No thesaurus can ever exhaust the description of God. And God can never be culpable of being exaggerated. In fact, the greatest poetic laureate will run into road blocks when it comes to waxing eloquence about God. Human language is impoverished in the light of God's greatness. This is why Tye Tribbett has kept the title of his album "Greater Than" open ended. Instead of saying God is greater than life or God is greater than wealth, the album is simply entitled "Greater Than." This is because the reality is that God is greater than any noun we can ascribe him to. Don't let his hip hop image and his agile dance moves derail you; "Greater Than" is easily one of the most God-besotted albums. And it is also one of the most enjoyable one too - it will get you dancing, singing and talking about it fervently. Born doubly a pastor's kid (where both his parents were both ministers), Tribbett has a rich spiritual heritage that he constantly draws on. Tribbett started in Gospel music with the band he established known as the Great Anointing. But thanks to Faith Hill who brought him on her tour in 2000, Tribbett got to work with Will Smith, Usher, Justin Timberlake, Sting and Don Henley. As a result, now Tribbett is a household name to many in the music scene.

"Greater Than" is Tribbett's fifth album. It is also a bi-costal live record, where the songs were gathered from his performances in both Miami and Los Angeles. But there are two perennial problems live recordings often run into: first, live recordings can lack constraints so that the artists can go pandering on and on making the listening experience tedious. Fortunately, such a flaw is curbed here; here we don't get long homilies or pointless ranting. Second, live recordings can fall into the other extreme where it is so overdubbed with later recordings that it sounds like a studio record with the clappings of the crowd added in. This is not the case here; "Greater Than" encapsulates the energy and the excitement he brings on the stage well. Listening to this record makes you feel like you are right in front of this Stellar Award winner. "Nobody" sets the template of the record: over rippling key board parts, infectious rhythms and muscular bass-runs, Tribbett praises the Maker whose greatness knows no bounds. The worship moments continue with "You Are Everything" --- a taut hook-laden uptempo number that is so focused on God that there is not a second wasted on themes of secondary importance.

"Stayed on You" ought to a Gospel smash; it is the album's catchiest track. Ostensibly a cover of George Harrison's 1987 hit "Got My Mind Set on You," one has to appreciate Tribbett's ingenuity of turning this secular song into an ode to the Divine. Though not as effective but still affecting is "He Turned It" where "We Like to Party" by the Vengaboys is thrown into the mix. Tribbett does go to church with holy anointing with "Beauty for Ashes." Featuring a traditional choir that sings the main melody, we enter into some high-charged Gospel worship as Tribbett leads us along with his ad-libs. With its folky acoustic guitar strums, "Overcome" is one of three songs not written by Tribbett. Rather, "Overcome" comes from Desperation Band's Jon Eagan's pen. However, in Tribbett's hands, it has become a soul imbued worship smash that features some of the finest keyboard moments caught on disc.

In an album that exalts the greatness of God, when is God at his greatest? God is at His greatest when He raised Jesus up from the grave. "If He Did It Before... Same God" is a warm affirmation that if God can even destroy the grave, there's nothing impossible for Him He can't do. This is the type of songs that truly builds us up in our faith. Listening to Tribbett's "Greater Than" not only enlarges our perception of God, but somehow our hearts get larger and larger each time we give this disc a spin.... And this is what worship at its essence is all about.