Description
Brave Heart is the third album by American singer and songwriter Kim Hill, released on Reunion Records in 1991, manufactured and distributed by Word. The album was produced by Brown Bannister and Wayne Kirkpatrick. Features “Don’t Face The World Alone” written by Karen Peris of The Innocence Mission.
When an artist comes out of the chute with as big of a bang as Kim Hill did, the second album is always awaited with some apprehension. How can you beat two #1 singles? ‘Talk About Life‘ broke the sophomore curse and produced three chart-toppers, solidifying Hill’s place as a Christian radio favorite.
Will the third time be a charm? That depends on what you consider to be charming. ‘Brave Heart’ bears nary a trace of the sweet folk singer you met on «Psalm 1». Sure, the voice is still “silky, husky, liquid…” and all the adjectives used to describe Kim’s distinctive alto. But producers Wayne Kirkpatrick and Brown Bannister have kicked out the slats on this one, resulting in a project of remarkable maturity and depth, both musically and lyrically.
Inspirational radio programmers won’t find this particularly charming – it’s rougher and it rocks too much. (Fear not; «I Will Wait» is an easy-to-strum scripture tune you can sing in church.) ‘Brave Heart’ opens, well… bravely with «Words», a rapid-fire Beatles-influenced mover that stops in the middle for a little Sgt. Pepper lift (Play Michael W. Smith’s «For You» and see if it sounds familiar!). «Up in the Sky» is a comforting rock lullaby that sounds like it was written by former Beatle George Harrison.
But I suppose you have to be a real Beatles fan (or maybe just old!) to recognize those influences. This is one of those refreshingly original projects that is hard to compare to anything else, Christian or mainstream. And Hill’s contribution to this album is more significant than ever before, with co-writing credit on five of the tunes.
Happily, there’s a growing trend in Christian music to accept the ambiguities and unknowns of this faith we claim. ‘Brave Heart’ expresses this well, as evidenced in the hypnotic «Mysterious Ways», “Black and white could surely clear these clouded visions/ But I live in a world of greys/ So God works in mysterious ways.”
That theme continues with the tear-it-up rocker «Round and Round». You ain’t nevah heard Kim Hill sing like this, backed by Phil Madeira‘s screaming B-3, Jerry McPherson and Gordon Kennedy’s electric guitar wars, and Chris McHugh’s bust-the-sticks drum work. The emotion in this one illuminates the confession that pat answers are usually tidier than real involvement. “Had an answer for everything I was asked/ It was always black and white/ It was one, two, three, so easy/ It was in my head then/ It’s in my heart now.”
This is serious stuff – about relationships, questioned motivations, even death («In My Life»). But Kim doesn’t take herself too seriously, as evidenced by the little surprise tagged at the end («That’s It»).
‘Brave Heart’ is a gutsy rock confession – a musical picture of reliance less on a lifestyle than the Life Himself. Buy this one for your friends outside the fold – if you have trouble talking about your faith, this’ll make your heart a little braver. [Bernie Sheahan, CCM, June 1991]
Even though she’s enjoyed Greenbelt cred’, a rarity for a CCM artist, there were still those who say too much the cutsey sophomore in Kim’s first two hugely successful albums. But now her third must surely convince all but the staunchest detesters of the Christian music subculture. For here is an album with all the width, breadth and depth of great pop art. The reasons for this blossoming of an undeniable talent? Could it be Kim’s had more of a songwriting input? Could it be Reunion Records and producers Brown Bannister and Wayne Kirkpatrick have filled out all the high recording budget to deliver an album which sparkles with pristine state-of-the-art yet keeps the key acoustic element a factor even in the dazzling display of Jerry McPherson belching electric axe or reverbs and FX which don’t come cheap? Or could it be that Kim has just got better (third albums usually are the classic ones) with that husky voice of luxuriant liquidity gliding across arrangements that are always just right, from the neo-Sgt. Pepper break in the «Words» opener to the heavy-rock overdrive to the tinkling sleighbells (yep!) on «Don’t Face The World Alone». The lyrics speak volumes (well, volume), the themes touched on this time being the tongue is a fire («Words»), the enigma of God’s plans («Mysterious Ways» – my current favourite with its jazz chords and haunting mood) and going beyond the smugness of easy-believism to reach a more realistic faith («Round And Round»). But wherever one looks and listens, new things come to the reviewer’s attention. Wonderful music, surely the best CCM album of the year. [Tony Cummings, Cross Rhythms, December 1991]
CD tracklist:
01. Words – 3:25
02. Satisfied – 4:47
03. Up In The Sky – 2:39
04. Mysterious Ways – 5:37
05. Round And Round – 3:35
06. Stop My Heart – 6:10
07. Come Around – 3:36
08. Don’t Face The World Alone – 4:13
09. In My Life – 4:53
10. I Will Wait – 2:37
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Reunion Records.
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