  The
Especially for Youth program and its musical companion volumes are
both well-known for their dramatic emotional and spiritual appeal.
In A More Excellent Way, the 2005 EFY compilation, producers and songwriters
Tyler Castleton and Staci Peters do not vary from this successful
formula. In following suit to previous EFY albums, A More Excellent
Way brings us what I would like to refer to as 2005's "Soundtrack
of Spirituality." The 13-song CD is full of saintly rejoicing,
emotional pleadings, tender testifying, and heart-felt declarations
of determination to pursue the path of the Lord.
As
the producers of A More Excellent Way, and having written or arranged
many of the songs that are found on the album, Castleton and Peters
set the overarching tone and provide a sustainable flow to the album,
even though their songs are performed by a variety of different
musical artists. Castleton and Peters are great songwriters and
arrangers that know how to touch the heart of the listener through
their musical progressions, instrumental undertones, and choice
of vocalists.
While
Castleton and Peters are proficient songwriters in their own right,
this compilation is greatly enhanced by offerings from some of the
other big names in LDS music, like Julie de Azevedo, Kenneth Cope,
and Jericho Road. In fact, two of the most lyrically beautiful songs
on the album come from these artists. Julie de Azevedo's "Overcome"
(written by Michael Webb) is a truly inspirational and personal
call to triumph over the natural man in order to fully embrace the
will of the Lord. And "Broken," performed by Kenneth Cope
(co-written with Eliza Cope, and inspired by the words of Elder
Jeffery R. Holland) is an especially well-crafted and thought-provoking
musical work. And Jericho Road provide an slightly more up-tempo
sound that offers a welcome break from the soft and peaceful tone
that encompasses the rest of the album.
The
vast majority of selections on A More Excellent Way are enjoyable
and refreshing, yet there are couple of the songs on the album that,
while beautifully constructed, seem a little too cliché -
spiritual ideas that have been musically and/or lyrically done in
a similar fashion. For example, Cope's "More" follows
a similar general theme as is found in the LDS Hymn "More Holiness
Give Me," and "What Heaven Sees in You" musically
sounds a little too much like something you would find on the Book
of Mormon seminary video soundtrack. But the great thing about music,
and religious music especially, is that what may sound overdone
and cliché to one listener may be edifying and beautiful
to the next.
On
the whole, I think this 2005 EFY compilation achieves what I would
see as the desired goal that it is striving to attain - to be a
spiritual and emotional experience that helps to lift the spirit
and heart of the listener. It shows the profound dramatic impact
that music can have on the soul and helps to strengthen the listener's
testimony and resolve to come to Christ through A More Excellent
Way.
------------------------
Chris
Hartwell
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