Remembering how deep an impact Jimmy Needham's hit single "Forgiven and Loved" from his album Not Without Love had on me, I am not surprised to hear of the fantastic reviews his newly released album Nightlights has attracted. This is Needham's third effort which debuted at No.1 on the iTunes Top 200 Christian and Gospel Album charts.
Needham is a gifted and spirited lyricist/singer, with a milky voice that is a cross between a legend in the person of Stevie Wonder and young Jamie Cullum, the British pop star. The mood of his songs produces an adventurous but mature feel of soul-blues mixed with a hint of jazzy pop, this coupled with his guitar strumming chiming melodiously in the background.
In the title track he uses an allegory to tell the story of his spiritual walk with God using two very significant mountains to pitch his message: Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. There he mentions that these thunder storms and trumpet warnings will not scare him at all this time because he's moving to Zion where the Lamb and the Lion reside.
Amazingly in "Nightlights" Jimmy versed this track like poetry reflecting on various matters which easily draws the attention of believers away from the focus. He rounds this up with a call to return to the mission of Christ at the Cross, above all our reputations and pursuits.
He rolls on cautiously into "Being Small" where he cries for Divine help knowing of his own frail nature "when I get full of me/Turn me upside down you know pride and not just summer/Come before the fall."
With this opening ballad he moves on share a love story about his sweetheart — his wife — in "Yours to Take." As though awaking out of a deep sleep Jimmy continues the story of his humble mission to sing in "The Reason I Sing" with lines like "maybe success is measured best by nothing less than our obedience so long I can bring God fame." Once again he drifts back into his love story in "Steal Away," following on nicely with "Grace Amazing" which he wrote with hip-hop artist Trip Lee.
Nightlights is indeed a reflection of a prayerful believer heeding the pulse of the father's heartbeat for mankind, and an invitation to His Children to return to their first love.
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