Old School Friday II

Walt Whitman & The Soul Children of Chicago

This Is The Day (1990)

Tracklisting:

1. The Lord's Prayer
2. This Is The Day
3. Welcome Song
4. Use Me
5. The Lord Will Take Care of You
6. Bless The Lord
7. It Is Well
8. I'll Let Nothing Separate Me
9. Perfect Praise

I'm going to add a snippet of my review I wrote on Amazon.com...

I know this album has to bring back some memories for some. I know every youth choir had many of Whitman's song in their reportiere, from "Shabach" to "We Are One". This is the album that first introduced me to Walt Whitman & The Soul Children of Chicago. When I heard them bring life to "This Is The Day", it made me want to sing. Growing up at my church, our children's choir sang songs of praise such as "Jesus Loves Me" and "I'll Be A Sunbeam", I didn't know a children's choir could sound the way The Soul Children sounded. It inspired me to sing and bring forth new songs that my choir could sing. It wasn't until five years ago that I purchased this album just for "This Is The Day" and was I surprised that "Perfect Praise" is also on this album, or as some like to call it "Oh Lord How Excellent". "Perfect Praise" is like every church's anthem, it's sung everywhere you go.

Now for my mini review...

The album opens up with "The Lord's Prayer", but don't think that this song sets the tone for the album because it doesn't. "This Is The Day" definitely sets the tone for this project. The music for the song gets your body and soul energized to lift Jesus all day long. "This Is The Day" reminds one that if "the birds, rocks, trees, and even stars can praise Him, so can they"; therefore one should rejoice that God lets them see another glorious day that He has made for us all. This album is also filled with reflective praise and adoration songs, such as "Use Me" and "Perfect Praise". "Use Me" is a song that tells God that we love Him so much that we want Him to use us as instruments of praise to exalt Him. "Perfect Praise" proclaims that there's no other name in all of the earth that compares to that of Jesus', and for that reason, that makes Him excellent. I've got to hand it to Whitman (and the other songwriters) for not only composing such moving songs but for training the children's voices so well, they sing on key and stay there. They also sing with such conviction that makes one know that you can praise God no matter how young or old you are.

Since I did a throwback feature of a youth/children's choir, I decided I'll stay with the theme and give you all another one, Mississippi Children's Choir debut album...

Mississippi Children's Choir

Children of The King (1992)