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  Veteran
inspirational singer/songwriter
Hilary Weeks satisfies with her 2004 offering "Day of Praise."
As usual, she has a great balance of softly uplifting ballads and
gently uptempo pieces.
There is a lot of collaboration on this album. Weeks worked with
Tyler Castleton and Doug Pincock, and covers a song written by Marie
Reynolds, Tony Wood and Lowell Alexander.
The entire album is great, but a few songs touched me especially.
The first one was track number two, "He Is," which used
a lot of vivid imagery to describe all the wonderful things Christ
is.
The second song to touch my heart was the one penned by Reynolds,
Wood and Alexander, "Unwritten." Reynolds evidently died
from a battle with cancer shortly after she wrote this song. That's
reason enough to get teary-eyed. But when the song recites all the
blessings she's thankful for, the things she's most thankful for
are "the stories that remain/Unwritten."
I had a mixed reaction to the song "Stronger." I love
the lyrics to this song, as it speaks about how trials make one
grow stronger. But I'm not necessarily crazy about the musical arrangement,
which was penned by John Hancock. I tend to like Tyler Castleton's
arrangements better. It'll be interesting to see if anybody covers
this song and tweaks it a bit.
I loved "Come In." How well she captures the hope that
we all share that Jesus will know us so well that he'll open his
door wide for us and tell us to "come right in."
I also loved "All the Good." Being bipolar, I can relate
to the lyrics where she talks about how we rehash the day and forget
all about the good things that happened. A wonderful reminder to
remember "all the good."
"Closer" is a nice appeal to the Savior to remain "closer."
"I Want to be closer to you/I need your love/I won't take even
one more step/Unless it brings me/Closer."
Hilary Weeks' work is always good. You can count on her to perform
an inspirational set. I didn't think it was possible, but she keeps
getting better and better. Her maturity as a mother and wife is
showing and just like any woman, she's better with age.
I rate this an even 5 stars. A great album worthy of any serious
Mormon's musical library.
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Dacia
A. Blodgett-Williams
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