Richard Bruxvoort Colligan’s second project for
Augsburg-Fortress Press, Shout for Joy,
is a second collection of original settings of the Psalms. The titles of the tracks do not identify the specific psalm texts; I have the album via the Amazon.com Cloud player, so I am lacking liner notes, which may give
some helpful details in that regard.
Given the parameters of the project, a psalm collection, this may not be
the best album to judge an artist’s talents with original material. I found the musical style a little too poppy
for repeated listening. That being said,
young children will likely truly enjoy this music. Indeed, children's voices are incorporated in several of the songs. Colligan’s lyrics are quite clear, and will
allow listeners to readily hear the Psalm texts. Colligan’s voice, however, doesn’t seem to have
the heft to pull off meatier music. I
found the upbeat nature of “Return and Restore us” slightly incongruous in
relation to the text of the song. A
couple of songs could find their way into corporate as congregational songs or
responses. I hope lead sheets will be
available for a couple of these. + + +
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