Christian music CD recommendation

My sister gave me the Lincoln Brewster CD "Live to Worship" for Christmas. It's up-tempo versions of standard praise and worship songs (i.e. not hymns, the kind of thing sung in non-denom churches) but they're not hard rock versions, which is a nice balance not easily found these days.

It is *amazing*. I've had track 8, "Shout to the Lord," on auto-repeat for an hour. Fantastic.

Five stars!

I've always liked their music.

Lots of Christian references!

What?

"After Forever" sounds pretty Christian, if you ask me.

Well, deist at least.

!

and don't make any sudden movements. Maybe she'll be OK in the morning.

I'm fine. Just shared how much I was enjoying my new CD.

I was reading something into it that wasn't there.

especially "Somewhere In Heaven", which he was inspired to write after the deaths of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Clapton's son, Conor.

Also, Elvis Presley's gospel recordings; amazing, powerful, almost operatic. If you aren't familiar, you should definitely give them a chance.

And just about anything recorded by Mahalia Jackson, too.

I mostly listen to christian rap and punk, but I can find pretty much anything

ALL I wanted to do was tell my DU friends who may be interested in Christian music how much I loved the CD. That's all. :-)

No I got confused I thought you wanted a recommendation sorry :p

I'll download a few tracks and check it out thanks :D

It's called "Deeper Faith". One of my favorites!

Specifically, Leonard Cohen.

He is the finest writer of Christian music in over a century. His Suzanne includes a verse that I would rate up there with Amazing Grace.

And Jesus was a sailor
When he walked across the water
And he spent a long time watching
From a lonely, wooden tower
And when he knew for certain
Only drowning men could see him,
He said, "All men shall be sailors then
Until the sea shall free them"
But he himself was broken
Long before the sky could open
Forsaken, almost human
He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone

I remember the first time I heard that song and listened to the lyrics. I knew that Good Uncle Leonard actually had heard The Good News -- in fact, it was the first time I really understood that it was Good News.

Sixpence None The Richer has also done some worthwhile "Christian" music, though many Fundamentalists don't like it since it's light on "Praise and Glory". I'd say that SPNTR is more gnostic than fundy, anyway.

I find the genre of modern Christian music to overall be terrible, even if some of the music itself is excellent. But too many people -- especially around here -- have only seen The Light as the cheap porn peddled by smut merchants dressed up in the colors of the vulgar ministry. That's the shame, and that's the shame that won't be addressed by modern Christian music.

But if you enjoy it -- well, I won't argue with that. There is some very good music amongst it. If only I could turn off my understanding of the English language when it's being played!

--bkl
Quo Nunc Vadis?

All I've known of Leonard Cohen up to this point was his album w/ Jennifer Warnes, "Famous Blue Raincoat." But this is astounding. My opinion that he's a god has been reaffirmed -- expanded. Thanks.

I love to listen to black Gospel choirs. (There's a sort of authenticity about them that a lot of the "praise" music lacks.) Two of my favorite CDs are by the Chicago Mass Choir and the Misssissippi Mass Choir, both apparently recorded at festivals of Gospel music with choirs from lots of churches participating.

If you're feeling more contemplative, there's a lot of classical Christian choral music that is just sublime. I'm a choral singer myself, and the English composers of the 16th and 17th centuries (Byrd, Tallis, Taverner, Cornish, Gibbons) are hard to beat for sheer ethereal beauty, especially when performed by the type of ensemble that they were written for, a choir of men and boys.

The English music of the period is rather slow and deliberate, but for more lively choral traditions from the same time, look at some of the Italians, such as Gabrieli and Monteverdi.

Bach's St. Matthew Passion is one of the most profound musical meditations I've ever heard, telling the story of Jesus' trial and crucifixion.

Mozart isn't bad, either. His Requiem and Coronation Mass are two favorites.

One of the best contemporary composers of Christian music is John Tavener (no "r"). If you saw Princess Diana's funeral on TV, he wrote the music sung as they carried the coffin out of Westminster Abbey.

My highest recommendation is for anything by Shirley Ceasar.

they do some covers of hymns, but mostly what I love is the way they mix traditional Irish sounds in with mellow rock.

And Tim has found several other bands. Been listening to a lot from the Tooth and Nail label, though I am not really sure if they are "christian" or just positive like Collective Soul.

holiday shopping. Amazing stuff that will stand up to some of the best.

Jars of Clay is prob my favorite one, and someone told me the band P.O.D. is actually Christian (it makes sense when I think about their lyrics).

Some are geared toward different themes - Give Thanks, etc. There is some great contemporary praise music there.

P.S. Am I the only one here shocked and offended by the Christian bashing on this site?

Who can forget the classic "To Hell With The Devil" album? Some great stuff there.

Also, the new solo album by Neal Morse (former lead singer of Spock's Beard), "Testimony" is his first since leaving the group to pursue Christian music. While not as good as his Spock's Beard work (or the first Spock's Beard album without him), it's still probably better than 95% of the Christian music out there today.

...featuring angelic, soaring harmonies from Country & Western's greatest duo- and some hot session guitar work from the legendary Chet Atkins, and flat-out awesome album cover-art to boot!

One of my all-time favorite records of any genre...

While they have a tendency to be loose with vulgarity, their hearts are truly with Christ and every album shows it.

Great political hard ska/punk that I bet most for their fans don't really know features much praise.

I've seen them live dozens of times; not to be missed if you love ska.