Music Review: Selah & "Amazing Grace"
Now honestly, how many renditions of “Amazing Grace” does someone need? I’ve just brought my total to three by adding Selah’s from their Press On album, yet I still haven’t acquired a bagpipe instrumental, which I desperately want to do some day. In the meantime I’m going to thoroughly enjoy this track. It pays to meander around iTunes because this trio – Todd Smith, Nicol Sponberg, & Allan Hall – have some fabulous voices. In fact, Nicol’s easily matches Shirley Bassey’s for power and range.
It’s not hard to make that connection with Allan’s Blues-inspired keyboards and the Jazz club feel of the arrangement. Either someone put a lot of thought into this track or they were inspired. Most renditions of this song are rather dry and I used to agree with the late Peter Jennings that it is best heard on a solo bagpipe. Selah might change my mind. It is even better than Jeff Beck’s instrumental from Merry Axemas: A Guitar Christmas, one of the few four-star tracks in my library (five being more of a rarity).
Already on deck for purchase around Christmas are a few tracks from Selah’s holiday collection, Rose of Bethlem and I’m listening to some samples from their Website. Despite a few tracks that are of the breathy-awestruck variety that I usually avoid, this is a group I can highly recommend. Not sure about my recommendation? Check what Christianity Today has to say.
