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| Saturday, November 25, 2006
Music > Unconditional by Eric Lee Hopeful For MoreWriter : Dawn Fung We always come to a certain point while reviewing CDs produced from Christians for worship or general encouragement : We wished it would be on par with music we hear in the secular scene. We wish for better poetry in the lyrical content and not superficial biblical inspiration. We wish for new and bold sounds that gives us something new to discover. This is not a discrepancy with our faith, but living out the enjoyment of life that God gives us, freely. On the other hand, we still find the journey to document these Christians' works important. Whether or not they lack funding, professional engineering, or cutting edge sounds, their music carries weight in eternity. It will be sung unto God from all the saints. Other things that we take as more worthwhile to listen now may never make it that far. With this in mind, we would like to introduce the latest work from Eric Lee. A local worship leader and song writer, he has already two albums to his name. Unconditional is his third.   Unconditional by Eric Lee  Eric Lee and A2J. Lee is third from the right. Photo taken from ericlee.netEric Lee's latest work, Unconditional includes A2J, a group of vocalists and musicians that follow him on tour. A2J is shortened for Addicted 2 Jesus. The collaboration between Eric Lee and A2J is reminiscent of the good ol' verse in Ecclesiastes where a chord of three strands is not easily broken. From the standpoint of someone who wishes for better support for Christian musicians in the secular scene, I found the decided team spirit behind this group significant. The title of the album is probably more profound for its collaborators than anyone else. For the listeners, it encourages to think about the lovely, the good, the noble, the pure and those things that reflect God's unconditional love which is embodied in Jesus Christ. The crux of our faith is the hope of glory, Christ in us. When Christ is lived out among us, God's unconditional love is fleshed out. We sing it, we meditate on it, we show it. The album opens with a very 80s worship track called "Our God", which should be led in Festival of Praise replete with flag dancing. It also has the energetic welcome akin to those first tracks on churches' earliest worship albums infused with the focus of praise unto God. This is always a welcoming sign that pops in and out of the very mainstream/pop-rock-slight jazz sounds of Unconditional. The third track could be a likely hit. "Inspired By Your Cross" moved me to worship even in the midst of writing this review especially its chorus "Here I stand before your throne/Both my hands are lifted/ unto your Name/Here I stand/with all my heart/I'm reaching for You". Its description is the kind that is eternally etched in our spirits, an old but resplendent motif throughout the ages. I am glad that the latter part of the CD, all Chinese versions of a few earlier tracks, carried this one. The co-leading of Eva Cheong on "Jesus You Are", written and arranged by Lee, was probably the most beautiful tune in this album. Her voice is strong and has the potential to be more intimate. "The River" written and arranged by Paul Khoo highlights the significance of supporting local gospel music - it's good in all ways from lyrics to theology to melody. The track became one of those things that made me stop what I was doing whenever it came on. I look forward to Paul Khoo's emergent presence in the region if he keeps going in this direction. On the downside, I am frankly frustrated to the point of not being about to review what I deem as a strong, uplifting album as simply that. What I found irritable about Unconditional was probably the engineering choices. On most tracks in this production, the lead vocalist's voice is distant and isolated, the backups are weak and the music layering is unchallenging clean. Unless more is done about the dim aspects of such productions, I am afraid that CDs like Unconditional will continue to flourish under the good intentions of the Christian community only. Check out Unconditional at http://www.ericlee.net.
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