Randy Stonehill

Item: Lazarus Heart
Author: Bert Gangl

Lazarus Heart

(1994)

Reviewed by Bert Gangl

Discogs Bandcamp Apple Music

Label Street LevelThe LighthouseDecember 1994

acoustic pop rock singer-songwriter

After 43 years, nearly 25 of which have been spent making what is now referred to as contemporary Christian music, and 17 albums to his credit, folks might legitimately wonder if CCM mainstay Randy Stonehill could have anything new up his sleeve. One listen to Lazarus Heart should prove to even the most avid skeptics that indeed he does.

The project was recorded mostly around Nashville, using top notch studio musicians such as Jimmy Lee Sloas, Phil Madeira, Jerry McPherson and Mark Douthit. The album appears on Street Level records, an artist-oriented company emphasizing the basics of music making, with none other than Stonehill himself as president.

Whether he consciously set out to appeal to both older and new fans or not, Lazarus Heart seems to be split straight down the middle, both musically and lyrically.

Musically, the album divides itself between the slower, more contemplative sound of, say, "Remember My Name," and the quicker, more carefree sound of songs like "I Turn to You," the first radio single from the album. Lyrically, the album is split between the introspective, nearly critical, numbers like "Under the Rug," which deals with man's universal attempt to cover his sin, and heartfelt worship songs such as the aforementioned "Remember My Name," which asks God not to turn away, no matter what we do or say.

It's a fair bet that few listeners, long time fans or otherwise, will like every song on the album. Many of Stonehill's older fans won't take kindly to Stonehill's attempt to "reinvent himself," while those who heard "I Turn to You" on the radio and expected to hear nine more songs exactly like it, simply will not. Still, the listener should avoid the temptation to simply categorize the songs as either fast or slow, worship or commentary, light-hearted or serious, and look at the work as a whole. In doing this, the listener sees that, just as confession is necessary for true worship, the confessional tone of "Shadow Man" or "Under the Rug" is absolutely related to the worshipful feel of songs like "Remember My Name," "When I'm Afraid" and "Lazarus Heart," the title track.

Few artists can clearly express the reality of the human condition in an imperfect world. And fewer still are able to expertly craft vivid lyrical images of man's relationship to our perfect God. Nevertheless, Lazarus Heart proves that Randy Stonehill is indeed still able to do both.