A Song-by-Song Review of Caedmon’s Call’s Raising Up the Dead

As a companion piece to my previous post – in which I described my history of interaction with Caedmon’s Call and gave a summary review of their new album Raising Up the Dead – this post will go through that album, song by song, reflecting upon the emerging themes (lyrical, musical, theological and other) that are most evident to me. I do not claim accuracy in my interpretation of the songwriters’ intent, nor can I even say that I have heard the lyrics correctly (I do not yet own the physical CD with lyric sheet). All that being said, I believe that the ability to speak in a very personal way to each listener is an indicator of well-written music. Hopefully my intuitions about the meanings and merits of each song are not too far afield from the original intent. Warning: your enjoyment and understanding of this post will of course depend greatly upon whether or not you have heard the album yourself. Without further ado (I’ve wanted to use that phrase for awhile), the review!

I’ve decided to divide it up into individual posts, by song, with the lyrics that I can understand from just listening included. I did not compose these lyrics. I do not own them. All of them are owned and under copyright by Caedmon's Call, though I don't know any of that copyright information because, again, I don't have the CD case. Any mistake in the lyrics are my own and are caused by my faulty, ever-aging ears. All of the posts are linked below, in order.

Sometimes a Beggar

She

Family

Miss You

God’s Hometown

Come with Me

Streets of Gold

Time Inside Out

I Need a Builder

David Waits

Raising Up the Dead

Free

So, which ones made my top five?

1. Free
2. David Waits
3. Time Inside Out
4. Come with Me
5. Raising Up the Dead

As you can see, on the whole, I loved the second half of the album better than the first. But, truthfully, the whole album just goes together. It brings you on a journey. It hangs together so well. Themes are touched upon slightly, then developed, then put underground only to shoot up again later. This album is a tapestry, woven deftly together. Well played, Caedmon’s, well played.