call worship album to sound like if made on autopilot. Only Moore, with his love for strings (which becomes even more obvious on later albums), gives his songs the accompaniment for which they cry out, which leads to eclectic but interesting results. That's not to say that every song should have had strings, but that the standard Caedmon's Call instrumentation is insufficient for most of the other studio tracks, and too many of them sound very similar to one another.
Generally speaking, the choruses of the songs fair far better than the verses. You may find yourself, as I have, remembering a song's chorus but not picking up on the verses, even after many listens. Caedmon's Call has given us the frustrating situation of an album with outstanding lyrics that are not allowed to run free with soaring music. The often low-key vocals may also have contributed to this result.
Despite these major flaws, the excellence of most of the lyrics makes this worship album a very good one, and a far cut above regular contemporary Christian music worship albums. It is still so very good that the disappointment for this reviewer comes in not being able to give it five stars. This is a worship album that should be on most CCM lovers' shelves. In fact, it's pretty amazing that band members were able to do this well while recording their parts several states away from each other, with low participation from the soon-to-depart Webb, the absence of primary songwriter Aaron Tate, and first-time album contributions from several new songwriters. Four-and-a-half stars.
I love this CD Oct 27, 2007
This was my first Caedmon's call CD and is still one of my favorites. I've purchased almost all of their other CDs and this one still stands out as one of the best. If you like this CD you might also like Share the Well it's more "international" in flavor but also very good.
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