The Greatest Story Ever Sung

"Music Inspired by..." When I see a CD with this intro I know two things immediately.

1. It isn't the official soundtrack
2. It's probably not worth buying

So you can imagine my reaction when the homepage of New Release Tuesday sported a listening party for Music Inspired by The Story. Actually my first reaction was "What's The Story?" Come to find out it's not a movie, but a Bible. Yes a Bible. The Bible as a continuous story.

The Instrumental Overture kicks things off, and I kind of hope it was a movie, because the orchestral arrangement is definitely soundtrack worthy.

I have one big complaint. NRT should have broken the stream into two parts. Using my libraries account, I get 55 minutes, and that is just about the length of the first disc. However, there is no way to fast forward, so you have to start again at the beginning. So there is no way to just get to disc two. A shame.

This is a two disc CD, and like the Bible itself, Disc one is the Old Testament and Disc Two the new. One minor Biblical nitpick. Like I said, the concept is that the Bible is arranged as a continuous narrative story, but there is a chronological error. The Old Testament is as follows: Creation, Adam & Eve, Abraham & Sarah, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Ruth & Naomi, David, Daniel, Esther, Job. The error is the last song. Despite its position in the Bible, only Genesis-Esther is arranged in rough chronological order. Most Bible Scholars place Job somewhere between Abraham and Moses in time.

The Big Guns came out for this, and I think they will be having a Christmas Tour to support the album. That should be something to catch. Leigh Nash, Casting Crowns, Brandon Heath, Peter Furler, Mandisa, and Mac Powell among others. Actually, the only minor miscast here may be Mandisa. While I loved her Album, her casting as "Esther" was mistaken IMHO, considering the orchestration of the album. Overture and the filling orchestration sounds so much like Are You Ready? from Beckah Shae's album Destiny, that I think she should have been on it. Just Saying.

This is a majestic concept album, and it delivers. I'm a sucker for strings, and there are strings in spades here. I'm going to go out and give this album a full 5 Emeralds, and then figure out where I'm going to put it. Any thoughts, readers? I am Awaiting Your Reply.