Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

I've always had mixed feelings about MercyMe. Certainly "I Can Only Imagine" is an amazing song and a career high for the band which I'm imagining they'll struggle to ever top. I've always felt that their albums have been patchy with a few really great songs scattered amongst the bland record label/American Christian radio influenced bland fodder they've been forced to produce. In the meantime. Bart Millard is a creative songwriter who's never really been properly let off the leash. 'The Generous Mr Lovewell' sounds to me like the album where MercyMe finally deliver something that is consistently fabulous throughout. The band push out musically and deliver what could best be described as a concept album! It's all about living a life of love and expressing love to God and sharing love with others. It's designed to inspire the listener to live out their love and it works. I love the synth driven sound of opening cut "This Life" and the fantastic bass groove of "Crazy Enough". The first single form the album "All Of Creation" felt like the best thing they'd done since "I Can Only Imagine" but there are songs on the album that are even better than that. "Won't You Be My Love" is a gorgeous love song from God to us. The breezy pop of the title cut and "Move" see the band coming through with a new sound which I'm convinced will appeal to their current fanbase and yet draw newbies to their music. Full credit must go to producers Dan Muckala and Brown Bannister for their part in the creation of this album which holds together thematically and musically.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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Nearly a decade since I Can Only Imagine, multiplatinum-selling supergroup MercyMe dare to imagine the world as it should be in their brand new release, The Generous Mr. Lovewell.

The Generous Mr. Lovewell fuses MercyMe fundamentals: heartprovoking lyrics, powerful worship anthems, ballads and pounding, infectious melodies – with the simplest, yet greatest mandate of our lives as Christ followers: what it means to love like Jesus.

“It almost goes without saying that we should love generously, that we should love like Jesus,” says Mike Scheuchzer of MercyMe. “But does it? Does hearing it make it real?

“It’s so easy for us to live in our own little self-absorbed bubbles. We forget that above anything else we are called to love our neighbours, to reach out, to engage even the unlovable around us. It’s not an option if we really want to be like Christ.

The Generous Mr. Lovewell is a picture of the change we want to see in our own lives. Without love like this, everything we do, everything we are, is in vain.”