Streams

Description

Streams, sub-titled A Soundtrack of Hope, is a multi-artist collaborative project released on Word Entertainment in June 1999. The album was produced by Brent Bourgeois with Loren Balman co-producing. Featuring artists like Amy Grant, Sixpence None the Richer, Burlap to Cashmere, and Maire Brennan. Also featuring a four piece Orchestral Suite by the Irish Film Orchestra arranged and conducted by Carl Marsh.

Truth in advertising is what listeners get from Word’s beautiful Streams project. Promotional materials reference the project as a “soundtrack of hope,” and that it may be. Producers Loren Balman and Brent Bourgeois have incorporated an array of talented vocalists, songwriters and players, yet have managed to develop an album of material that is not merely a collection of disparate songs and styles around a common theme, but rather a musical experience that cohesively hangs together.

“Life is difficult,” begins M. Scott Peck’s self-help best-seller, The Road Less Traveled. Over the years, Christian music has often allowed that life is difficult without Christ, but proclaimed (or at least implied) that once one accepted Jesus, things would get easy. Good-intentioned efforts have failed to own the real struggles, losses and pains that Christian people experience.

The greatest gift of Streams is the acknowledgment that life is difficult, but that we are not alone. The validation that other Christians are having similar experiences enables us to hear the promise of God through Isaiah that “…waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.”

Unexpected couplings provide the record’s musical surprises. There’s Clannad’s Maire Brennan singing the Peter Gabriel role in his classic, «Don’t Give Up», joined by former Doobie Brother Michael McDonald singing the Kate Bush part. It won’t make you forget the original, but it does sound great. Former Yes frontman Jon Anderson joins 4HIM to bring vocal air to Bourgeois’ tune «The Only Thing I Need». Amy Grant joins with Delirious on the English rockers’ song of plaintive praise, «Find Me in the River».

Elsewhere, the musical offerings vary but never compete with the rather brooding, bittersweet vibe owed to the presence of the Irish Film Orchestra throughout. Cindy Morgan delivers a passionate ballad, reflecting on the biblical tale of «Job». Sixpence None the Richer‘s Leigh Nash savors the close presence of God on «Breathe»: “You’re the breath that I breathe.” Point of Grace, Burlap to Cashmere, Jaci Velasquez and others flesh out songs of restoration.

After the vocal tracks, four instrumental offerings close out the disc from the Irish Film Orchestra. The lush sound is neither sweet nor melancholy. It embraces the richness of human experience and the longing for the wholeness that we only know in God’s love.

Sometimes people of faith have unrealistic expectations and inadequate theology in the face of difficulties. Streams is a courageous attempt to affirm that in the face of our inadequacies, God still walks with us amid the difficult realities. In that, the project offers a healing balm to souls living through desert times. [Brian Quincy Newcomb, CCM, July 1999]

Behind striking artwork lies a collection of tracks by a range of leading artists from the Christian market. It is an unusually collaborative project where many artists sing songs written by others – Michelle Tumes wrote two but sings one she didn’t write, and Amy Grant joins Delirious? on one of their older songs.

Many similar collections fail because of heavy-handed production, but this one side-steps that trap. Much of the material is both somewhat ethereal and organic in nature. Sixpence None the Richer show their versatility by adding unexpected keyboard sounds to «Breathe», a collaboration between Michelle Tumes and Leigh Nash. Burlap to Cashmere’s contribution is unusually spacious for the band. The vocals of Yes’s lead-vocalist Jon Anderson are unmistakable on «The Only Thing I Need», his curious collaboration with 4 Him that shows a strong, early 80s pop influence. Delirious? return to their Cutting Edge era with «Find Me In The River». This track had been billed as featuring the Littlehampton boys as Amy Grant’s backing band, but Grant actually plays the supportive role.

The album’s real strength is not in the host of CCM “names,” however, but the gentle orchestral offerings from the Irish Film Orchestra. The orchestra’s contributions are never banal soundtrack fare, but a collection of clear background tracks which recall the movement of streams and rivers.

The album’s producers intend this album to promote hope and reconciliation to a broad range of people from various walks of life. Whether this will happen will depend largely on the individual. None of the tracks are particularly striking, but neither does the album as whole descend into a predictable rut like many of its peers. Streams is worth a listen for those who like their arrangements expansive and soothing. [James Stewart, The Phantom Tollbooth, 7/12/99]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/streams/1592535595)

CD tracklist:

01. Cindy Morgan – Job – 4:58
02. Maire Brennan and Michael McDonald – Don’t Give Up – 7:10
03. Sixpence None the Richer – Breathe – 4:05
04. Chris Rodriguez – Sanctuary – 4:33
05. Michelle Tumes – Hold On – 4:40
06. 4Him and Jon Anderson – The Only Thing I Need – 4:55
07. Delirious? and Amy Grant – Find Me In The River – 5:36
08. Jaci Velasquez – I Will Rest In You – 5:01
09. Burlap to Cashmere – From Above – 5:14
10. Point of Grace – Forever On And On – 5:26
Irish Film Orchestra – Orchestral Suite:
11. For Cova – 5:13
12. Abigail – 4:42
13. Delaney McDowell – 5:04
14. Streams (for John Cole) – 5:45

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Word.

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A full-page advertisement for Word Records’ multi-artist album project Streams was featured in the July 1999 issue of CCM Magazine.

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