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After the Passion projects Better is One Day, The Road to One Day, and One Day Live, audiences will certainly be anxious to hear Porch and Altar. While this recording is not a continuous worship project, it's a group of individual recordings that are unfolding a clearly defining, yet still-in-progress style for Charlie Hall. Don't expect "Better is One Day," "The Freedom Song," or the same guitar textures as on "Salvation" and "Holy Visitation"; this project is a meshing of different styles. Porch and Altar, as a whole, is a nice blend of Kevin Prosch, Danny Chambers, Darrell Evans, Noel Richards, Matt Redman, and of course, the Passion Worship Band, including Chris Tomlin.

Hall re-works his two Road to One Day tunes, "Salvation" and "Holy Visitation" with a solid guitar-based background and renders just slightly improved arrangements than the originals. "Holy Visitation" works well, but "Salvation" includes one element that occurs throughout this project that may be annoying to the listener. The synthesizer bed for this tune, as well as the standout song, "Immersed," sounds more like the synthesizer from the Who's "Baba O'Reilly" (from the 1971 classic Who's Next). I'd rather have heard piano or organ in its place.

Not unlike some of the arrangements from Kevin Prosch's Reckless Mercy, the sturdy guitar bed for "Holy Visitation," "Salvation," or "King of Glory" sound like they're on the verge of being -- well, reckless. I prefer the tight production of the wall of guitars from Passion's The Road to One Day. These minor flaws aside, the rest of the disc ranges from beautiful to rockin', and overall, this collection is very solid.

There are songs that are possibly influenced by Matt Redman's sound, such as the standout "God of Hope," an absolutely beautiful tune that's perhaps reminiscent of "The Heart of Worship." Hall's voice is flanked by guitar and a light yet very lovely and complex string accompaniment.

Hall's laid-back tunes are intriguing short worship items. "Make Straight," based on the words of Isaiah and Malachi proclaimed by John the Baptist, sounds quite introspective, accompanied by echoing guitars and keyboards which sneak in when they're needed. Nice mix! Piano is included in almost all of the tunes, slow or fast, in Porch and Altar, and it's quite prevalent in the more quiet worship songs (hence, where I've derived a comparison to Chambers). "The Cross" and "Savior of The World," along with the aforementioned songs, are excellent praise and worship offerings.

"Immersed" is the true standout upbeat light rocker from this project. The piano and synthesizer merge nicely into a building guitar bed, and Hall's voice, sounding a tad bit like Geoff Moore's vocal style, moves very smoothly to a very unique chorus: "let your solemn providential hand keep me." Fascinating!

Hall has recorded a very fine project, well worth checking out. For your continuous praise and worship needs, please pick up a Passion project, and if you enjoy music from the aforementioned individual artists, well, there's another name to add to this list: Charlie Hall.

Olin Jenkins       June 20, 2001
 
 

The second release from the Passion worship movement's flagship label sixstepsrecords is Porch and Altar by Charlie Hall. Hall delivers a large sound with a classic rock feel wrapped around passionate, intimate worship lyrics. While the disc begins with an odd opening song, the sleepy "Make Straight," it goes in a different direction on the other tracks. "King of Glory" rocks, and "Once For All" is a horn-accented jam which starkly contrasts with the opening track. All of the songs are decent in their own right, but the order of the tracks seems strange with a stop-and-go feel that doesn't flow smoothly. "Make Straight" might have worked better at the end of the album rather than the beginning.

Porch and Altar has a unique sound, fusing old and new styles, rock and acoustic guitars, vintage and futuristic keyboards, and raw, live textures with tight, clean production by Trent Austin. There are some wonderful horn parts and string sections, and while some of the lyrics are repetitive, they are easy to learn. The album is sonically pleasing and lyrically relevant. "Salvation" is a highlight with its heavy, arena-filling guitars juxtaposed with synth arpeggios and power drums. It also features a searing guitar solo that is not usually prevalent on a worship album. "Holy Visitation" was also heavy on the guitars in a very effective way.

Even though his style is unique in the worship space, Hall leans toward elements of Petra or Third Day on some tracks and maybe a little Phil Keaggy on others. The sound is totally contemporary yet firmly rooted in the Vineyard-style acoustic worship that the Passion movement embraces.

Zik Jackson  8/10/2001
www.ZikJackson.com 
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