  Hymns
Made of String is a wonderful CD to put on while the family is relaxing
on Sunday afternoon. It will help bring some peace and tranquility
to a home. If that is what this CD is designed for, it succeeds, and
succeeds quite nicely. Spiritual background music. I found it to be
difficult to focus on it, however, by itself, as a whole.
Each
one of these songs is well performed and extremely well-recorded.
All of the songs, especially “God Be With You ‘Till We
Meet Again”, and “Come Come Ye Saints”, would be
marvelous works of recorded music if I hadn’t just heard ten
other songs just like them. Song to song, the tempos rarely varied,
and the arrangements were similar (one guitar playing broken chords
from the root on up, two guitars harmonizing the song’s melody
line). On their own, any one of these songs would be beautiful,
touching. Taken as a whole, it all blended into sameness.
There
were some moments that almost broke out, however. There were some
strummed parts in “Master The Tempest is Raging”, and
the intros to a couple of songs, like “If You Could Hie To
Kolob” and “Come Come Ye Saints” that caught my ear
for a moment or two, before each one returned to the same broken
chords and the same tempos with the same arrangements.
Chad
picked his material well. All of the Hymns are very familiar, allowing
us to follow they lyrics in our minds as we listen. The two that
I didn’t know, “Mary’s Shoulders”, and “Tree
of Life” were writte Gayle Walker (Chad’s in-law) and
by Chad himself. Their melodies were tasty and pleasant. Three stars…
We have the themes, it just needs more
variation…
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Mark Hansen
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