Sections covered: Christian Initiation/Baptism, Eucharist (beware of what gets passed as Communion music these days!)
* = new to the Worship series
*911 Jesus, at the Jordan Baptized ("Fortunatus New") - text seems ok; tune is good
*912 Leaving Her Water Jar Behind ("St. Catherine") - interesting lyric; nice tune, but I miss the real "Faith of Our Fathers" that is SUPPOSED TO go with it!
*913 God, Who at the font Once Named Us ("Regent Square") - text ok; tune good
*916 This Is Our Faith (C. Gardner) - not into echoing the cantor.
*917 Blessed Be God, Who Chose You in Christ (Chepponis) - garbage
*918 We Praise You, Lord, for Jesus Christ ("New Britain") - Do we really need another text sung to the tune of "Amazing Grace"? Even "McKee" would have been a better tune.
919 Baptized in Water ("Bunessan") - Not the hottest text.
*920 Christ Be in Your Senses ("Appalachian Fall") - not bad
921 There Is One Lord (Taize) - now with added Spanish for bi-lingual boredom.
*922 Crashing Waters at Creation ("Restoration") - ok
923 I Receive the Living God ("Living God") - with bastardized text and added verses, formerly known as "I RECEIVED the Living God".
*924 Bread of Life, Cup of Blessing (Guimont) - text and music sounds like a typical OCP/GIA modern day "Communion song". Blech!
*925 Pan de Vida (Bob Hurd) - garbage/basura
926 I Come with Joy to Meet My Lord ("Dove of Peace") - not a bad text; like the tune. Appeared in Worship III with the tune "Land of Rest".
*927 Amen to the Body of Christ (Guimont) - trash
*928 Come to the Banquet (Chepponis) - rubbish
929 Ave Verum (Mode I) - the first GOOD hymn in the Eucharist section.
*930 In Memory of You (Peloquin) - The verses, which are shown only in choir and accompaniment editions (as well as octavos), incorporate the aforementioned Mode I "Ave Verum", in ways that only Alexander Peloquin could create. Peloquin was very underrated by mainstream music ministries. Not all his music is useful at Mass, but a good chunk of it is, including this one.
*931 One Bread, One Body (Foley) - Instant Sominex! I told Bari Columbari at OCP the same thing in a written review of their music issue about six years ago.
*932 As the Bread of Life Is Broken ("Thaxted", bastardized) - Yes, I do mean "bastardized", as in "bastardized" into a responsory (the first pair of lines is a refrain), with your dreaded typical "we are one" fare.
*933 Jesus, Ever-Flowing Fountain (Guimont) - this one's not so hot either.
*934 Amen, El Cuerpo de Cristo (Schiavone) - Amen, musica basura!
*935 Draw Near (Janco) - nah!
*936 Where Two are Three are Gathered (Lawton) - usual crap motif for the refrain, and the verse is written with just TWO NOTES - yes, TWO NOTES: 23 C's (octave above middle C) and two G's (a fourth below the C). These are the composers that the mainstream Catholic publishers push, my little snark-o-maniacs!
937 Draw Us in the Spirit's Tether ("Union Seminary") - always liked the hymn, but prefer the original text from Worship II, you know, the one with "thee", "thou", and "thy".
*938 We Remember (Haugen) - You can tell even a Worship hymnal's gone bad when they add this ditty to the mix. BTW, anyone still hear the refrain of this dreck used as a memorial acclamation? I sure hope not!
*940 Take and Eat (Joncas) - nope
941 Shepherd of Souls ("St. Agnes") - Where are all the "thees" and "thous"?
*942 Many and Great are Bearers of the Word (Manalo) - the usual dreck.
943 Eat this Bread (Taize) - now with added Spanish
*944 In the Breaking of the Bread (Guimont) - more of the same (as you can tell, the Dufner/Guimont combination is not working too well).
*945 Taste and See (James Moore) - Verses are bastardized to death, not to mention often misperformed. Seriously, on more than one occasion at my local Cathedral have I heard a guy ad lib the daylights out of the verses like he was some kind of rock start. Pitiful!
*946 Come Join the Feasting (Krisman) - garbage/basura
947 Draw Near and Take the Body of the Lord ("Coena Domini") - should be "Draw NIGH and take the Body of the Lord". Nice tune, as is the tune "Anima Christi" which usually appears in OCP books. (See? OCP has a good share of good music too. You have to sift through a lot of garbage to find it, however, just like GIA's hymnals as of late!)
*948 Bread of Life from Heaven (Argentine, with verses by Haugen) - garbage/basura
*949 This Is the Body of Christ (Bell) - This isn't an attempt at a Taize tune, is it?
*950 I Am the Bread of Life (Toolan) - No you're not. Jesus is!
*951 All Who Hunger Gather Gladly (Bob Moore) - Same text appears with the tune "Holy Manna" at #844, 107 titles previous. When I reviewed #844, I said "nope". Same with this one. But worse: WHY couldn't they keep the two ditties together with the different tunes? Any hymnal publisher in their right mind would do that: either print the Moore toon (misspelling intentional) out and footnote: "Alternate tune: HOLY MANNA", or just do a "First tune"/"Second tune" on facing pages. Putting this text once in "Gathering" and the same text again in "Communion" only doubles the damage (or creates "multi-purpose crap").
*952 Taste and See (Luckner) - refrain isn't so hot; verses are not under music here, so it's hard to judge.
953 Alleluia! Sing to Jesus ("Hyfrydol") - hopefully the accompaniment book reverts to the accompaniment used in Worship II. In fact, let's revert the text to that found in Worship II.
954 Lord, Who at Your First Eucharist Did Pray ("Unde et Memores") - formerly known as "At That First Eucharist before You Died", with the added fourth verse. Only complaint: need to make it "Lord, Who at THY First Eucharist DIDST Pray".
*955 To the Wedding Feast (Morris) - same old basic crap
*956 Life-Giving Bread, Saving Cup (Chepponis) - garbage
Next installment: Penance/Reconciliation
Peace,
BMP
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