To these ears, Paris's best songs often are not those that translate well to a worship setting. It's hard to imagine, for example, an auditorium filled with worshippers singing "What Did He Die For?" even though its message is perfect for a service with the Lord's Supper. Paris connects soldiers sacrificing their lives with Jesus' death on the cross and asks, "What did he die for when he died for me?"
Paris says the song was inspired by seeing news accounts of the 50th anniversary of D day, the Allied invasion to liberate Europe from Nazi control.
"It began to hit me; many, many young men died for me, so I can do what I do," she says. "What do I do on a daily basis that's worth that? And then the obvious place that your mind goes as a Christian is, you know, Jesus Christ died for me--and what do I do on a daily basis that's worth that?"
Where I Stand is Paris's 14th studio album, her first for Sparrow Records after spending the last decade on the StarSong label, where she wrote and recorded such now-standard worship songs as "Lamb of God," "We Will Glorify," "He Is Exalted," and "How Beautiful."
This new album is enlivening, starting with the fresh-faced cover photo and running straight through all 11 cuts. The album's sound is more acoustic-driven and organic than her last studio album, Beyond a Dream, which nearly smothered her vocals and lyrics in an avalanche of drums, power-pop guitars, keyboards, and strings on the first half of the record and then seemed to lose musical focus, tossing in a Celtic-influenced number here, a bluesy industrial rocker there.
Likewise, Where I Stand doesn't hew just to the narrow path of safe, unadventurous pop and lite FM rock, but it works better this time, for the most part, as Paris mixes quiet piano ballads with bluesy, gospel-flavored numbers, and acoustic-driven pop, and tosses in musical flourishes like the Spanish guitar sound that threads through the beginning of one song and and resurfaces at the end of the next.
Radio, no doubt, will gravitate to the accessible sing-along pop song "Love's Been Following You" and to "Faithful Friend," a duet she co-wrote and sings with Steven Curtis Chapman. It's tough to imagine a radio executive programming the lengthy "What Did He Die For?" or letting "Band of Survivors" play all the way through its atmospheric musical fade-out, or putting up with the long Spanish guitar intro and the slow pace of "Hold On."
But they should. It's not for nothing that Paris perennially gets a Gospel Music Association's nomination for Songwriter of the Year, and "Hold On," "Band of Survivors," "What Did He Die For?" and the bluesy gospel-groove of "House of Cards" are some of Paris's best compositions yet.
"Hold On" reflects on the way newborn babies instinctively grasp things and hold tight with their tiny fists. "We come into this world from the very beginning with this instinct to cling to something," Paris says. "We're always looking for security and safety. That's the way God created us, because He meant for us to hold on to him."
She sings the lines in a breathy near-whisper: "Every little baby/Comes into the world/Reaching for an anchor/Fingers tightly curled/Grasping for a reason/Without knowing why/We will cling to anything/'Til the day we die."
The song is near-perfect, until over-eager producers burden it with a rush of strings that build to an anthem-like finish. Live, it will thrill arenas full of fans. On record, it seems to cheat slightly the simple power of Paris's lyrics. But that's a small complaint.
There are no complaints about "House of Cards," a song about priorities that Twila delivers to a funky, bluesy groove, or "Band of Survivors," a celebratory acoustically driven number, or "I Will Listen," a statement of quiet determination to follow God, wherever He leads. The song closes the album on a reflective note as Paris sings the song's three verses and no chorus with just piano and strings for background.
It's one song from Where I Stand that could join the growing number of Paris compositions in the hymnals. Paris, with 20 No. 1 hits, a string of awards and nominations, and a place as one of Christian music's top-selling artists-would be pleased.
"Probably one of the most meaningful things to me beyond-way beyond-what an album sells or whether a song goes to No. 1 on the charts or whatever, is when people take a song that I believe God has given me and then they take it and return it to him in worship, maybe on a Sunday morning. Then it's being used for its ultimate purpose-to return worship back to the one who gave it in the first place. That's incredible."
Bill Hobbs is a freelance reviewer for Christian music publications. He lives in Nashville, TN.
Copyright ©1996, ProMotion, inc.
www@acloserlook.com