Rob Galea - What a Day

Reviewed by Dan Harms

Maltese/Australian seminarian Robert Galea is a name you may not be familiar with but that won't be the case for long; he is quickly taking steps out of the fringes and closer to the spotlight of the Catholic music community. In 2006 he released a very nice, very prayerful album entitled Closer; it was a decent record but didn't stay in my CD player long. The follow-up to Closer is this year’s What a Day and immediately upon listening it, is evident that Galea has come a very long way. The sound and production on this album are fantastic. Using limited instrumentation, drums, guitar, piano, light strings and voice, Galea's sound is rich and well produced. He has pushed his songwriting to be more accessible to listeners than ever before with simply laid out song structures and catchy choruses across the entire album. Great choruses tend to be made of two important components: melody and lyric; Galea does both of these things well with creative melodies and simple, yet profound, lyrics.

While What a Day stands tall above many other recordings released by his Catholic pop/rock or praise and worship contemporaries, one aspect that Galea came up short on was in the execution of the verses throughout the album. At times the lyrics in the verses didn't quite flow as well as they could have or it just seemed like the melody lines in the verses were predictable and routine. Consistently, however, the choruses would come in and the song would be well redeemed. What seems to be the first single from Galea's album is a tune that immediately jumped out in my first listening, "The Foot of the Cross." The lyrics of the refrain are simple and beautiful; after hearing the song, it’s easy to imagine thousands of voices singing and praying the phrases from the tops of their lungs: "Come see, come rest, wherever you are. Come broken, whole, however you are. He calls your name, whoever you are. There is room for you, at the foot of the Cross." On Galea's website, www.thatsworship.com, there is an accompanying music video for this song that is well produced. Check it out.

Being in Australia and fairly well known in the Catholic music community there, Galea will be featured a few times in 2008's World Youth Day (WYD) in Sydney. Galea recorded a portion of a promotional song for WYD, singing the Italian verses of a multi-lingual song. What a Day includes a track, "Mulej F'idejk/Nelle Tue Mani" in which you can hear Galea sing not only in Italian but also in his native Maltese language.

Overall I recommend What a Day. The recording, performance and production are top notch, not to mention the intensely catchy choruses that will keep you humming Galea tunes throughout your day. You can order the CD from Galea's website www.thatsworship.com for $17 US (shipped from Australia) or download the album on iTunes for $9.99.

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