Simple, anthemic, and worshipful adult contemporary has been the bread and butter of Christian music for the last decade. You could pretty much boil it down to three key artists in heavy rotation on Christian radio: Chris Tomlin, Casting Crowns, and MercyMe.

 

I’ve no personal beef with the artists themselves, but the overall lack of musical creativity has been stupefying. Especially after MercyMe showed considerable growth with their 2006 release Coming Up to Breathe, only to disappoint with a return to formula for the hastily recorded All That Is Within Me the next year. It sold well, of course—every MercyMe album has sold Gold or Platinum since Almost There in 2001—but wouldn’t it be nice to hear a band like this try something new?

 

Presenting The Generous Mr. Lovewell. With the help of longtime producer Brown Bannister, along with collaborating producer Dan Muckala (Backstreet Boys, Brandon Heath), MercyMe finally shows some overdue musical growth. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a Sgt. Pepper leap forward as the press materials suggest, but it’s a leap nonetheless.

 

Let’s start with the first radio single, “All of Creation.” This call-to-worship has all of the ingredients of another routine MercyMe pop ballad. But a great song is still a great song. It benefits from a strong melody and even stronger production values, from the cool addition of the chorus effect on Bart Millard’s voice in the chorus, to the irresistible sing-along stadium vocals in the bridge. Kudos for building a better mousetrap with this one, but a strong radio single alone does not make a strong album.

 

That’s why listeners will surely be surprised by the synth-driven beats of the opening track, “This Life,” flirting ever so closely with dance-pop. There are truly times on this album when you’ll be reminding yourself it’s MercyMe. Yet as fun as the track is, some of it is just a little too stylistically comparable to Annie Lennox’s ‘90s hit “Little Bird.”

 

Such sound-alikes are a mixed blessing on the album. I got a huge kick out of the dark, mellow groove at the heart of “Crazy Enough,” particularly the impressive bass playing by Nathan Cochran. But given the title, it’s unfortunately reminiscent of the Gnarls Barkley hit “Crazy.” Likewise, the title track features Beatle-esque harmonies and a bouncy pop feel that recalls Electric Light Orchestra’s “Mr. Blue Sky”—again, I hope it’s just coincidence that the titles and styles are so similar?

 

Elsewhere, “Move” boasts a fun disco-influenced pop/rock groove that puts to shame the talk about disco being used on last album’s “I Know.” And “Beautiful” is not the first time MercyMe has tinkered with the Brit pop/rock of Coldplay, but it’s still done well here.

 

The musical influences are fairly obvious—some more than others—but it doesn’t make the songs any less fun. In fact, the first half of Mr. Lovewell is easily some of the most musically interesting work MercyMe has offered in their career so far, even if it is rather derivative at times.

 

Too bad the second half of the album is more business as usual, though I suppose fans needed some touchstones more in step with MercyMe’s previous efforts.  Despite some reggae derived pop that might arguably be influenced by Jason Mraz, “Back to You” is pretty straightforward as far as Christian AC goes. As is “Won’t You Be My Love,” another anthemic pop ballad written as a plea for help from the perspective of “the least of these.” Though a well-intentioned idea, the song is too repetitive in the melody—I can only imagine that it will end up becoming the soundtrack for Compassion International and other mission-focused videos.

 

“Only You Remain” is cited as Millard’s favorite new song, but despite the synth-inflections in the pop mix, it’s another standard AC worship ballad—one that could be mistaken for several other MercyMe tracks with its by-the-numbers approach. “Free” also plays it too safe, relying on the clichéd upbeat worship style that owes too much to U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name.” As for “So Called Love,” it’s a pleasant little coda to the album, but nothing more at just 96 seconds.

 

Formulaic or not, the deciding factor that distinguishes good and great songs is the songwriting. MercyMe has settled on a recurring theme of living selflessly to become the hands and feet of Jesus, serving others through love. But they rarely go any deeper than my summary in the last sentence, or say anything in a way that hasn’t been stated before by other Christian artists focused on social justice.

 

At first blush, the album title itself is very creative, considering that it could just have easily been Change the World or simply Love Well. But it becomes more corny the more I dwell on it (reminding me of the old Simpsons episode about band names that are clever the first time, but less funny with each repetition—e.g. The Beatles or The Be Sharps). MercyMe has even created a persona for Mr. Lovewell (depicted with heart-shaped balloon on the album cover), complete with his own Faceook and Twitter accounts to suggest random acts of generosity. Fans of course are all over it, and while I can’t deny that it’s a different marketing approach for modern Christian pop, is it truly creative?

 

That’s beside the point, I suppose, given the well-intentioned gesture. The band has never sounded better, nor Millard more soulful and confident, than on The Generous Mr. Lovewell, easily one of MercyMe’s best efforts in their incredible string of success.

 

Still, I can’t help but wonder: will future radio singles from this album come from its playful first half, like “Move” or “Crazy Enough”? Or will we be stuck with the same old same old (e.g. “Only You Remain” or “Free”) for years to come? As demonstrated with this album, a popular band like MercyMe is capable of broadening the spectrum in Christian music … or keeping it stagnant and predictable.

 

Standouts: “All of Creation,” “Crazy Enough,” “Move”