Many people have been talking about The Passion of the Christ for months. We
waited until we actually saw it and had time to organize our thoughts before
we gave our take on it earlier this week. Please read our comments and join
our discussion of the movie on the cMusicBoard. Many bands and artists have
been influenced by this new movie, and apparently Delirious? have been using
clips from the movie at recent concerts while performing "Majesty," a track
from their brand new disc, World Service, reviewed below.

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WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST?
Mel Gibson's movie will soon be the biggest R-rated movie in the history the
USA. But more than the hype and all the money it is making, Mel Gibson's
movie shows, more accurately than ever shown before on the silver screen,
what Christ went through for us. Our staff take a look at the movie and give
their honest reactions to this amazing film.
http://cMusicWeb.com/features/passion

Also, please join us in the discussion of The Passion of the Christ:
http://forum.cmusicweb.com/viewtopic.php?t=40


WORLD SERVICE - DELIRIOUS? (2003/2004)
by Melissa Miles

When you have an album from a band like Delirious?, you have to set the
standard at an incredible height. Cutting Edge, King of Fools and Glo
continue to be the benchmark for many Christian albums years after their
respective releases. Even 2001's experimental Audio Lessonover had fantastic
properties (before it was fed to the US public as the regurgitated Touch).
So how does their latest effort hold up against their previous standards?
Well, that all depends on how you judge your music…

From the first strains of track one, it's obvious that World Service is
*there* musically. All their trademark rock/pop sensibilities have been
honed down to a stunning art, with layers of keys, vocals, bass, guitar, and
drums- everything you might expect, and perhaps a bit more. Jon's bass goes
off on little adventures beyond the known territory of root notes in search
of some stunning riffs, while an extra portion of Martin's worship-heart
pours out through his vocals. "Everyone Knows," "Rain Down" and "Every
Little Thing" are the highest of the high points. Strangely enough, "Majesty
(Here I Am)" (the track that was offered on the Delirious website as a
teaser for World Service) is one of the weakest tracks on the entire album.

Lyrically, World Service is little more than a "ditto" to so many other
praise and worship albums. Take the chorus of "I Was Blind:" "I was blind,
but know I see / I was broken, but you carried me / I was lost, but now I'm
found / I was guilty, but you turned me around." Martin also reverts to
trite uses of water-related symbolism in "Grace Like a River" and "Rain
Down." A notable exception is "Mountains High." The heart-wrenching account
of sorrow and faith is one of the best songs in recent history. All tracks
are still incredibly worshipful, but it's entirely too obvious that almost
every track on this album was crafted for the singular purpose of
easy-to-learn corporate worship songs. This album would have been absolutely
out of the park if we had seen some lyrics that hearken back to the Glo or
King of Fools days, rather than this slightly shallow fare.

So World Service has its good and its bad. All in all, it's a commendable
album . At the very least it is enough to prove soundly that Delirious?
still has the ability to produce good music. That goes a long way.

Read more about Delirious? at cMusicWeb.com:
http://cMusicWeb.com/modernrock/delirious


MORE NEW STUFF ON cMUSICWEB.COM

Feature: 300 Passionate Words
http://cMusicWeb.com/features/passion

Review: The Late Great PFR - PFR
http://cMusicWeb.com/modernrock/pfr/lategreatpfr.shtml

Review: Celebrate Mistakes - Number One Gun
http://cMusicWeb.com/modernrock/numberonegun/celebratemistakes.shtml

Review: The Collection - Jennifer Knapp
http://cMusicWeb.com/modernrock/jenniferknapp/collection.shtml

Review: Sea of Faces - Kutless
http://cMusicWeb.com/hardrock/kutless/seaoffaces.shtml


AVAILABLE TUESDAY, MARCH 16 (at cMusicWeb.com or your local music store)

PURCHASE THIS MUSIC AND MORE AT GRASSROOTSMUSIC.COM:
http://www.grassrootsmusic.com/?associateid=249

CHAIR AND MICROPHONE VOL. 1 - ENTER THE WORSHIP CIRCLE
100 Portraits and Worship Circle founder Ben Pasley delivers, raw, acoustic
worship on this first volume of a new series by the Worship Circle. Instead
of nicely-produced, rehearsed worship recordings, this disc features Pasley
and his guitar in the rawest form, with no second takes. Since it's the only
release this week, it gets the PICK OF THE WEEK too.


Thanks for reading this week's cMusicMail, and we'll be back next week with
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Dan Ficker
http://cMusicWeb.com/
a different approach to music
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