William Chong

Not to be confused with boy band Blue‘s legally-inspired pop hit, I chanced on this a cappella number from a friend’s barbershop CD. This song gives me goosebumps each time I hear it, and I like this song because:

1. It’s a fantastic performance.
The purity of sound from the group that performed this, Voices of Lee, is just a delight to listen to. It’s almost like wall of sound that wafts through my headphones each time I hear the different parts dovetail each other, and the lyrics paint a beautiful picture of entering the throne room of heaven, a la Revelation 4.

2. It’s a fantastic arrangement.
I won’t get too technical, but from the first cry of “All Rise!” set to a cluster chord, to the final cadence involving an ascending chromatic bass-line, this is a masterful arrangement. I’m not sure what the original sounded like (it was originally penned by gospel songwriter Babbie Mason), but this a cappella arrangement moves through at least four different key changes, hits some virtuosic high notes for the solo part (adeptly carried by Lester Rector’s shimmering tenor sound), and all in all just has the clear signature of a talented orchestrator/arranger.

3. It helps encourage me to be less earthbound.
One thing I’ve always thought was amazing in the Bible is how the angels don’t seem to have ever stopped singing praises to God. From Isaiah 6 right through to Revelations 4:8, they’ve been joyously singing “Holy Holy Holy” – now that’s unceasing worship. When the Voices of Lee broke into a verse of that in the middle of this song, it stirs my heart for a yearning to be there to do the same.

It looks like you can buy a CD with this track on it on this website, or alternatively you can get it off the 4 Voices CD here.

——————-