Ben Pakula can play guitar. He also has a heart for the gospel - but he can really play guitar.
His new kids album, A Very Special Tent, is kind of like Colin Buchanan meets Metallica. Distortion, heavy drum beats, wah-wah pedals, finger-tapping " Ben is clearly a fan of the great hard rock bands of the last 20 years. And his album easily has the best lead guitar work I’ve heard on an Emu release.
I could spend the whole review just talking about the guitar solos, but you probably want to hear about the lyrics too. They are good and every song has a strong gospel edge. He’s tackled some unusual subjects as well.
Consider the title track, ‘A Very Special Tent’, about the Old Testament Tabernacle "
“There once was a tent, a very special tent,"¨ a tent God came to live in."¨ His people would have died if they went too far inside"¨ because a holy God can’t stand sinning!
But God made a way that he could stay with them."¨ An animal died to pay for sin,"¨ so once a year God would let a high priest in "¨to show his people he loved them”
A nice summary, and after a couple more verses Ben describes how the Tabernacle is fulfilled "
“Now we are a tent, a very special tent, "¨the Spirit of God lives with us"¨. Because the Lord has died, we’ve all been justified"¨ and given new life in Christ Jesus!"¨
So let’s all live with Jesus as the king,"¨ ‘Cos he’s the mighty, mighty God who deals with sin"¨ and when we die we’ll be in the tent with him"¨ ‘Cos we know that he loves us!”
Average poetry perhaps, but very sweet theology and a cleverly crafted song. Much more sophisticated than “1-2-3, Jesus loves me”.
Ben’s album is certainly what we should be feeding the minds of our children with.
Some parents may be put off by the heavy drumming and searing guitar solos, but not too many, I hope. To my mind, they make the album doubly excellent " a great introduction both to gospel truths and to retro hard rock.
Ben has been true to the music he loves and true to the gospel too, so I hope the album does well. And perhaps some of his Emu stable-mates will be encouraged to turn up the distortion a little in future"
