Search - 4him :: Face the Nation

A Very Good Album

Jonathan M. Davis | Scottsdale, AZ USA | 08/12/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I remember the first time I bought one of those amazing "CD players". They'd been around for a few years, but being just a teenager with no job I had to wait a while to be able to afford one.



When I finally bought a CD playing boom box, I bought three CDs to go with it. 4Him's Face the Nation was one of them. I fell in love with high-quality CD audio for the first time with this CD (and two others). Oh how fascinated I was by putting on my headphones and flipping around to different tracks and listening to the most subtle nuances than could never come through before with a cassette player.



With the CD player, I became an audiophile overnight. But it's funny how first impressions of a whole new thing can be tinted with the lenses of context. My musical world revolved around this album for weeks, until I could afford more CDs, and I never complained or got too sick of it.



I'm feeling a little nostalgic right about now, because I found this CD in a stack of old classics that I needed to rip to WMA for restored enjoyment. Even as I write this, I'm listening to the WMA-ripped tracks, completing one of my personal favorites, "Puzzles". I haven't heard this album in years, and it still sounds as good (if 90's-ish) as it ever did.



As an album, this is one of 4Him's better ones. "He Never Changes" is a pleasant song about how God's immutability. Its nuances are memorable, having some synth pads and nylon string guitar expressions and gentle vocals, yet keeping an upbeat if gentle speed as a first track. "Puzzles" is a declarative prayer that people acknowledge their need for God. It has stronger synth and background distortion guitars, but is a very good song, one of my favorites. "Why?" is a thoughtful slow song about how the mysteries of life's frustrations will not quench the faith of a committed believer. "When the Walls Come Down" starts out with somewhat of a synth cliche, and its chorus is repetitive. ("Where ya gonna be when the walls come down? Tell me, where ya gonna be?" Repeat over and over again.) It is a track worth forgetting. The following track, "Chisel Meets the Stone", is the second best track on the album, both musically and lyrically. It's another prayer of personal devotion to God, and in retrospect I think it kept me going in my final years of high school in the right direction. Musically, it is a simple song, not one to appeal to most youth (nor "youth" of the 90s), but it appealed to me, with its "chime" and "flute" synth background, its double-snare beat, its ukelele during the bridge, and its vocal harmonies. "Face the Nation", the title track, is somewhat of a chore to listen to, and its lyrics seem to have an almost political feel. The synth work seemed a little sloppy, and I think I can hear a mistake in the lead synth line. "Over the Horizon", a celebration of anticipated Heaven, is musically an obvious tribute to lounge jazz, having only three instruments backing up the vocalists: an upright bass, a piano, and a soft-playing trap drum set. The chorus sung by the vocalists is fun and beautifully sung, making this song a true rare classic. "A Man You Would Write About", a song describing how God's favor and significance as one who serves Him is an ideal to strive for, is the best song on the album and one of the best songs ever written and played on the radio in that year. I even bought the accompaniment track and sang it at church. "When I Get Home" is apparently a response to the tragedy of a lost loved one, describing anticipation for seeing the loved one again upon arriving in Heaven. In my opinion, it's musically too simple to be notable. "Every Reason to Believe" is difficult to listen to; its boring electronic snare drum is way too loud, robbing from the melody and nuances of the simple musical production. I'm sure it could have been a great song, "Sing praise to the God of creation...", but I usually skip it. "Take Me to the Place" is a call for first love of God, and its musical direction is appropriate and gentle, but the bridge comes off at first like a secular love song, "I gotta have you close to me." Once understood, though, it proves itself to be a good song about one's relationship with God.



I hear the first few seconds of the first track and I almost get goosebumps as it reminds me yet again of that first day when I pulled out that CD from the jewel case and put it into my new CD player and closed my eyes and breathed it in.



This is a very good CD if you like 4Him's style, and I'd recommend it."