Newsboys - Adoration: The Worship Album (Sparrow)

Sounds like … inspired by the success of their hit single "It Is You," the modern pop band creates four more songs that sound just like it, and combine it with covers of other worship songs and new live renditions of their worshipful singles.

At a Glance … Newsboys should have taken their time perfecting this album — Adoration doesn't sound bad, but it lacks creativity and inspiration.

It's not as if the Newsboys have been absent in the last year, between the release of an acclaimed new album (Thrive), a hugely successful hit single ("It Is You," which was a number one Christian radio hit for three full months), an inspired concert DVD, a popular concert tour, and a fairly good remix album. Bassist Phil Joel even found the time to release an excellent solo album last fall, Bring It On.

Why then, in the aftermath of this flurry of activity, did the Newsboys and Sparrow Records feel so compelled to rush another album into stores little more than a year after the release of Thrive? On paper, Adoration: The Worship Album seems like a good idea. Inspired by the tremendous success of "It Is You" (which was shockingly overlooked for the 2003 Dove Awards), the band felt it was high time to release their own worship recording. After all, they've been creating excellent songs of worship long before "It Is You" — "Breathe" (not the Marie Bennett ballad), "I Surrender All" (not the classic hymn), "Be Still," "Break," and their arrangement of "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" to name a few.

Like most every Newsboys album to date, Adoration does at least sound good, as co-produced with long-time collaborator Steve Taylor (who also co-wrote many of the new tracks) and recorded in the band's home studio — it's like a more live sounding Thrive. Peter Furler is a confident lead vocalist with great range, Phil Joel is a strong backing vocalist and a solid bassist, Jody Davis creates interesting guitar hooks, Jeff Frankenstein pads it all with beautiful keyboard sounds, and Duncan Phillips continues to shape himself into one of Christian music's finest drummers. The problem with Adoration is the overall album, which might best be viewed as the Newsboys' answer to the success of Third Day's Offerings projects. A combination of originals, covers, and live renditions of old favorites, this new disc feels as if it was scraped together too hastily.

As with Rebecca St. James's Worship God, some of these songs are simple rearrangements of modern worship favorites — familiar songs as performed by the artist. But even Rebecca and her producer knew enough to change their worship covers into unique, albeit predictable arrangements. Here the Newsboys are just predictable. Their rendition of Billy James Foote's intimate ballad "You Are My King (Amazing Love)" sounds exactly like every other version you've ever heard, except with Newsboys instrumentation. The same is true of "In Christ Alone," a modern Irish hymn written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend, stripped here of its Celtic leanings.

Three of the other songs on Adoration are previously released Newsboys favorites, retooled for this album. Note the parenthetical in the title "Praises (Take My Hands)." It indicates that this is a modified version of the song that first appeared on 2000's Shine: The Hits album — the difference is that the verses are now completely different, written by Martin Smith (Delirious) and tobyMac, and intended to be more worshipful with a chorus that now declares "I will sing Your praises" instead of "my praises." While the mix of this upbeat song is more aggressive than its predecessor, it's little more than that. Frankly, the original's Psalm-like lyrics were more interesting and meaningful than these new words of simple surrender. Also featured on Adoration are two live cuts, which feel out of place stuck in the middle of the album — the rock anthem "Lord (I Don't Know)" and, naturally, "It Is You." Both are beefed up with backup gospel singers, yet lack the energy of the originals found on Thrive....

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