Blog

Today I finally got around to putting up my review of 'Unified:Praise', the combined album from Delirious? and Hillsong available on CD and DVD. I confess I was rather skeptical about the idea of Delirious? recording an album with Hillsong. The bands have such different styles that it seemed like a strange combination. Plus, it seemed to me that a combined album would appeal more to Hillsong fans than Delirious? fans, and thus would really just be a marketing tool from Hillsong to sell more copies because it had Delirious? on the cover. Yes I know, skeptical. And as it turns out, unfounded.

The album is effectively in two halves. The first half of the album see's Hillsong and Darlene Zschech performing a number of songs, and the second half see's Delirious? performing their songs. In the middle is a small amount of cross-over, where both 'bands' share the stage together. The main occurrence of this is 'I Could Sing', although to be honest it's more Darlene singing a Delirious? song than the bands combining. It's performed much slower than Delirious? would do the song, and aside from a few shots of Tim at the keyboard, you wouldn't even know d: were involved in the song until the final minute where Martin gives Darlene a break from singing. The rest of Delirious? don't take part in the sing at all.

So it's not until you get into 'Did You Feel The Mountains' that it really becomes a Delirious? concert. It's always easy to pick out the things you don't like, and I apologise for mentioning a couple of negative aspects. But my biggest gripe with the whole project is that for most of the time you just can't hear the crowd. Sure you can hear the large Hillsong Choir in the background, but personally I like to hear the crowd on a live recording, and the cheers and crowd singing are few and far between on 'Unified:Praise'. Anyway, enough of the negative, now on to the positive.

The performance of 'My Glorious' (which unfortunately is only on the DVD, not on the CD) is world-class. Stu absolutely rocks with his guitar. 'Rain Down' is amazing too. The cool multi-camera-angle 'What A Friend' is also a great addition to the DVD.

At first I wondered who would buy this CD or DVD. Obviously dedicated fans of d: and Hillsong will be interested in it. But on reflection, I think 'fringe fans' who want a taste of both Hillsong and Delirious? will also be tempted to buy it. If nothing else, it's a great introduction to both bands for a new fan. Having an album that appeals to two different sets of fans, Hillsong and Delirious?, is clearly a good tactic but only if it's not at the expense of either band not doing what they do best. Thankfully 'Unified:Praise' doesn't fall into that trap. Whilst there is some attempt at the two bands joining forces, most of the time they stick to their own thing, and that's why it works. Each style of music has it's place, and neither band tries to do something that they can't pull-off.