I don’t know about you but I always feel the whole Christian music industry walks a very narrow path.  Perhaps it should, though this hardly bodes well for us followers.  I am bound ask the question: what are we doing wrong?  Shouldn’t Christian music spread the Word?  If so, why does it only seem to speak to the converted?  Who buys this stuff??  This album dates back to 1985 and I’ve only just discovered it, but then, I’ve been away for a while…

In my more recent struggle to find some inspiring music for mass, David Haas has always intrigued.  So I borrowed – yes, borrowed this album.  I have yet to meet anyone who buys ‘Christian’ music collections because they actually enjoy listening to the music, and I would only buy them if I had no other way of learning their tunes for mass.

With this in mind it’s probably better to treat this review as an assessment of the individual songs, not as a collective project.  No ‘Q’ magazine-type star ratings then.  Read my thoughts, then make up your own mind.

The opening ‘Be light for our Eyes’ is a confident start, highly orchestrated and almost a direct challenge to God, but its forthright approach could put off as many as it attracts.  It is a little melodramatic – ‘rock opera’ springs to mind.  However, none of the rest of the songs are like this – a testament to the variety of styles Haas can employ.  ‘Send us your Spirit’ goes almost to the other end of his scale, a gentle psalm of flowing smoothness.  ‘Jesus, Wine of Peace’ is complicated and a tad long though not unpleasant.  ‘Harvest of Justice’ has great mass potential with its easy guitar part providing a gently rolling tune.

The layered harmonies of the response to ‘Remember your Mercies’ dip dangerously close to Disney mawkishness, but the tune holds up under the strain – a good song for a strong female cantor.  It manages to caution God whilst remaining respectful.

To its credit, ‘Song of the Stable’ doesn’t immediately jump up and shout ‘Christmas song!’ and does its thing nicely.  ‘The mountain I see’, with its uneven metre is less amenable.

Haas treats ‘Alleluia Sing’ as a song in 10:8 time.  Call it what you like Dave, but its 5:4 in my book, and the vaguely ‘Take5’ (Brubeck) tune will have even the strictest Christian toe-a-tapping if you can get the beat right.  It would be well worth the effort to learn this one.

The title track promises more than it delivers, a pity because most of it works, but somehow it falls down by overcomplicating itself.  Maybe it will grow on me.  ‘My soul is Still’ is another gentle, likeable psalm,

There’s a dog track on every album, and ‘Nations and Heavens’ is a singularly forget-able ‘rock’ number, despite some vaguely Jimmy Page noodlings within.  It also features some lumpen (non-Haas) lyrics.

Contrast this with the stunning ‘Blest are They’, a wonderful ‘builder’, and the detail of ‘At Evening’ (understandably dedicated to John Foley) which rounds off these 13 songs.  All I can say is I always find it reassuring to know that even the greats can produce the odd duffer, though it wouldn’t have hurt to leave ‘N&H’ off this otherwise worthy collection.  As to their translation to the mass, you would probably require a fairly strong music ministry to reproduce them anywhere near the standard to which they reach on this very professional recording.  Many of the tracks however, do lend themselves to a more simplistic playing style.  One thing I like about Haas is the way he appears to design a song using simple chords, yet manages to provide a final tune of apparent complexity and colourful musicality.  Cottoning on to one of his tunes is a bit like that first sip of a good wine.

While the CD’s sleeve notes are somewhat limited, the accompanying GIA music book is excellent.  The large, clear print format is something which other music publishers would be wise to adopt.